Interlinear Bibles

Steven Lo Vullo doulos at merr.com
Sat Dec 1 14:58:49 EST 2001



On Friday, November 30, 2001, at 10:26  PM, Robin Adamo wrote:

> If I had to place my order today, I would purchase Marshall's NASB-NIV
> Interlinear, only because it seems so popular.  I am concerned about the
> print size, though.  My husband has seen Green's KJV Interlinear and 
> liked
> it quite a bit.  Right now, we do not have a clear enough understanding 
> of
> the differences between textual criticisms to possess a preference so 
> the
> most important criteria (to me) would be ease of use by the beginner (a
> little hand holding would be nice), plenty of helpful ancilliary
> information, and easy to read typeface.
>
> I am also wondering what other aides would be most profitable.  We 
> have a
> Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.  I am considering Metzgers Commentary,
> and perhaps a good dictionary and/or word study reference.  And, of
> course, he will need something to help him begin his study of the Greek
> language, which is probably where most of you can help the most.

Hi Robin:

I second Ted Mann's recommendation of William Mounce's _Basics of 
Biblical Greek_, and would just like to add that you can purchase a nice 
workbook with it. The I think the workbook is necessary, since there are 
no exercises in the textbook itself. Your husband will also want a Greek 
New Testament. I would recommend the United Bible Societies' Greek New 
Testament that comes with Barclay Newman's Greek-English dictionary 
bound with the text. It is very convenient. Metzger's textual commentary 
would probably be better put off for a later time, after your husband 
has learned more about the language itself. Textual criticism isn't a 
major concern in first year Greek. As for interlinears, it is my 
personal opinion that they may do more harm than good. My own experience 
is that they are misleading to those who do not know the language, and 
not very helpful to those who do. In other words, by the time you can 
use them judiciously, you don't need them! I think it is better to study 
grammar and get into the habit of using a lexicon to look up words and 
idioms about which one is curious. The Barclay Newman dictionary mainly 
contains glosses, so you may want to get something a little more 
"meaty," such as the Louw-Nida lexicon, also published by United Bible 
Societies. BGAD is a bit advanced for a beginner.

I know you said your husband has an eye problem that hinders him from 
viewing a computer screen, but I would like to offer a suggestion. I 
have Accordance, an excellent Bible software program that offers not 
only original language texts, but also many helpful tools for the study 
of Greek. In every window are two conveniently-placed buttons--one to 
make the text larger, one to make the text smaller. I would think other 
programs offer this option also. I was just playing around with that 
feature on Accordance and found that the text can be made very large and 
yet it remains clear. Just something to consider.

I wish your husband much success, and hope to hear from him on B-Greek 
in the future!
=============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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