BHS, NA27, UBS4, LXX, Vulgate Available Online

academic-bible.com provides free access to the original Bible texts in Greek and Hebrew, published by the German Bible Society, in addition to English and German Bible translations.  The is a nice resource for access to these text, especially if you do not have access to them in another Bible software package.

The following editions are currently available:

• Hebrew Old Testament following the text of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

• Greek New Testament following the text of the Novum Testamentum Graece (ed. Nestle-Aland), 27. Edition

• Greek Old Testament following the text of the Septuagint (ed. Rahlfs/Hanhart)

• Latin Bible following the text of the Vulgate (ed. Weber/Gryson)

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In addition, you can access the following translations:

• the German translation following Luther, Revised 1984

• the King James English translation 

• The NETBible 

You will also find an online Bible Lexicon.

While you are visiting the site, check out the free download of Textual Research on the Bible: An Introduction to the Scholarly Editions of the German Bible Society.

Be sure to Register in order to gain full access to the contents of this website.  Registration is free and simple.

HT: James Hamilton at For His Renown

BHS, NA27, UBS4, LXX, Vulgate Available Online

A Reader's Greek & Hebrew Bible Giveaway at Koinonia

Hebrew + Greek Bible Giveaway

from Koinonia by Zondervan

Does this describe you:
• You’ve learned the basic syntax of Bible languages
• You know some basic vocab
• But the less common words? No, you don’t know ketem from katalambano. A Bible that defines the uncommon words might be hepful...

If that’s you, you are in luck...

WE'RE GIVING AWAY FIVE OF A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible (See how to enter at bottom of this post)

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Go to the Koinonia blog to learn how to enter this giveaway.

See my highlights, reviews, and interviews:

• A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible
• A Reader's Hebrew Bible Reviewed in RBL 
• 3 Reader's Editions of the Greek New Testament
• View all under the Biblical Languages label.

A Reader's Greek & Hebrew Bible Giveaway at Koinonia

Sing and Learn New Testament Greek

Some time last year, I won a giveaway from Shaun Tabbat who blogs at Bible Geek Gone Wild.  Along with a couple of other books, Shaun sent to me Kenneth Berding's Sing and Learn New Testament Greek.  I didn't realize how effective this sing-along method would be.  The up-beat tempo of the music and the familiarity of all of the tunes was a hit with my children, even though they didn't have much of a clue about what they were singing.

Well, this evening we were in the minivan headed to the first meeting of the missions conference at church when I mentioned that our speaker is from Greece and that he might say some things in Greek.  Out of the blue, my son, Asa, said that he knew the Greek alphabet and he proceeded to sing the tune we learned months ago when we last listened to this CD.  That was months ago, if you didn't catch that, and he remembered it nearly perfectly.  I was amazed!  I wish that I had used a tool like this way back when I was studying Greek.

Well, I definitely need to brush up on my Greek.  When we got home, Asa found the CD and we have been listening to it again.  Maybe listening to this with the kids will help me re-learn the declension tables.

Great stuff!

View this short video introduction by Kenneth Berding (or watch it on the Zondervan web page).

Listen to the Alphabet here.

The Amazon page provides a link for you to be able to purchase and download this from Audible.com.

Sing and Learn New Testament Greek

Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible

Browsing Christian Book Distributor's website I found that Zondervan is planning a combined Hebrew & Greek Reader's Bible. We have highlighted these tools under the Biblical Languages category. Here are some details about this forthcoming volume from Zondervan's website. It's going to be BIG but possibly lighter (see specs below)!

A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible
Coming April 2010

By: A. Philip Brown II, Bryan W. Smith, Richard J. Goodrich, Albert L. Lukaszewski

Format: Bonded Leather, Black
List Price: $74.99 (USD)
ISBN: 0310325897, ISBN-13: 9780310325895

Description:
Based on customer feedback, Zondervan is pleased to offer this fine-grain black European leather Bible, which combines the widely-used A Reader’s Greek New Testament and A Reader’s Hebrew Bible. Ideal for students, pastors, and instructors familiar with the biblical languages, A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible saves time and effort in studying the Bible. Definitions for Greek and Hebrew words that occur less frequently appear as footnotes on every page, allowing the user to read the text quickly and to focus on parsing and grammatical issues (rather than paging through lexicons!).

Features include:

• Beautiful fine-grain black European leather with gold gilded edges and 2 marker ribbons
• Complete text of the Hebrew and Aramaic Bible using the Leningrad Codex (minus critical apparatus)
• Greek text underlying Today’s New International Version (with footnotes comparing wherever this text is different from the UBS4 text)
• Footnoted definitions of all Hebrew words occurring 100 times or less (twenty-five or less for Aramaic words) with context-specific glosses
• Shaded Hebrew names that occur less than 100 times
• Footnoted definitions of all Greek words occurring 30 times or less
• Lexicons of all Hebrew words occurring more than 100 times and Greek words occurring more than 30 times
• 8 pages of full-color maps separate the OT and NT sections

Book & Bible Cover Size: Large
Page Count: 2256

Paper Edge Description: Gold Gild
Weight: 1 lb | 453 gms (Amazing! I've got to see this to believe it!

Both of these volumes are tremendously helpful. I have enjoyed my two Readers. Check it out!

Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible

RBL Review of The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition

Steven R. Johnson, review of Barclay M. Newman, ed., The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition, Review of Biblical Literature (2008).

This is a very nice review which includes some important details for those interested in making the best use of this new tool. Steven R. Johnson is Assistant Professor of Religion at Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA. Here are a few of his concluding remarks.

Caveats aside, the publication of the Reader’s Edition is good news. It can be an excellent tool for pastors wanting to maintain or revive their facility in Greek for the purpose of reading the New Testament and for scholars and advanced students of Greek who desire to sit down and simply read the New Testament. Further, provided that they use the Reader’s Edition as it is intended, intermediate-level Greek students might benefit from the Reader’s Edition most of all.

Related Resources -

• Greek NT Reading Program
• My own brief bulleted Review of the UBSGNT:re with a comparison between RGNT1, RGNT2 and UBS:RE
  
• 3 Reader's Editions of the Greek New Testament
  

RBL Review of The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition

Greek New Testament Reading Program

Jim Hamilton (For His Reknown) posted praiseworthy comments of Lee Irons' Annual Greek Reading Program. I've looked over this and love it. In his explanation of this schedule, Irons asks the student to set aside at least 30 minutes per day to do this. He also recommends reading from a hardcopy text and having a notebook and pencil at hand for note taking. Per the calendar, today and tomorrow are free days. Sunday the 1st of June picks up in the middle of John 18.

I've been reading my UBSGNTre on a periodic basis and when I work on sermon prep. I'm going to try out this calendar to see if I can maintain a more consistent schedule. I hope that you'll consider this too!

Here are some highlights from Irons' Introduction to the reading program with pertinent links.

Annual Greek Reading Program (PDF 2 pp.)
Read-Greek Calendar 2008 (PDF 1 p.)

The Program
There are 260 chapters in the Greek New Testament. Of these, 74 chapters are 38 verses or longer: Matt 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 21-27; Mark 1, 4-6, 8-10, 12, 14, 15; Luke 1-12, 18-24; John 1, 4-13, 18, 19; Acts 2, 5, 7-10, 13, 15, 16, 19-21, 27; Rom 8; 1 Cor 7, 14, 15; Heb 10, 11. To read the Greek New Testament in a year, read one chapter per day. Chapters that are 38 verses or longer may be divided and read over two days. This method yields a total of 334 (260 + 74) daily readings. It also allows you to take 31 days off each year.

Texts and Tools

• The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader’s Edition. Running Greek-English dictionary by Barclay M. Newman. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007.
• Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich (BDAG). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Third Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
• My “Greek Syntax Notes,” available at www.upper-register.com.

• Introduction (PDF 2 pp.)
• Matthew (PDF 13 pp.)
• Mark (PDF 12 pp.)
• Luke (PDF 15 pp.)
• John (PDF 11 pp.)
• check Upper-Register Papers for periodic installments.

See you on the beach with your Greek NT! :)

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Related Posts:
3 Readers Editions of the Greek New Testament (RGNT1, RGNT2 & UBSGNT:re)
Book Review: The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition

Greek New Testament Reading Program

Update: Two Reader's Bibles

I would like to thank Hendrickson Publishers and Zondervan for sending review copies of The UBS Greek New Testament: Reader's Edition and A Reader's Hebrew Bible, respectively. For about three weeks, now, I've been using these tools with profit. For me, these tools are nearly perfect. I say "nearly perfect", not to fault the tools, but the laborer. I took four semesters of NT Greek during my undergraduate years (nearly 12 years ago), and two semesters of Hebrew on the seminary level (nearly 6 years ago). In other words, I've forgotten much of the vocabulary. However, these appear to be the right tools to help me get back up to speed as I consider resuming my seminary studies.

I've begun using RHB by reading through Jonah & Judges. Yesterday, I spoke with Bryan Smith about this and he also suggested the first few chapters of Genesis. One other profitable practice is carrying RHB to church (especially if you know that you will be considering an OT text). The size of RHB is such that I carry a smaller English translation.

This morning I read with joy an email update from Zondervan Academic which included the following note from Jesse Hillman, Associate Director of Marketing, Academic and Reference Resources:

We just ordered our third printing of A Reader's Hebrew Bible! Numerous professors are writing us to express their excitement. Last week, Professor Michael Williams (Calvin Theological Seminary) wrote us, commenting that the RHB "is clear, attractive, and uncomplicated ... I will be highly recommending it to all of my Hebrew students."

With regards to UBSGNT:re, I've been reading through Romans as I study for preaching opportunities. One point I would like to stress about using Reader's Editions is that you use the vocabulary and parsing helps as a guide only. I've already found one instance in Romans 6 where a verb glossed on a previous page as an imperative was glossed again as an imperative when it actually is an indicative. I don't expect that to happen often, but a Reader's Edition is not intended to make one a lazy student. It is simply to help you increase your familiarity with the language and your speed of reading. I'm very pleased with the format of the UBSGNT:re. It is larger than my UBS4 edition but the same size as my hardback Literary Study Bible. I can carry them both together very comfortably.

I hope that you, too, will consider these new tools. Here are links to some posts that are packed with comparative details and descriptions of these tools.

Hebrew Reader -

• Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew Bible edited by Philip Brown & Bryan Smith
• Q&A with Philip Brown: A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part One
• Q&A with Philip Brown: A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part Two
• Q&A with Bryan Smith: A Reader's Hebrew Bible
• A Reader's Hebrew Bible: Preview
  

Greek Readers -

• 3 Readers Editions of the Greek New Testament (RGNT1, RGNT2 & UBSGNT:re)
  

Update: Two Reader's Bibles

Review: The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition

Today, I received a review copy of The UBS Greek New Testament. A Reader's Edition (courtesy of Hendrickson Publishers). Having had a chance to handle this volume I've been able to complete my comparison chart (click here and/or see below)

Here are a few observations.

1. It is larger than my UBS4, but it is about the same size as my English Bibles. Comparing it to my ESV Literary Study Bible, it is nearly the same height and width and about 1/4" thinner.
2. The page thickness is excellent. It is not the thin onion skin paper found in many other Bibles. There is very little bleed-through. This is tolerable!
   
3. The font is very readable. Chapter numbers are large and bold. Verse numbers are bold and easily distinguished from the footnote reference numbers. (See this excerpt.)
   
4. The page formatting is crisp and clean. I feel at home here because the formatting is so similar to my UBS4. There is approximately 7/8" margin on the outside edges.
5. The supplemented lexicon is simple and easy to use.
6. The maps take up the final four pages and, thankfully are not used as endpages as they are in the UBS4 standard text edition.

I'm very pleased with this edition and have already begun reading in it. I recommend this to intermediate students of Biblical Greek.

• Purchase:
• List Price: $69.95
• WTS ($43.37) | CBD ($42.99) | Amazon ($44.07)

Reader's Greek New Testament Comparison

		RGNT1	RGNT2	UBS:RE

Cover Leather Italian Duo-Tone leather Hardcover Ribbon NO NO YES Size Height 9.2" 10" 9.33" Width 5.9" 7" 6.22" Thickness 0.7" 1.1" 1.3125" Nbr of Pages 587 576 732 Paper Weight very thin very thin thin Color White White White Weight 1 lb 1.415 lb 2 lbs Text Underlying text for NIV Underlying text for TNIV USB4 Font Italic Non-Italic Non-Italic Stroke thin thin thick, clear English Section Headings NO NO YES Footnoted Glosses Format Paragraph Paragraph Two Columns Number of Occurrences 30x or less 30x or less 30x or less Repetition on Same Page YES YES NO Names Included YES YES NO

Parsing NO NO YES Declension NO NO YES OT References YES YES NO Comparison with UBS4 YES YES NO Apendices Maps NONE 4 pages full-color Std UBS full-color Lexicon (words 30x or more) NO 6 pages 22 pages Cost (List Price) $29.99 $34.99 $69.95

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See also my previous post entitled 3 Reader's Editions of the Greek New Testament.

Review: The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition

3 Reader's Editions of the Greek New Testament

While discussing Zondervan's A Reader's Hebrew Bible with Philip Brown and Bryan Smith, I noticed that comparisons were drawn between RHB and Zondervan's A Reader's Greek New Testament. The more we discussed the benefits of RHB the more I came to realize how useful these tools will be for students and pastors.

I have done a good bit of research on the reader's edition Greek New Testaments available on the market and have found the following information:

1. Thus far, Zondervan has published two editions of RGNT.
1. A Reader's Greek New Testament (RGNT1), edited by Richard J. Goodrich & Albert L. Lukaszewski (April 2003)
• Features:
• Leather Bound
• The underlying text of the NIV
• Italic Greek font (click on the pic to enlarge)
• Footnoted definitions of all Greek words occurring 30x or less
• As you will see from the previous pic, the editors chose to include names as vocab. For an intermediate student, the target audience of this tool, this is unnecessary. (The UBS edition skips these names.)
  
• Footnotes offering comparisons with UBS4 (click on the pic to enlarge
• OT references are noted in a separate apparatus at the bottom of the page (click on the pic to enlarge)
• 608 pages
• 9.2" x 5.9" x 0.7"
• 1 lb
• 4 page excerpt
  
• Purchase:
• List Price: $29.99
• WTS ($18.89) | CBD ($21.99) | Amazon ($29.99)
  



2. A Reader's Greek New Testament, 2nd Edition (RGNT2), edited by Richard J. Goodrich & Albert L. Lukaszewski (November 2007)
   
• Features:
• Italian Duo-Tone cover
• The underlying text of the TNIV
• Non-italic Greek font
  
• Footnoted definitions of all Greek words occurring 30x or less
• A superscripted number follows each word to be found in the footnotes
• This superscripted number follows every appearance of every word occurring 30x or more (click on the pic to enlarge)
• According to this strategy, as seen in the previous pic, words situated close together share the same footnote number. However, words appearing a few words apart or more are assigned a new footnote number. (click on the pic to enlarge)
  This is carried over into the footnotes section where the same definition will be repeated multiple times. To me, this is an unfortunate redundancy. (The editors of the RHB sought to remedy this problem. The UBS edition also has a solution.) (click on the pic to enlarge)
• Footnotes offering comparisons with UBS4
• OT references are noted in a separate apparatus at the bottom of the page
  
• Includes a mini-lexicon of words occurring 30x or more
• Based on Warren C. Trenchard's Complete Vocabulary Guide to the Greek New Testament
• Four pages of full-color maps
• 576 pages
• 7" x 10" x 1.1"
• 1.415 lb
• 7 page excerpt
  
• Reviews:
• Rick Mansfield (The Lamp) - A Reader's Greek New Testament, 2nd Edition: Hands On Review
• Rick Brannan (ricoblog) - Reader's Greek New Testament Smackdown!
  
• Purchase:
• List Price: $34.99
• CBD ($27.99) | Amazon ($23.09)



2. Hendrickson has also published a Reader's NT with the standard UBS text.
1. The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition, edited by Barclay Newman (December 2007)
• Features:
• Burgundy Hardcover
• UBS 4th edition text edited by Barbara Aland, et al.
• Word definitions adapted from Barclay Newman's Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament
• Two-column, footnoted definitions of all Greek words occurring 30x or less
• Some parsing and declension provided
• Translations given according to context (click on the pic to enlarge)
• Section headings
• An appended dictionary of all words occurring 30x or more
• Maps from the UBS Greek New Testament
  
• 732 pages
• 9.33" x 6.22"
  
• 6 page excerpt
  
• Reviews:
• Rick Mansfield (The Lamp) - The UBS Greek New Testament: A Reader's Edition (A Hands-On, Comparative Review)
  
• Rick Brannan (ricoblog) - Reader's Greek New Testament Smackdown!
• Purchase:
• List Price: $69.95
• WTS ($43.37) | CBD ($42.99) | Amazon ($44.07)

Here is a chart comparing the features of these three Reader's. (click on the pic to enlarge)

3 Reader's Editions of the Greek New Testament