e-sword questions

I'll answer the first question, maybe someone else will get the second one.

The version of KJV you are using is the "KJV+"

The plus stands for the numbers... the numbers correspond with the Strongs Concordance.... a Hebrew and Greek Lexicon.

When you float your mouse pointer over the little numbers, a little box opens up that shows you the strongs definition of the word the number is attached to.

I hope that helps... you should have another KJV installed too, just click on it's tab to see a KJV without the numbers.

 

They are two separate translations. If you want the NASB, I would download the ESV and the HCSB. Both are excellent modern english translations.

 

Here is a handy little tool: http://www.dnspad.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9

It is a utility that allows you to import various bible translations from Biblegateway.com and Crosswalk.com. You could import the NASB from either of these websites into e-Sword using this tool.

A couple of caveats:

1). The imports could be slow, depending upon your computer's speed and the speed of your internet connection (don't try this over a dial-up).
2). The legality (according to the author of the tool) is that as long as you have purchased either a printed copy of the translation or a copy of the translation for another bible program, you can import it into e-Sword.

 

I don't believe this is accurate in copyright law and the copyrights of these bibles. Purchasing a copyright document does not allow one to copy that text in other formats/media.

 

Here is the Biblegateway copyright info for the online version of the NIV.

 

I am only the messenger. Use the tool if you want.

The tool and several like it have been in existence for several years. I have used others that didn't work as well as the one I sent the link to. This is NOT clandestine software. There is an entire set of utilities and other tools that have been created for use with e-Sword from various users. This just happens to be one of them.

You can learn more about these other tools by joining the several e-Sword groups on Yahoo. Just do a search on Yahoo Groups for e-Sword and you will find several groups are there.

 

One thing that I would add is that Strong's is a concordance, not a lexicon. It lists the way that a word is used in a particular translation. In this case, the KJV. Young's Concordance lists the words in Young's Literal Translation.

Strong's is a handy tool to find which words are used where, but I would invest in a quality lexicon such as the BDAG, or if you're short on cash, the Analytical Greek Lexicon is pretty good.

If you have the money, go to www.gramcord.org and purchase their software. It comes with a decent lexicon, but the BDAG is still the standard.

BTW, if anyone is interested in gathering a group order for the gramcord software, drop me a PM. If we get a group of 10 or more, we can save $60 on each set.

 

Yes, a lexicon is a dictionary.

BDAG is a Greek-English NT lexicon by Bauer, revised by Danker. Bauer and Danker are the first two letters. I can't remember what the AG stand for. It is probably the standard greek NT Lexicon out there but unfortunately is not available in e-Sword.

One of the more popular Hebrew-English OT lexicons is BDB or Brown-Driver-Briggs which is available on e-Sword.

 

Found it.

BDAG stand for Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich.


If you are interested in the history, Walter Bauer's original edition in German was written in 1928 making several editions until his death in 1960. William Arndt and Wilbur Gingrich made a revision in 1957 often called the BAG, translating it to english as well. Arndt died after the first one in 1957 and Fredrick Danker took his place to create a second english version in 1979 called the BAGD. Gingrich died in 1993 and Danker solely edited the most recent version in 2000 called the BDAG.

 

ESV is similar to the NASB, and there is a KJV2000 and MKJV, both derived from the KJV.

 

The ASV was translated in 1901.

After the dominance of the KJV in the english world, one of the first english translations of the bible that was not simply a revision of the KJV was the English Revised Version in 1881. It was done in light of the discovery and analysis of critical texts that challenged the underlying manuscript basis of the KJV. The ERV was done in england.

The American Standard Version (ASV) was an american revision of the ERV in 1901 which was also the basis for the Revised Standard Version (RSV) in 1952 as well as the the New American Standard Bible (NASB) in 1961.

So one of the main differences is between the ASV and the NASV is 60 years. Both tend to be fairly formally equivalent (ie literal) with the ASV using older english because of its age.


Bible Researcher : American Standard Version
Bible Researcher : New American Standard Version

Oh and I guess I should add the the NASB that you are using is probably the 1995 NASB which tried to deal with some of the initial criticisms of the 1961 NASB of being awkward in english because of its emphasis on formal equivalence (ie literalism).