Re: platforms for Biblical Studies

David L. Moore (dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 01 Dec 1996 17:13:41 -0500

At 09:10 PM 11/30/96 -0800, Paul J. Bodin wrote:
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>At 07:40 PM 11/30/96 -0500, David L. Moore wrote:
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>> I set up the search that Gregory specified (POLUS with a dative
>> pronoun or noun or adjective within 4 words) on Gramcord for Windows. I had
>> to make it a 3-template search. It came up with 68 verses, including Heb.
>> 5:11. I haven't checked to see if some of the verses include more than one
>> of the constructions.
>>
>> I would be interested to see a list of Paul's results to compare
>> them with mine.
>
>You asked for it, you got it.
>
>The search using the latest version of Bible Windows was specifically for
>POLUS (any form) followed by a dative with no more than four intervening
>words. The dative was not limited to any particular part of speach; it
>could be a noun, adjective, participle, etc. Note that order is
>significant. Setting up the search took a few seconds filling in a single
>information screen. The search took 11 seconds to complete over the entire
>GNT. Here are the verses found:

First let me say that I adjusted my criteria. I had allowed a
context of 7 with my search reported above; I changed this to 5 to agree
with Gregory's stated criteria. I got 54 hits with this search. The ones
in Paul's list that were not in mine were the following:

>Matt 8:16, Matt 13:58, Matt 14:14,
>Matt 21:36, Matt 24:5, Mark 2:15 (second mention),
>Mark 3:10, Mark 6:2, Mark 6:13,
>Mark 10:48,
>Luke 4:25, Luke 4:27, Luke 7:43, Luke 7:47, Luke 7:47, Luke 8:3,
>Luke 12:48, Luke 13:24, Luke 16:10, Luke 21:8, John 5:6,
>John 21:15
>Acts 18:27, Acts 21:40, Acts 24:10
>Acts 26:10,Romans 5:9, Romans 5:10,
>Romans 5:15, Romans 12:5, 1Cor 4:15,
>1Cor 16:19, 2Cor 3:11, 2Cor 6:4, 2Cor 7:4 (second mention),
>2Cor 8:22, 2Cor 8:22, 1Thess 1:5,
>2Tim 2:2, Philem 1:7,
>Heb 12:9, Rev 8:3,
>Rev 10:11,

I went through those in the Synoptic Gospels and found that the
differences fall mainly into two categories: first, those in Paul's list
that had 4 words *between* POLUS and the selected dative, and second, those
that went beyond a stop (coma, etc.) to complete the construction. There
was also one case of a double hit under BW in Mark 2:15 in which the second
instance was apparently not justified.

The first instance is owing to the difference in how Paul and I set
up the searches. I set the search for POLUS and a dative as far as 4 words
away from one another. Gramcord interpreted this to mean "on the first,
second, third, or fourth word after POLUS. Since Paul's search allowed 4
words *between* POLUS and the dative, his search allowed constructions
including on the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth word after POLUS.

The second catgory has to do with the difference in the way Gramcord
and Bible Windows do their searches, since BW allows searching past a stop,
and Gramcord, I believe, can look for such constructions but must be
specifically instructed to include them among hits. These are things one
should know about the program one plans to use. I second Paul Miller's
recommendation of Harry Hahne's web page on considerations for the use of
computer Bible-search software.

Regards to all,

David L. Moore Director
Miami, Florida, USA Department of Education
dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com Southeastern Spanish District
http://members.aol.com/dvdmoore of the Assemblies of God