Contact: Jim Barr, BibleWorks, 757-627-7014

NORFOLK Va., June 29, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- With the release of BibleWorks 9, pastors, seminary students, scholars and missionaries will find its new array of tools and resources to be unmatched.

"It has something for everyone, from novice to advanced," said BibleWorks owner and lead programmer Michael Bushell. "We've added some new resources that no other program has, giving our users capabilities that are unequaled in the area of Greek exegesis and textual analysis."

BibleWorks 9 users will have the exhaustive New Testament Critical Apparatus from the Center for New Testament Textual Studies (CNTTS) at their fingertips. It covers the entire New Testament and updates instantly when the mouse moves over the Greek text in the main window. Plus the BibleWorks version categorizes every manuscript for each reading in an easy-to-read matrix, clearly showing the Aland categories and time periods.

Author and scholar Moises Silva is impressed. "The addition of the textual apparatus from the Center for New Testament Textual Studies is alone worth the upgrade," he said. "Not only because of the astonishingly detailed information it provides, but also because of the masterful way in which that information has been integrated into the program."

Several important Greek texts and revisions have also been added to BibleWorks 9. They include the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine text (with Robinson 2010 morphology); Westcott-Hort with diacritics, variant readings and morphology; Scrivener's with diacritics, variant readings and morphology; Trinitarian Bible Society Greek New Testament and Tregelles New Testament. And with a click of the mouse button BibleWorks users can immediately highlight differences between all the Greek texts in the main window.

"Prepare to be impressed!" stated Dr. Joel Green, professor of New Testament Interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Along with these Greek texts, BibleWorks 9 includes the first installment of the BibleWorks Manuscript Project. The initial offering contains new transcriptions and complete image sets of seven Greek New Testament manuscripts. The manuscripts -- Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Bezae, Washingtonianus, Boernerianus and GA1141 -- are fully searchable using the full array of BibleWorks analysis tools. More manuscripts will be morphologically tagged and updates will be provided to users as they become available.

"BibleWorks 9 takes a giant leap forward in terms of opening up the world of textual variants and text criticism," said Dr. David deSilva, professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary.

Dr. Thomas Schreiner, professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Seminary, noted that this will be a great help in academic settings. "Students are now able to weigh text critical options and examine some of the most important manuscripts for text critical work," he said.

The addition of a fourth column on the main window is a major improvement, allowing users to see two resources side by side. "Now I can have the window displaying multiple versions, the analysis window displaying lexical resources, and a browse window showing the verse in its full literary context all displayed across the screen," noted Dr. deSilva.

Pastors and students will appreciate the addition of The New Moody Atlas of the Bible by Barry J. Beitzel. Its updated information and new material give users added depth and dimension for comprehending the geographical and historical context so essential to biblical interpretation.

Users can now add the massively popular ESV Study Bible notes for only $20 (unlock fee). All text, articles, plus high-resolution images and maps can be quickly accessed no matter what Bible version you are studying.

A new "Verse Tab" was implemented in the main window. No matter which Bible version users select, the Verse Tab can instantly displays the relevant sections of the CNTTS apparatus, the ESV Study Bible, the NET Bible textual notes, the Tischendorf apparatus, and more.

With the new "Use Tab" feature users can instantly see all occurrences of that word in either the current book or the entire version. Dr. deSilva was impressed by this. "This new feature gives me an instant book- or canon-wide concordance of any word under the cursor," he said. "That feature is an amazing time-saver."

Although all these new tools and enhancements may seem overwhelming, more than 120 tutorial videos (totaling six hours) are included, providing users with "how-to" examples of nearly every aspect of the program.

BibleWorks 9 is the premier original languages Bible software program for Biblical exegesis and research. The purpose of BibleWorks, LLC is to provide pastors, teachers, students, and missionaries with the tools they need to "rightly divide the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). BibleWorks began in 1992 and has its offices in Norfolk, Va.

For more details about BibleWorks 9, and more extensive quotes from academic and ministerial leaders, please visit: www.bibleworks.com/news/pr2011062801.html

Also, see an overview video of BibleWorks 9 here: www.bibleworks.com/content/videos