I've put off this review for years. Not because I
don't like the software, not even close.
The problem is that the software is so good that I fear I
can't do it justice. But I'll give it a shot.
Bible study isn't easy for me for a variety of reasons but
perhaps chief among them is that there's just so much "stuff" out there.
Millions of words have been written about the Bible and even with the Internet
sloshing through them and gathering them together in a cohesive manner is
pretty near impossible even with a freeform database.
SwordSearcher puts various Bible translations and commentaries into one of the best
crafted, well though out and cohesive bits of programming I've ever encountered.
Firstly it's a compendium of various Bible translations; King
James, King James with Strong's Lexicon Links, King James 1611 edition, Wycliffe
Translation, Tyndale Translation, Geneva, Bishops, American Standard, John
Darby, World English, Young's Literal and King James 2000.
All with instant search and ease of switching from one
translation to another. Or even compare translations.
Then there are the commentaries; Abbott, Barnes, Burkitt,
Calvin, Clarke, Darby, Gaebelein, Hole, Bill, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Keil and
Delitzsch, Larkin and another dozen or so.
And books and guides including Andrew Miller's Church History,
Great Preaching's of the Faith, How to Study the Bible, Spurgeon Sermons and The
Fundamentals. Along with another dozen or so.
Add in maps and illustrations.
Throw in searching, bookmarks, highlighting and the ability to
instantly look up a verse and access comments on that verse from any of the
above and you have the most comprehensive and easy to use Bible study assist you
could hope for. Every aspect has been figured and there's nothing you'd want to
do that you can't do.
Let's take a look:
Click on image to enlarge
The left pane shows the scripture along with linked commentary and the
bottom right shows the commentary for the relevant passage from the selected source. Click on another tab
for commentary from another source. Click on the "Bible" entry on the menu bar
and select the translations you would like to compare side by side.
There are other features as well. Click on "Devotional" in the menu bar and
select from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional or today's Proverb.
While the content is indeed impressive the elegance of how all the parts work
together is just plain impressive and I just can't do it justice.
Given that I hope this will pique your interest and I would strongly
encourage you to download
SwordSearcher demo and judge for yourself. The demo is only a sub-set of the actual program
content which is distributed on CD as, with all the material, it's a whopper,
but I think it will give you a good feel of how the programs works and an
appreciation for it's elegance.
Highly recommended. The full version of
SwordSearcher
will run you $59.95. It might be the best sixty bucks you've ever spent.
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