Biblical Hebrew Forum

["John Richards" <jhr AT universalist.worldonline.co.uk>]

Having struggled (eventually successfully!) to convert the OTA copy of the
eBHS to a useful Hebrew format, it has struck me that what I learned about
the process along the way might be of use to others who want to do the
conversion themselves. I therefore append below here a description of the
process written while it was still (painfully) fresh in my mind.

Conversion of the OTA copy of BHS for use in Windows

This file explains how to convert the ASCII text of the Oxford Text Archive
(OTA) copy of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) for use with the SIL
Fonts in a Windows word processor. Those wanting to do the equivalent for a
Mac will need to look elsewhere, or try to work it out along similar lines.

You will need
First of all, of course, you will need the OTA text of the BHS. This can be
obtained from the Oxford Text Archive site at

http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/

Click on "Search Catalogue" and enter "Biblia Hebraica" in the text box.
Before downloading the text you will have to agree to the copyright terms
that you are only going to use the text for "research use or educational
purposes". At present it only seems to be possible to download the text as a
straight ASCII text. There seems to be no ZIP form. The whole text is over
3Mb. Make sure it is saved in plain ASCII format. In my own experience the
right click Save As feature is not implemented, but I gather some have
managed to get it working.

You will also need the SIL Hebrew Font module for the SIL Ezra font, and the
(CC) utilities, both of which are obtainable from the SIL site at

http://www.sil.org/

You will find the SIL Hebrew Font module under Software/Windows, and the CC
files under Software/DOS. Although in this case it prepares text for use
under Windows, the CC program runs under DOS - either a DOS window, or right
back to DOS. When you download the SIL Hebrew Font System, make sure you
also get the "Additional Files". For these you may have to go on to the SIL
Hebrew Home page. The additional files are needed for some of the conversion
procedures.

When you unzip the SIL Hebrew Font System, it will automatically unzip the
file into different folders, but for conversion purposes you will find it
easiest to have all the CCT (Consistent Change control Text files) and the
copy of BHSASCII.TXT all together in one working folder.

Don't forget to install the fonts themselves.

Preparation of the BHS text

The CC converstion files expect the BHS text to be formatted slightly
differently from the way you will receive it from OTA. The text uses the
markers ~c ~x and ~y to indicate New Book, New Chapter and New Verse
respectively. These need to be on a separate line from the main text. This
can be most easily done perhaps in a word processor by using the Special
Paragraph symbols to be found in the Find and Replace feature of all word
processors. It is just as well to remove the introductory OTA text before
the first ~c of the actual Hebrew text at the same time. This will not be
wanted in the final Hebrew text. Make sure that the text is resaved in plain
ASCII format.

Once you have got all these files ready, you have a number of optional
alternative conversions, but for all of these you will need to be in a DOS
window and in the folder where you have put the necessary files. So,
supposing you have put all the files in a Folder with the name \CONVERT off
your root folder, you will need to type, once you are in DOS,

CD \CONVERT


For a Full Text with Vowels and Cantillation pointing

Type in each of the following commands. You have freedom, of course, to
choose the output names of the files, but until you are used to the program,
it would probably be wisest to stick to the ones suggested here. It is very
easy to get input and output file names confused.

1.  cc -t ota_cv.cct -o bhs.cv bhsascii.txt
2.   cc -t bhs2se.cct -o bhs.se bhs.cv
3. cc -t se2de.cct -o bhs.de bhs.se
4. cc -t r2l.cct -o bhs.txt bhs.de

The first of these steps adds the verse numbering, the second converts the
text to SIL encoding, the third tidies up the display and vowel positioning,
and the last converts it from L2R to R2L format.

You can now load the BHS.TXT file into a word processor, Select All, and
change the font to SIL Ezra.

For a Full Text with Vowel pointing

1.  cc -t ota_cv.cct -o bhs.cv bhsascii.txt
2. cc -t strip.cct -o bhs.str bhs.cv
3.   cc -t bhs2se.cct -o bhs.se bhs.str
4. cc -t se2de.cct -o bhs.de bhs.se
5. cc -t r2l.cct -o bhs.txt bhs.de

(Stage 2 strips out the cantillation marks.)

For a Full Text Unpointed

1.  cc -t ota_cv.cct -o bhs.cv bhsascii.txt
2.   cc -t bhs2se.cct -o bhs.se bhs.cv
3.   cc -t unpoint.cct -o bhs.unp bhs.se
4. cc -t se2de.cct -o bhs.de bhs.unp
5. cc -t r2l.cct -o bhs.txt bhs.de

(Stage 3 strips out all pointing.)

For a Full Text in Transliteration

(This produces a Left to Right text in Roman characters for use the SIL Heb
Trans font.)

1.  cc -t ota_cv.cct -o bhs.cv bhsascii.txt
2. cc -t strip.cct -o bhs.str bhs.cv
3.   cc -t bhs2se.cct -o bhs.se bhs.str
4.   cc -t interp.cct -o bhs.txt bhs.se

Final Editing

There are a few faulty long lines in the resultant text, due, it would seem,
to the omission of line breaks in the OTA text. Most people will probably
also want to insert meaningful English Book Headings. This can be done very
easily with a word processor. In spite of these minor blemishes however, the
resultant text is nonetheless of a very acceptable quality for almost all
purposes.

Note that the passages marked ** are not corruptions, but a rather contorted
way of indicating Kere/Kethib. The passages marked ] are also not
corruptions but editorial marks, as explained below.

****************************************************************************
******

SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
CODE MANUAL FOR THE MICHIGAN OLD TESTAMENT
by
Alan Groves
Westminster Theological Seminary
Philadelphia, PA 19118
Last Revised 6/7/89

EXPLANATION OF THE RIGHT-HAND BRACKET ']*'

(All bracketing has been done on the basis of the 1983 edition,
not the 1977 edition. Moreover, the Makor edition of the
codex was checked at all relevant points in determining the
need for a flag.)


]1 BHS has been faithful to the Leningrad Codex where there might
be a question of the validity of the form and we keep the same
form as BHS.

e.g. Deuteronomy 23:18 YI&RF)"L00]1 (missing silluq)

]2 We have added a sop pasuq where L and BHS omit it.

**********
(Special note: Formerly this category had a much broader range
and read as follows: "BHS has been faithful to the Codex where
there might be a question of the validity of the form and we
have abandoned BHS in order to code it differently." All
situations other than missing sop pasuqs have now been made to
conform to L and then labeled as ]1.
**********

]3 We read or understand L differently than BHS (1983 Edition).
Often this notation indicates a typographical error in BHS.

e.g. Genesis 6:22 ):ELOHI73YM]3

]4 Puncta Extraordaria -- a 52 is used to mark such marks in the
text when they are above the line and 53 when they are below
the line.

e.g. Genesis 18:9 )"52LF8052Y52W52]4

]5 Large letter(s)

]6 Small letter(s)

]7 Suspended letter(s)

]8 Inverted Nun (N]8 in the text)

]9 BHS has abandoned L and we concur. All of these occurrences
are ketib/qere problems.

]q We have abandoned or added a ketib/qere relative to BHS. In
doing this we agree with L against BHS.

e.g. Exodus 32:17 B.:/R:(O92H]q

]a Adaptations to a Qere which L and BHS, by their design, do not
indicate.

e.g. Exodus 4:2 **-Z.E74H]a

]y Yathir readings in L which we have designated as Qeres when
both Dothan and BHS list a Qere.

]m Miscellaneous notes to the text and occasions where more than
one bracket category applies.

****************************************************

Good luck.

John Richards