Earlier today I happened to check one of the administrative pages for the NET Bible website and added up the downloads for all the various free versions of the NET Bible available from the bible.org website: the HTML version, the Word doc version, e-Sword version, etc. I was surprised and pleased to note that in just under two years 273,578 free copies of the NET Bible in various forms have been downloaded.

Hopefully I will be able to start posting again after a 3-month pause. This pause was due to (1) my wife's recovery from major surgery in mid-May, and (2) 5 summer school courses in 10 weeks, including one D.Min. course on Computer Tools and Internet Resources for Biblical Exegesis, a course I have taught for some 6 years now with my friend and associate Matt Blackmon, now on the faculty of Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA, who for the last two years has flown to Dallas for a week to teach the course with me.

Over the past several decades there has been a lot of debate over the philosophy of translation of various recent English versions of the Bible. Generally this has centered around the two extremes of literal or word-for-word on the one hand (which has also been called "formal equivalence") and paraphrase on the other hand (formerly known as "dynamic equivalence," though today terms like "idiomatic translation," "closest natural equivalent," or "functional equivalence" are often used instead).

Last week Logos Bible Software announced the alpha release of the Mac version of their software. It is now available for download at http://www.macbiblesoftware.com/. Because this is an alpha release it's not recommended for downloading to your primary machine, and no support is provided, but for those who just simply can't wait and must be on the bleeding edge of technology, it's now available.

A great timesaver for Bible students who want to find things quickly on the web has been posted by Dr David Instone-Brewer, Senior Research Fellow in Rabbinics and the New Testament at Tyndale House, Cambridge, UK. Check it out at www.tyndalehouse.com/toolbar. This toolbar is a free addin for IE or Firefox for PC and Firefox for Mac (no other browsers supported yet).

I have just completed an interview on the NET Bible with Andy Cheung of Midlands Bible College, UK. They have posted the interview online at http://www.midbible.ac.uk/content/view/124/.

I just came across this article, "We Are the Web," by Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine. It's about 2.5 years old now, but it's a great history of where the Web has come from and where it's headed. In case you have not seen it before here's the link: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html

In an earlier post I mentioned that one major producer of Bible software actually suggested that aside from the Bible itself, major reference works like lexicons and grammars are about the only electronic resources one would want to use on a computer. Commentaries, individual books, and theological journals (just to name a few things) would continue to be used in printed form, not in electronic format. The article went on to suggest that because software companies go out of business and software formats change, a large investment in electronic resources for your computer did not make sense.

Deciding which Bible software program is right for you can be a daunting task. The previous post was mostly a history lesson, intended to show how we got to the present situation. Now, assuming you're new to the world of Bible software, the question is, "How to get started, and which path should I choose?" I will start with the situation of a complete beginner with no previous Bible software experience, and make some suggestions for this case.

In an earlier post I said that I would cover Bible software in future post(s). I realize it is going to take more than one to do this topic any justice at all. For several years now I have been teaching two courses on the use of software and Internet tools for New Testament exegesis (master's level elective) and for biblical exegesis (D.Min. level). Every year the list of available programs and resources gets longer. It's best to start with some basics.