Free e-Sword Greek and Haitian modules

Back when I was taking Greek classes, we were too poor to afford anything as nice as BibleWorks (which is great for exegesis). For my daily Bible computing needs, I used e-Sword.

e-Sword is a excellent free Bible program. The modules are based on Microsoft Access so you can build your own modules if need be. Some modules with copyrighted materials can be purchased from third parties (Rick Meyers, who wrote the program, doesn't sell anything). It is donation based and I believed enough in it that I gave even during our poor seminary days; I would encourage you to donate as well if you use it.

That said, I built several e-Sword modules. For example, I owned both the NASB and NIV in other formats and converted them to e-Sword myself. Once they became available for purchase, however, I could not use them in good conscience. However, the following modules are redistributable.

Haitian
I put together the Haitian Créole Bible for a missionary brother in Haiti. The install will locate your e-Sword folder and extract directly to it; just restart e-Sword to see the Haitian modules.

Greek
When I was studying Greek, I could not find a usable, free version of the Nestle-Aland text offline. So, I found the CCAT text (about NA26 text) and Nestle-Aland 26th edition module (original ZIP package). Later, I discovered that I did not use final sigmas for the text, but I was willing to live with it. A user by the name of Bruno Neuckermans
figured out what password I used and fixed them.

So, if you want the NA26 module, download my original ZIP and extract the contents to your e-Sword directory. You may want to (maybe even should) download Bruno's corrections to overwrite my module. The NA26-.BBL file will give you hints to help in translation, but won't do all the work for you.

This BBL module contains the text with diacritcal marks and punctuation, but not the critical apparatus. You may want to use this in conjunction with the e-Sword module GNT-V for basic textual criticism, but I recommend you buy a hard copy of the UBS4, with the dictionary.

P.S. Even if you re-upload the file to another site,
please link back to this post in case
there are any updates, like Bruno's. Thanks.

My final class session

I am attending my final seminary class, listening to my fellow students expound on Scripture and the finer points of some of the Hebrew text from Genesis.

From a couple years up until now I have felt the strain of completing my degree, but eased by the support of my wife. Now that my formal education is coming to a close, I am beginning to feel the joy of completion!

Commencement is on Friday at 2:00 P.M. The timing precludes the attendance of most of my friends and family; that is O.K. with me. The commencement ceremony itself is the end of my academic career, but the beginning (or commencement) of all which God has planned for Cathy and me. That is what I look forward to, most of all.

Graduation is around the corner!

Last night, I did my very last assignment for my MDiv degree. It is finally starting to sink in, and I'm quite happy!

I noted with amusement that I was the class of 2000 for my undergraduate degree, and will be in the centennial class for my graduate degree.

I should be getting those grad announcement cards any day now, so I'll have to mail those quickly. Most of my tech-savvy friends read the blog, so if you're reading, you're invited; send me an email and I'll send you directions.

It's been seven years! I graduate on 12/14/2007, just a few days after my 34th birthday. Thank God!

Another Quick Update

Gah! Another week has gone by, and no post. I asked Cathy what's new with her, and that's "nothing."

For me, I finally broke down and bought a desk for me to use while studying. Ikea had a sale, so I bought a desk and chair for $150 (pictured, kitten not included).

The photo also gives you a clue as to why I'm so busy... it's been 12 months since I took my first Hebrew class, and I've resumed lessons yesterday. The class is starting at chapter 17... I've only re-read chapters one through ten. *sigh*

Oh, and I installed Vista Ultimate on Monday. It only took 40 minutes. I'll say more about that tomorrow. Gotta review my pronominal suffixes...

I should graduate next year

The light at the end of the academic tunnel is now appearing. I have one more heavy semester remaining, where I will take 4 classes totally 9 units (one class is 0 units, go figure). One of the classes has never been offered outside of the middle of the workweek, and I have been waiting to take that class literally for years. My boss has been very understanding, and is going to allow me to make arrangements to take that class.

So, tomorrow I see my academic advisor to confirm I can graduate in Fall 2007. If I can get all my classes and have my electives approved, I'll only have one Hebrew class for the Fall semester. Yeah!

Lee's Seminary Schedule

Well, I got my class schedule figured out for the rest of the year. I still have to petition to get into one class and three other classes require a signature to get in. If it all works out.

Classes, Remodeling, and Church Size

I spent Saturday in Theology class. The teacher is impressively well-prepared, and his syllabus is fill-in-the-blank format. When I have tauch classes myself, this is the method I use, so I'm very comfortable with the lectures. I'm not sure I'm actually in the class yet as the room is at capacity... but we'll see.

Cathy is currently on a liquid diet. Her shots normally cause rashes on her back or limbs, but this week's shot caused no epidermal problems, but gave her several sore spots on her tongue. As a result, Cathy is finding it difficult to chew, so she's been on a liquid diet. Even chocolate milk shakes get old after three days!

I dropped by Chris & Laura's after dinner on Saturday to help with some kitchen moulding... it was half-done when I had to leave for Baskin-Robins' (for Cathy's milk-shake dinner), so I return Sunday afternoon to help them finish up. All the moulding is done, the doors are attached, the hood is venting to the chute, the dishwasher works and the stove is operational! It looks very nice. They'll be tiling the walls, so I'm hoping to learn some skills participating in that regard.

Sunday service was very nice. I actually thouhgt I was early for church but I arrived five minutes late. The message was very well-delivered. After the service I joined a meeting for the media ministry. It was very enjoyable to sit around a table of people with a common purpose who dealt humbly with each other, looking to work together. My technical counterpart, Forrest, looks to be a mature individual with more database experience than I. We may have to switch hosting plans ($2 more a month), but I think we'll have all the feautres the media director wants.

After vacuuming and dusting a home for hours (I'm slow), I dropped by Chris & Laura's. Aside from helping out, I also borrowed Smallville season 4, which Cathy & I will work through in the coming weeks. :-)

I've had a couple of thoughts about churches since attending interning:

1. larger churches have more money (duh)
   
2. larger churches have more complicated problems
   
3. larger churches have paid staff
   
4. larger churches move slower

A 500-memeber church doesn't have 5 times the budget of 100-member church, it actually has less overhead. In other words, if it costs $12,000 to maintain a 100-member church, it doesn't cost $60,000 to maintain 500 members... it actually costs less. I found this to be interesting. The more money you have, the smaller the fraction that gets taken up by overhead.

However, problems become more interesting... the congregation is not homogenous, so your problems are more complicated. Each sub-group of a church now has more felt needs... so designing just a church web page isn't enough, you have to design a section for the youth. You have parking problems, licensing concerns... yikes.

Oh, yeah... the thing that continues to amaze me is that larger churches can afford to pay people to perform the functions I have done for so long. People actually make a living ministering the gospel, or doing IT for a church. Wow.

Finally, larger churches seem to move slower. In other words, you can't just say, "let's designh a church web site"... it has to be worked out, done on paper, the approved by the elders... The last two church sites I did went like this: "Hey, we need a church web site." "I'd be willing to do that." "Great, get on it." "OK, how's this look?" "That's pretty good! Can we add this?" "Sure."

Well, one thing I'll learn is working in a team, and another thing I'll learn is patience. :-)

Move Towards Your Enemy

Two tips from an otherwise boring Valentine's Day class... "Move towards your enemy" and "Let's try it."

People Get Paid as Pastors!

People actually get paid to do the ministries I am involved in!

It seemed like a "duh" to Cathy, but I was stuck by the fact that people get paid for full-time ministry work. The associate pastor I'm meeting, Justin, actually has an office and a full-time job as a pastor. I'm so accustomed to performing various spiritual and technical functions for free that I forgot people get paid for such things.

That may seem weird coming from a man who intends to make his living from ministry to the church... but I honestly forgot. It occurs to me that, one day, I may actually switch occupations, not just become more trained to do what is in my heart to do. I was even planning on working 40 hours a week at my current job, and still try to pastor at a church.

Of course, any career change is far in the future... but it is a curious sensation, realizing I could make ends meet just doing the ministry. Wow.

F.O.R.M. for Breaking the Ice

F.O.R.M. is the acronymn that my Field Ed professor uses to break the ice with strangers. It stands for:

Family
Occupation
Religion
Message

Good points to hit when making new friends. Probably good for salesmen, too, and I suppose pastors are salesmen in a sense.

Classes Begin!

As I previously mentioned, Cathy's not confident she can continue to work at Biola for an extended period of time. She enjoys her job (so long as she's busy), but we would both like for her work at home, if possible. It was thus that I met with my academic counselor and the registrar last week. Together, we discovered that my fiasco last year probably set me back three semesters, instead of the two semesters I spent attempting a hybrid ciriculum. I may only have two semesters left for classes, I may have to cut out my classes and switch from MDiv to M.A.

There's a good chance I'll get into most of the classes available to me this semester. I have five required classes before I graduate, and I am attempting to get into three this week. There's a good chance I'll get two, if not all three, of the classes I need.

I am concerned about the 1-unit class I am registered for. There's 6~7 books required and the workload promises to be quite high.

Why Is She Called "Eve", Anyway?

Curiosity question: why is Eve called "Eve"? I read Genesis 2-10 this morning, and it just kinda hit me... we're not pronouncing Eve's name right. Why not?

Yes, studying Hebrew has reinterested me in reading the Hebrew Bible. And aside from being nerdy, why do I care what we call Eve? Did you know that devout Jews will not utter the name of God out loud for fear of mispronouncing it? All those times the KJV refers to "the LORD" are actually God's Name (which is not vowel-pointed in Hebrew, either since you're not supposed to pronounce it).

In my many translation excercises, I came across Genesis 3:20

And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

This one actually threw me for a loop, because chav-vah looked like a pronominal form of "to live"... like "her life". I realized from the rest of the sentence (Adam's wife... hmm...) what the word must be, but just pronouncing it, it would sound more like 'khav-vah'.

It seems that the Hebrew would be closer to Kavah rather than Eve, so why "eve"? I emailed my Hebrew professor about it, but did a little digging myself.

Eve is only mentioned by name four times in the Bible (five times if you're Catholic). Since the Hebrew is nothing like Eve, I thought the blame must lie with Greek. Well, the Septuagint (LXX) has "Zoe" in Genesis. The Greek in the New Testment is closer to "eve" but even doesn't sound right.

So, I wondered if Latin was to blame? I looked up the Vulgate and it has "Hava" in Genesis and "Eva" in the New Testament.

Genesis 3:20
Latin - hava
Hebrew - chavvah
Greek - zωη

1 Timothy 2:13
Latin - eva
Greek - ευα

My conclusion, tentatively, is that we call Adam's wife "Eve" instead of "Khava" because of the Latin Vulgate's rendition of her name in 1 Timothy 2:13 and 2 Corinthians 11:3. Perhaps the New Testament was favored during the time English translations were written, and the tradition of the Latin name determined how we refer to the mother of all the living.

Whew! That was Easy!

I've been sick (feeling about 90% now) and went back to work today. We had our Hebrew final exam tonight, and our professor set really high expectations for our final... we had to 40% to pass the course.

That sounded like a REAL difficult test, but it turned out to be an easy exam. We were merely tested on the basics. Apparently the department chairman writes the final to make sure we're actually learning. Ah... sweet relaxation!

Second Preaching Attempt

Here are some thoughts on how I can improve my preaching..

Sory about the delay

Sorry about the delay in updates... I can always tell when I'm not posting enough, because people start emailing and calling to see how Cathy is feeling and how things are going.

Let's see... for those emailing about Vito the kitten, I'm sad to say that he has been adopted. We got him fixed on two Fridays ago, and the very next day he was snatched up about an hour after the shelter opened. He's a cute one, Vito (whatever his name is now).

Malachi (our tabby) has apparently picked up fleas (!), although none of the other cats have it. I think the last time we applied flea meds we messed her dose up. Poor thing...

Cathy's conition has shifted. I'd say "improved" but it has really only changed. It used tobe that she would feel real lousy Friday evening, lousy on Saturday, bad on Sunday, and start recovering on Monday. Her new routine is ok on Friday, lousy Saturday A.M. but kinda O.K. evenings, repeat for Sunday and Monday, and just really tired the rest of the week. Cathy says she prefers this, if she can address the fatigue.

I've been offline because of my sermon class, finishing the remodel on apartment one (they're moving in Tuesday), and trying to stay sane. I've got a Hebrew exam on Monday the 21st, so this week ain't looking so good, either. I'll try to sneak some time during breaks at work to keep up the posting schedule, though.

I got my sermon evaluation back. Basically, I didn't give enough verbals clues for the shift in thoughts, but on paper it looked really good. I've got another shot at getting my sermon critiqued in December, so I'm looking to pick a hard-to-preach text (any ideas?) so I can learn from any mistakes I make.

Uh... my high school graduating class found me (hi guys) so I'm being practially mail-bombed. I've had to create mail filters just to follow the conversations and keep my mailbox straight. I haven't got time to contribute on the geek side for the next week; I feel bad, but keeping up is about all I can do right now... :-)

Oy. My lovely wife is reminding me that scheduled periods of unconsciousness is beneficial to my health. Night-night.

The Birth of a Sermon

The Birth of a Sermon
Ever wondered what a sermon preparation process is like? Here’s an example of a very rushed sermon preparation process. I had already decided to preach on 1 Timothy 4:16. Hopefully, it will make for an interesting read for you.
Monday Date: Oct 31 2005 - 8:40pm (2.5 hours / 2.5 hours)
I have Hebrew class on Mondays. I have a 25 minute drive, and while driving home this night I began planning for the next week or so. As I started filling out my mental schedule, I realized I'm preaching in five days for my sermon class!

I maintained the speed limit for the duration of my commute and arrived home in a mild panic. I told Cathy to give me lots of unstructured time until Saturday… she was very understanding.

After spending some time panicking quietly, I calmed down by printing out the immediate context (1 Timothy 4) in several English versions (NIV, NASB, KJV, NLT, NET) as well as in Greek. Started outlining the entire chapter for the study.

Finding epece to be a real problem… the translations tend to render this word differently. The original word, ep-ekh'-o, can mean

• to have or hold upon, apply, to observe, attend to


• to give attention to


• to hold towards, hold forth, present


• to check


• delay, stop, stay

I think “hold forth” fits better with the context of Timothy being required to set an example, but “give attention to” would also be important. I have to print from the NIV, so the different nuances may be irrelevant to this verse.

I realized that I must get up at 6 tomorrow, and I must sleep in order to be productive tomorrow. I go to bed at 11:30 pm.

I read a short devotional but drift off to sleep thinking of 1 Tim 4:16. While drifting off to sleep, feel convicted by the passage I am studying…
Tuesday Date: Nov 1 2005 - 6:40am
While driving to work this morning, I was once again convicted by the passage. I confessed inadequacies to God, especially in light of the passage I am studying. Gotta work…
1:00pm
Over lunch I examined the passage and considered preaching verse 15 and 16 are together. Verse 15 refers to 11-14 (“these matter”). I considered the matters pointed out… I may enumerate the properties Paul points on in verse 12, but explaining it may take too much time.
Afternoon
Between customer calls, I looked up library holdings for commentaries on the passage. I found a total of total of eight volumes and two articles that I planned on utilizing. My shift ended at 4 pm, and immediately after work I went to the library. . I gathered the books that were available and used my digital camera to photocopy the pages. I went home and converted the photos into PDF files for reading (using freeware, of course).
Evening
I outlined the passage biblically, tracking the flow of thought on paper and determining the meaning. This is exacting but not difficult… it is only a matter of diligence and respected for the text.

I tackled the hard part… finding the timeless truth of the passage and outlining the text’s flow of thought. Every passage that offers instruction is answering an implied question. Struggled with finding the right question to ask (like Bible Jeopardy) in order to cover all that the text addresses… Finally arrived at the question I will ultimately imply in my introduction, the need I will raise which the text addresses. This will be the sermon’s central truth.

Continued to outline... the structure of the timeless message was beginning to form. Getting tired, though… before preparing for bed, I skimmed a couple of commentaries, which did not yield much insight (perhaps too tired to notice).
Wednesday Date: Nov 2 2005 - 4:30pm
I got off work at 4 pm again and headed to school. I spent some time going through the commentaries I converted to PDF previously. I also added two more commentaries to the stack. Some of them have some useful insights, mostly deeper insights than my observations. There is no vast difference between my views and the commentaries, so I am done with the observations of great men who came before me.

I will need to complete the sermonic outline tonight… I did not prepare for my Hebrew class and do not feel like I can focus on it… I asked a fellow student to use my digital recorder and hang on to it for me. I’ll need to write the sermon tonight if possible... or at least start.
Evening
I typed up an extended outline and began filling out the body of the sermon
I  realized at 09:30 PM that I CAN DO THIS
it's a skill... anybody can learn to write a good sermon
at 10:45 I realized that I was more concerned with preaching well than a grade
I suppose that is a good thing
I also realized that my sermon is not producing the same conviction the passage had on me... bummer
Thursday Date: Nov 4 2005 - 2:00pm
went home early and finalized outline. Malachi was sick, very distracting!
started writing sermon
found introduction difficult
found conclusion even more so!
wrote out basic sermon
went back and restated main points
quit at 1 AM... sermon is basically done, although I am not pleased with it

I learned a lot, which is the point, but I think my sermon won't do the text justice
Friday Date: Nov 4 2005 - 2:00pm
I took the morning off and sleep almost 7 hours.
finished off conclusion, emailed document to professor
it took me forever to document the resources I referenced!

tonight - I will practice the sermon for an hour or two... !
Evening
I practiced several times, first just reading the manuscript (15 min) then by memory (12:30)
I practiced twice, then reviewed, then waited 45 minutes and practiced two more times.
In the end, my sermon is about 11:30, under the target of 12:00. I am still not pleased with the transition from intro to message, and the conclusion does not do the passage justice. Something feels like it is missing. But out of time.
Saturday Date: Nov 5 2005
Sermon is at 9:00. Woke at 7 after a good night sleep. Went through morning routine and ate light.

Arrived at 8:20 and spoke with other people preaching. Everyone seems nervous.
My sermon went well, though. The transition was rough as I expected, but not as bad as in practice.
Sermon was only 9:30, though… I forgot to mention one illustration and spoke faster, with less pauses.
Professor indicates the layout is good, and the “what and why” intro is good, but I forgot to tell everyone the audible que when I got to the “why”… nobody remembered “why” we were talking about “why”… live and learn!
Sermon is on video; going to ask coworker to digitize it.

Remodeling, Studying and Recovering

It's been a while since I've posted. Let's see, theres more progress in the aprtment, Cathy is doing O.K., and I had a Hebrew exam. Sorry for not keeping everybody up to speed. I can usually tell when I'm not blogging often enough, as I start getting instant messages, emails and phone calls asking about Cathy. Let me say that Cathy really appreciates your support!

Let's see... I haven't really spoken of our lives in almost two weeks. I've been working on the apartment, of course. The kitchen cabinets are completed (still need to pick up a door from Ikea), and I've got the dishwaser in and the countertops are almost ready. I've yet to install the kitchen sink... but it's getting there; I'll get to play with a jigsaw next!

I didn't have class last Wednesday, so I spent the evening finishing up the countertops and installing all the doors. I took last Thursday off to hang out with Cathy, but she slept in so late that I spent the morning remodeling. By the time she woke up, Cathy decided to simply join me (it was way after lunch). She installed two toilets and helped mom straighten all the kitchen cabinet doors before running out of steam. It sure was helpful, though! Cathy loves to remodel, so she misses being part of the action.

Friday, Cathy went to get her normal shot, but her applicator had changed! It was not the syringe she was expecting, but a fat, weird contraption instead. She called the health line and got instructions, and things worked out, but it did cause her a little consternation for a short period.

On Saturday I got up early and finished cutting out the countertops; they look pretty good! I'm putting so much work into this apartment, and I'm more practiced now, that I wish we were moving in! I also installed the bathroom sinks and most of the cabinets while (get this!) mom replaced most of the electrical outlets with new ones. Cathy rested in bed with the intention of gathering her strength to attend church on Sunday.

My mother-in-law is very flexible these days in learning new things. She really wants to make it on her own, and she's being very steady in her studying for the real estate license while still helping me out in every way possible!

I had not studied Hebrew since Monday the 17th, so I tried to catch up Saturday evening. We all gathered in the bedroom; I studied, Cathy and mom read, and the cats and dog were scattered all around.

Sunday came, but despite Cathy's efforts and her strong desire to attend church she simply could not muster the strength to get out of bed. She even tried sleeping in a bit and getting up to attend a local church, but that was too much, as well. I figured it was somehow "wrong" to work on the apartment so I read a little and studied Hebrew instead.

I now know about 170 words and 20 verbes, plus a bunch of derivitives of thoese words. I took my second Hebrew exam tonight, and boy was it difficult!

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one to feel that way. I figure I probably got about 80%, maybe 85% right. Sheesh.

Cathys looking pretty good tonight, even though she was quite tired today. We may try to get out of the house for a period of time tomorrow.

Rosh Hashanah

Today was part of Rosh Hashanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, from sunset October 3, 2005 - nightfall October 5, 2005), so we spent the first part of Hebrew class praying. I offered prayers for Cathy and for my missionary friends in Haiti, from whom I've had no contact since Hurricane Katrina...

What to Preach?

I have to prepare two sermons for my class. I think I will direct one only at my fellow students, but the other one I will try to reuse in church.

Usually, when someone preaches, they ask God for guidance and select a passage to preach on based on the needs of the church he is serving. In my case, I am supposed to preach to my fellow seminary students. There are only twelve of us in the class (that is the maximum due to the time required for all of us to preach), and they are my target audience.

On the one hand, it would be easier to select a verse for my church; the needs are familiar to me and broader in scope since we are looking for a pastor. On the other hand, my fellow seminary students should share similar struggles (bonus points for alliteration!).

The idea of regularly preaching the Word of God is both an awesome privilege and an awesome responsibility. I don't think I can preach "do not steal" if I am pirating software, or "do not commit adultery" if I am watching Internet porn. I certain do not want to be like those who opposed Jesus, of whom he declared they "do not practice what they preach."

With my fellow students in mind, I was thinking about the end of 2 Timothy 3 and the beginning of 4. But, I think I'll settle on 1 Timothy 4:15-16 (full chapter text).

15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

We all get to preach twice. The first time, each student gets 12 minutes to preach one verse (or two at most) from a New Testament letter. The second time we each receive 15 minutes to preach any section from the entire Bible. I think the second time I will look for a sermon that I can use at church as well as at school.

Gah! Hebrew is Difficult!

Just figured I would vent. I did quite well on my first Hebrew Exam. I thought I was doing pretty well since the exam went O.K. I got a little concerned when we started covering interrogatives and personal pronouns, but I got that after a few attempts. But then we got to pronominal suffixes... gah!

There's my progress so far. The class meets Monday and Wednesday evening, and we've been covering a chapter each class for five weeks now. That does not leave much time between Monday and Wednesday to learn new material! I have to budget my time and get ahead on Mondays. *sigh*

I have asked myself several times, "why learn Hebrew?" After all, it is not as though the text is seriously in dispute, and I know of no actual translation issues; it's been long enough that the issues are settled by now, right? But each time I ask myself that, an unsolicited answer comes up, usually in class, where the teacher illustrates something that you just don't see in a translation.

One good example is the play on words between 1 Samuel 2:27 through the end of chapter, where the word for "weighty" is variously translated honor, glory, or heavy as appropriate. The fact that Eli considered his sons more "weighty" than God, and Eli was a "heavy" man and broke his neck, and the "glory" of Israel departed with Ark... It is interesting to see the narrative tied together by a single, unifying word.

That is why I'll continue studying; I want to see and understand these things in order to better proclaim, "Look at what God is saying to us!"