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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: "Karl M. Bunday" <kmbunday AT ms29.hinet.net>
  • To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>, "Michael Miles" <mwm AT zadok.net>
  • Subject: RE: Hebrew Bible Software & Text
  • Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 23:20:31 +0800


Dear Michael,

You asked,

> I currently use Logos morphologically tagged BHS (which you
> can almost
> always add a note to any character, which is nice),

I sure need to learn how to get more use out of my copy of Logos. How
have you learned about the program, by reading through the manual,
using the help screens, or studying at the feet of a mentor? I live in
Taiwan, and know FEW people here who can get much use out of Logos.

> BibleWorks 4.0, which uses the WTM and WTT

I just ordered BibleWorks 4.0 and was dismayed to see your message
about the lack of accents just before I placed my order. Oh well, I
can still get good use out of the grammatical tag search engine in
that product, I think. I teach Hebrew and need a more convenient way
of finding example sentences to show to my students than Logos
provides.

> and the 2.0 version of PCStudy Bible,
> which has the BHS designated as GBH.

Does that have any features that make it worth getting now that I have
the other two?

> None of these have accents or massorah magna or parva.

It's quite surprising none have the accents. I will make that a
suggestion for BibleWorks as a matter of product improvement.

> Is there software available that has this capacity? In a
> related vein, are there Hebrew fonts available with accents?

Most definitely. The Hebrew fonts available from Linguist's Software

http://www.linguistsoftware.com/

has the ability to display ANY Tiberian accent. I run into a few
glitches in using it under Chinese-language Windows, which are
documented in the program manual, but I expect it would work very well
indeed under English Windows. I can get the accent symbols I want
where I want them with that product.

> As well, as far as printed texts go, I have a Ginsburg
> Hebrew Bible 4 volume
> set and a Ginsburg/Bomberg, from the Trinitarian Bible
> Society, which
> appears to be essentially the same work, (a variation of
> V?), and am
> interested in procuring a facsimile of L and A, but was
> wondering if there
> are any other printed codices that would be befitting and
> necessary to take
> on the Hebrew at a greater depth?

The British and Foreign Bible Societies standard Hebrew Bible edited
by Norman Snaith has a text (based on medieval manuscripts) that is
slightly different from that of L (and thus BHS) and slightly
different from that of the standard printed Hebrew Bible (which is
essentially the same edition, reprinted over and over and over). There
is a Koren (I THINK that is the spelling) edition current in Israeli,
but I don't know what text underlies that edition. I saw it two weeks
ago in the possession of a Korean missionary living here in Taiwan,
who says he bought it in Israel. What I like about that edition are
the excellent maps it has, with topographic lines indicated. There are
many detail maps of Biblical events.

> While I'm here, I thought I'd ask about German and Latin
> dictionaries, as I
> speak neither, nor read such, and my works by Frensdorff
> (Massorah Magna,
> Das Buch Ochlah W'ochlah) are in German. What would be
> your recommendations
> to allow me to avoid the 'shotgun purchasing' approach to
> procurement of suitable Latin and German helps?

I'm pretty sure that the Oxford Dictionary is the best German
lexicography available for German-to-English, but I could be mistaken
in this, and alas I don't own that volume yet.

> What other literature would be of assistance? I have
> already the Massorah
> (4 volumes by Ginsburg), Revell's translation of Yeivin's
> Introduction to
> the Tiberian Masssorah, The Masorah of BHS by Kelley, A
> Simplified Guide to BHS by Scott,

I was rather disappointed by Scott's work. I didn't get the impression
he had any idea, for example, what role the Hexapla has in text
criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

> Wickes works on Accents, Understanding BHS by
> Wonneberger, and
> Wurthwein's work on The Text of the Old Testament,

You should definitely read anything you can get your hands on by
Emanuel Tov on text criticism of the Hebrew Bible. He is an excellent
writer, very good at giving clear examples of what he is talking
about.

> as well as a decently
> stocked library of grammars and lexiconal works. I have a copy of
> Introduction to the Massoretico-Critial Edition of the
> Hebrew Bible by
> Ginsburg on the way and it is my understanding that the
> work will be made
> available again soon through licensing by KTAV publishers..

I have access to Ginsburg in the library where I do most of my
research. I'd have to check Tov to see what aspects of that work have
been superseded by later scholarship.

> Please bear
> with me as I've no college and I'm teaching myself Hebrew
> out of books.

An admirable task! I'd appreciate your comments under a thread I hope
to open soon about what is desirable in a beginning Hebrew text. I
will probably have to write such a text for speakers of Chinese over
the next decade or so.

> I'm aware of Gerard Weil's work on the massorah of BHS, but
> have been unable to locate a copy.

I haven't seen a copy yet either. I can't remember if it's available
in the collection of my alma mater university library (across the
Pacific from here) or not.

> I've heard that Weil's work is
> incorporated into printed
> copies of the BHS. Is this true, and if so, what editions?

All editions of BHS have an apparatus that is Weil's basic work on the
massorah minor (mp). The work he did on the massorah magna, according
to Weil's own preface in BHS, was to be included in additional
volumes, which were in a sense regarded as additional volumes of BHS
besides the Biblical text proper. It is those volumes that I don't
recall seeing, and which Kelley's book says are out of print. I would
think that Kelley's book (which appears to be selling pretty well) on
the massorah might revitalize the market for the late Weil's books
enough to warrant a new printing. I'd probably buy them if they were
back in print.

> What of the BKS?

What is BKS? Am I just forgetting some abbreviation everyone knows, or
was that a slip of the keyboard on your part?

> I'm trying to get armed to the teeth so I don't have
> any glaring holes
> in my library and don't get caught short by omission.

Then you'll want to have Tov's books, for sure. This list would
suggest that more books about history and archaeology would be in
order, but I'll have to defer to others to suggest titles to you.

> I believe the massorah to hold more than many give it
> credit for and I'm
> willing to put in the time after my paying job to seek it out.

I'm still trying to evaluate what I'll be getting out of the massorah
as I check mp notes in BHS.

Karl M. Bunday "pray for us" 2 Thessalonians 3:1
P.O. Box 674, Panchiao 220, TAIWAN
http://learninfreedom.org






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