Berean Bible  
 

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
(Acts 17:11)

Latest update:
July 15,'09

  
  1. Summary: what enhancements are envisioned for BerBible?
    BerBible
  2. What is cross-reference capability?
    Published Bibles and fuller featured Bible software have provisions to show other verses that are related to the current verse. For example, the short Sermon on the Mount in Luke would have cross-references to the corresponding verses in Matthew. Quotes in the New Testament would reference the corresponding Old Testament verse(s). The software would implement jump links, tool-tips, or pop-up windows to the related verse(s). This capability is one of the key advantages of Bible software over published hardcopy Bibles.
  3. What is dictionary lookup capability?
    BerBible would be able to detect the word underneath the mouse cursor (initially the selected word). If this word was in a preloaded dictionary, after a brief period of time (hover), a dictionary definition would show as a ToolTip or pop-up window. Eventurally, the preloaded dictionary could be augmented by user definitions.
  4. What is footnote popup capability?
    Published Bibles and fuller featured Bible software have provisions to show notes about a particular verse or verses. This could be comments prepared by the translators/publishers such as are found in Study Bibles, or information as to whether a verse is not found in certain texts. As of ver 2.41, the Berean Bible study freeware has a somewhat basic implementation of this capability, with notes shown inline with the actual Bible contents. Subsequent releases will use tool-tips, pop-up windows, or a study window.
  5. What is Strong's numbering?
    Dr. James Strong prepared a concordance of about 8600 Hebrew words and about 5600 Greek words used in the Bible. This was first published in 1890. Some versions of the KJV (King James Version) and other Bibles include this information to allow closer study of the actual Hebrew or Greek words used. The numbers serve as a look-up to a dictionary with further information. The implementation would allow the option to show the number next to the word. If the mouse was hovered over the number, the dictionary entry would be shown in a pop-up, tool-tip, or other means. For more information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong's_Concordance
    6. BerBible
  6. What is parallel display?
    Multiple Bibles could be displayed at the same time, not just one at a time as is now the case. This might be in parallel columns with lined-up rows, or multiple instances of BerBible.
  7. What is parallel search?
    Multiple Bibles could be searched at the same time for a specific word or words. The results would be presented in such a way as to facilitate finding the verse of interest.
  8. What is formatted printing?
    Users would be able to specify a range of verses to be printed out. There could be options for how the verse numbers were rendered, whether words of Christ were printed in red, etc.
  9. What is exact match optimized searching?
    Searches for the precise word could be much faster with Lucene-like indexing. The planned implementation would utilize a low bloat approach, because word-by-word indexing can greatly increase the size of the Bible modules. Note that this capability is an internal, low level detail and isn't visible except for faster searching.
    10. BerBible
  10. What is the capability of ranked search-engine results?
    The super concordance capability of Bible software is useful to find a verse that contains certain words. However, with all words "and" searching, the result is often zero matches. With any word "or" searching, the result is often too many matches to narrow down to the verse being sought. A better approach might utilize search engine technology to present many hits in ranked order based on a priority calculation of which words matched, rather than in the order that the verse was encountered in the Bible text.
  11. What is fuzzy stem searching?
    The current BerBible searching involves character-by-character matching to determine a hit. The option of Exact Match toggled off allows part of a word to be considered a hit (such as a search for love matching "for God so loved the world ... ). A refinement of this would simplify the words in each verse to their stem / root, remove common words, and include synonyms from other translations. The point would be to improve the ability to search for a verse of interest when you don't have the verse memorized, but recall some of the words in the verse. For example, Genesis 1:1 might be represented as:
    in begin God create heaven earth
  12. What is enhanced task-thread model?
    Parallel searching of multiple Bible translations would benefit from multi-threading. More and more computers have cpu's with multiple cores. Note that this capability is an internal, low level detail and isn't visible except for faster searching.
    13. BerBible
  13. What is simple internationalization?
    English speaking people are blessed to have a large number of very good Bibles available in modern English (some public domain, some commercial, some with minimal restrictions, etc.). Other languages are less blessed, and BerBible could eventually assist more directly in the Great Commission to make disciples in all the world.

    There are internationalization approaches utilized by other Bible freeware that uses unicode and can make a very large number of foreign languages available with their native fonts. However, there are some potential and actual problems: slow searches, complicated software development, bloated code and executables, complicated / baffling user interface, etc. (see below)

    BerBible might be able to improve upon this situtation by intentionally applying the Pareto 80/20 Principle - implement a solution that provides 80% of the capability with 20% of the effort. This would probably mean a limit to those languages which can be expressed with UTF-8 bit fonts, which includes English, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Greek, and many others.

    Also, the intentional simplicity of BerBible's user interface would reduce the effort for internationalizing the associated Help text. It isn't that difficult to have the Bible text show up in Spanish, German, Swahili, or French. The software also needs to have the books of the Bible translated (not difficult) AND the words on the dialog windows (more difficult) AND should translate the context sensitive help and other Help (can be VERY difficult). How useful is note-taking to a German or French user if the associated widget is English and the capability is explained in English?

    A very early version of BerBible provided quick and dirty prototypes of Spanish, German, and French versions. After all, there are only four static words on the main BerBible application window (Books, Search, Options, and Help). At that time, the internationalized versions took less than half a day to prepare -- all three. Internationalization of the Options Dialog, Help Dialog, and Context Sensitive Help could be deferred.

  14. What is Unicode internationalization?
    Unicode is a standard to represent the vast majority of characters utilized by world languages. It requires wide characters of 16 or more bits rather than narrow 8 bit characters. Unicode is necessary to the display the various languages of Asia (including China, India, Japan, etc.) and other regions. As noted above, the challenge includes translating the user interface to the target audience.
    15. BerBible
  15. What are links to commentaries?
    Fuller featured Bible software provides direct links to commentaries for a specific verse. You can more or less easily consult what Matthew Henry, John Wesley, John MacArther, or others have to say about a verse or verses. This can be extremely valuable, and is another key advantage of Bible software over published hardcopy Bibles. However, BerBible's sola scriptura approach is reluctant to proceed in this direction ... there is a definite tendency to become over-reliant on commentaries, to the point of considering commentaries (and confessions) as inspired. Other Bible software provides vast amount of linked commentaries. BerBible
  16. What is availability of expanded number of Bible texts?
    As of September 2006, BerBible has been able to distribute the English Standard Version (ESV) from Good News Publishing ©2001 as a free download.
    As of March 2008, BerBible has been able to distribute the New King James Version (NKJV) from Thomas Nelson, Inc. ©1982 as a free download.
    As of April 2008, BerBible has been able to distribute the New English Translation (NET) from bible.org ©2006, and the God's Word (GW ©1995) translation as free downloads.
    As of August 2008, BerBible has been able to distribute the New American Standard Bible (NASB) from The Lockman Foundation copyright 1995 as a free download. Their Spanish language LBLA and NBLH Bibles are nearing release status, along with the GUI in Spanish.
    Efforts continue to obtain permission from IBS-STL for one or more Bibles in their NIV family of Bibles, such as the NIV, NIrV, and/or TNIV. Prayer appreciated.
  17. What is flexible versification?
    BerBible requires KJV versification with 66 books, 1189 chapters, and 31,102 verses. Some Bibles include the Apocrypha, which are extra books in the Old Testament, and BerBible is unable to work with these. The Living Bible has linked verses. Some Bibles have 14 verses in 3rd John and some have 15 verses. Flexible versification would implement the capability to work with such Bible modules.
    18. BerBible
  18. What is integration with InVerse?
    InVerse is a freeware program used for scripture memorization. Currently, it is a stand-alone program, but an objective is for it to be a wholly contained sub-system of BerBible.
  19. What is note-taking?
    End-users would be allowed to enter their own notes about a specific verse. These entries would be preserved for subsequent sessions.
  20. What is highlighting words, phrases, or verses?
    End-users could markup their Bibles similarly to being able to use highlighter pens on a hard-copy Bible. These highlights would be remembered.
  21. What is Daily Devotional?
    When the Berean Bible study freeware started up, a pop-up would display with a Daily Devotional, such as Elisabeth Ellot or Woodrow Kroll.
  22. What is Daily Reading Plan?
    End-users can create custom daily reading plans. For example, a daily reading plan to read the chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in 30 days (equal number of verses are assigned to each of the 30 days, or a user may choose to skip certain days of the week).
    23. BerBible

    God is pleased when followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have a growing knowledge of His Bible, His Son, and His message of salvation and repentance for a lost and dying world.