Hebrew Bible iPhone/iPad Application

Hebrew Bible iPhone/iPad Application

Application Description:

Note: A number of people have installed my Hebrew Bible app and have said that they just see a "blank" screen when opening the app. This doesn't seem to be happening to everyone; however, if you do experience this issue, it is easily resolved by selecting a Bible "version". Just follow the steps described in this link: Setting Default Hebrew Bible Version

The Hebrew Bible iPhone application is designed for reading/studying the Hebrew Bible in either Hebrew, Aramaic (Torah only), or in a parallel translation format combining Hebrew and another language (at present, either English or French). It is also useful as a tool for improving one's knowledge of Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic. It is comprised of five main components:

1. Bible: The Hebrew Bible is accessible in several different versions (a default version is selected via iPhone preferences and it is possible to change versions while running the application as well). The first six versions listed below are included in the App, the other versions can be either accessed over the Internet or downloaded (at no additional charge - just press the system icon [a "gear" icon on the iPad version and a "box with up-arrow" icon on the iPhone version] and then press the "Cache Bible" button). The versions that are available are:
   • Hebrew (cantillation)
   • Hebrew (vowels)
   • Hebrew (no vowels)
   • Hebrew/English (cantillation)
   • Hebrew/English (vowels)
   • Hebrew/English (no vowels)
   • Hebrew/French
   • English
   • Hebrew Torah (commentary)
   • Aramaic Torah (vowels)
   • Aramaic Torah (no vowels)
2. The Hebrew and Hebrew/English versions are based primarily on the Leningrad Codex. The English versions are based on the original Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation of 1917. The French version is based on the "La Bible du Rabbinat Français" translation. The Aramaic versions are based on the Yemenite versions (tijaan) of the "Targum Onkelos" translation. The Hebrew and Hebrew/English Bible versions are designed for those who are learning Hebrew and wish to read a Hebrew or Hebrew/English version of the Bible but still have access to English-language definitions of words. While reading these versions, if you touch any Hebrew word, you will be presented with a pop-up English definition (based on information from the Strong's Concordance). From the popup, it is also possible to display a list of all the verses in the Hebrew Bible that contain that word or the BDB page for that word. The Hebrew and Hebrew/English Bible versions are all contained within the application; however, the Hebrew/French, English, Hebrew Torah (commentary), and Aramaic versions are retrieved from Mechon Mamre in Israel (web site: http://www.mechon-mamre.org). By default, those versions are accessed over the Internet (no local copies of the texts); however, they can also be "cached" locally on the device (see below).
3. When reading a book or chapter (regardless of the version selected), it is also possible to listen to the Hebrew version of the selected book/chapter being read by pressing the "Play" button at the top of the page. The audio readings are pronounced in Sephardi-style Hebrew and they are streamed from the Snunit Kodesh site (http://kodesh.snunit.k12.il) in Israel. Alternatively, it is possible to store the audio files locally on your device so that Internet access is not needed to play them (instructions for how to do this are located here). In the same manner, if you want to use alternative audio files, they may be stored locally in place of the default audio files.
4. In additon to a "Book"-based reading approach, it is possible to also toggle to a "Parashah"-based approach (a Parashah is the weekly synagogue Torah/Haftarah reading). Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Parashah readings are supported.
5. Words: This is useful for learning more about specific Hebrew words and for discovering related words. There are four different ways to learn more about words:
   • Roots: One of the really beautiful aspects of the Hebrew language is that all of the roots of the verbs and nouns are derived from two-letter units that are usually assembled as part of a three letter root. By selecting the first two letters of the root, a listing will be displayed of all Hebrew and Aramaic words (Aramaic words will display in green in the summary) that begin with those two letters with a brief English translation. Once the list is displayed, tapping on a word will display a popup with further detail about the selected word. It is also possible to display a list of all the verses in the Hebrew Bible that contain that word or the BDB page for that word.
   • Translate: A generic translation facility (which uses Bing Translate to do the translations) is also provided. One can either copy/paste words/sentences from the Hebrew Bible or directly enter text to be translated. It is also possible to reverse the direction of translation (e.g. - swap the "from" and "to" languages). The "from" and "to" language selections are "sticky" so they will be retained across user sessions. Note: in order to enter Hebrew (or any) text correctly, the relevant keyboard needs to have been enabled in the iOS Settings application (under General/Keyboard/Keyboards). The input and output text automatically adjusts to the appropriate "left-to-right" or "right-to-left" text orientation based on the translation languages that have been selected.
   • Strongs: If you know the Strongs number of a Biblical Hebrew/Aramaic word, you can go directly to the detail information about that word.
   • Search: If you know the English equivalent of a Biblical Hebrew/Aramaic word, you can search for all words that contain that text in one of their definitions. This function supports wildcards as well (e.g. - you can use a "_" character to represent any single character and a "%" character to represent any number of characters).
6. Topics: There are links to key topics (over 200 people/places/things) in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia. One can access topics by:
   • Bible book: for example, one can select all topics for the book of Exodus.
   • "Meta" Topics(located after the "Book" topics in the picker): topics that deal with concepts that relate to the Hebrew Bible in general (e.g. - the Hebrew language).
   • All Topics: one can also toggle from a "Book"-based list of topics to an alphabetical list of all available topics.
7. Maps: There are maps of almost every location (over 1,000 locations) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (the lattitude/longitude locations are based on data from the OpenBible.info site; however, the application does not access that site). It is possible to display multiple different locations on a map and to clear previously selected locations from a map. By selecting a location on the map and touching the "callout detail disclosure" symbol (the "right arrow"), one can see a listing of all verses in the Hebrew Bible that mention that location. One can access Maps by:
   • Bible book: for example, one can select maps for locations that are mentioned in the book of Exodus.
   • All Maps: one can also toggle from a "Book"-based list of locations to an alphabetical list of all available locations.
8. BDB: The Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon is probably the most commonly used Biblical Hebrew Lexicon. A complete copy of this lexicon is accessible from within the application. In additon, individual pages can be displayed via the word lookup functionality.

Preferences: Although different Bible versions can be selected within the application itself, there is a preference setting that allows you to select the "default" Bible version that will be displayed. It is possible to select alternative fonts to use. There are a selection of Biblical Hebrew fonts including Canaanite, Phoenician, Paleo Hebrew, Aramaic, "Square" Hebrew, Aleppo Codex-based, Samaritan, and Sofer STaM fonts. There is also a preference that allows the user to select the default map view (Map/Satellite/Hybrid); however, the map view can always be changed when viewing the map itself as well. Additional preferences let users select a large text size (the default) or a smaller text size for viewing the Bible and Root pages. (Note: the smaller text size can be manually re-sized by "pinching"/"zooming" the Bible text while the large text size is not re-sizable).

The permanent preference settings can be set either via the standard iPhone OS Settings application or inside the app by pressing the system icon [a "gear" icon on the iPad version and a "box with up-arrow" icon on the iPhone version] on the Bible picker screen and then the "Change Settings" button on the Settings view. In addition to changing the standard preferences, this view also lets the user change the Bible version (e.g. - from Hebrew without vowels to Hebrew/French) and cache Bible content to enable off-network reading of that content (Note: caching is only needed for off-line access of the Hebrew/French, English, Hebrew Torah (commentary), and Aramaic versions).

Javascript needs to be enabled in order to use this application. This can be done in the standard iPhone "Settings" application (in the Safari preferences).

The overLIB (http://www.bosrup.com/web/overlib/) Javascript libary is used to display the word popups in the Hebrew and Hebrew/English versions of the Bible.

The Hebrew and Hebrew/English versions of the Bible and the Words definitions are based on modified WLC XML files provided by David Troidl via openscriptures.org.

The English text in the Hebrew/English versions of the Bible is from the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 text and was extracted with help from individuals contributing to opensiddur.org.

The "default" font is the Ezra SIL SR font (created by sil.org). The alternative fonts are from the Culmus Ancient Semitic Scripts project (http://culmus.sourceforge.net/ancient/).

The in-app settings code was adapted from InAppSettingsKit (http://www.inappsettingskit.com/).

The BDB text is a Public Domain copy from Wikisource.

Some of the toolbar icons were adapted from icons by Joseph Wain (http://glyphish.com).

This application's web site is: http://sites.google.com/site/hebrewsoftware/

If you have any problems with or comments about the Hebrew Bible application, please send them to: zeevclem@gmail.com.

Note on online/offline use: An Internet connection is required in order to use some functionality in this application. Since this application accesses sites that are not maintained by the author of the application, some content and/or functionality may not work correctly if those Internet sites change or if the sites are "down" for any reason. Since "Topics" pages typically have many links to other Wikipedia (and external) web pages, there is no ability to cache that content and, since the "Maps" functionality depends on Internet-accessible maps, a network connection is required to use the "Maps" functionality. All of the Hebrew and Hebrew/English versions of the Bible are already stored on the device. However, the Hebrew/French, English, Hebrew Torah (commentary), and Aramaic versions are accessed over the Internet unless caching is enabled. There is a configuration option (selected via iPhone preferences) to enable "caching" of contents so that the application can be used "off-line" (without an Internet connection). Once caching is enabled, it is possible to cache individual chapters, all chapters in a given book (e.g. - all chapters in "Genesis"), or all the books in the Bible (for whichever version is currently selected). Caching gives users the ability to make their own decisions about the pros/cons of keeping content local on the iPhone. If you mainly use the Hebrew Bible application when you're connected to a high-speed Internet connection, then you will probably want to leave caching turned off (the default setting) as that results in the least amount of "on phone" memory usage. However, enabling caching can make the application usable when you do not have Internet connectivity (e.g. - on an airplane) or when connection speeds are slow (e.g. - if you use it over an EDGE network rather than a 3G or WIFI connection). Caching of individual Bible pages will occur whenever you access a page (once caching has been enabled). Subsequent accesses to the same page will be to the cached version of the page. When caching has been enabled, a "Cache" button will provide the option to do a bulk cache operation, downloading multiple pages of content at one time. It should be noted that caching the entire Bible is a lengthy operation. On my iPhone, using a high-speed WIFI connection, it took about 15 minutes to download all the books of the Hebrew/French parallel version of the Hebrew Bible. Download times will vary depending on device and Internet connection speeds.

Release History:

The following releases of this application have been made:

• Release 1.0 - First release to iTunes App Store - May 3, 2009
• Release 1.1 - May 16, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: Added Prev/Next segmented control for navigation between chapters.
  2. Enhancement: Added Bookmark preference setting to "remember" last book/chapter read and position picker to that book/chapter on application start.
  3. Fix: Corrected issue that prevented caching of the Hebrew/French bible.
  4. Fix: Minor corrections to the text on the "About" page.
• Release 2.0 - July 17, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: Added Maps for over 1,000 locations mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
  2. Enhancement: Added Wikipedia links for over 200 topics mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
  3. Enhancement: Added ability to access Bible content by Parashah (weekly synagogue Torah/Haftarah reading).
  4. Enhancement: Added separate flip-side view for Bible version selection and Cache operations (accessible via the "i" button in the bottom-right of the Bible screen.
  5. Enhancement: Added a "Clear Cache" button to clear stored content to free up space on device.
  6. Enhancement: Automatically turn "On" caching when user downloads Bible or Root content.
  7. Enhancement: Due to user requests, have changed the Bookmark default to "On" so that the picker positions to the last Bible chapter read on application start.
  8. Fix: Corrected problem with caching of the Hebrew/French Bible version.
  9. Fix: The above flip-side view enhancement also fixes the problem that people have had (following the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade) with the "Hebrew with vowels" option not being selectable from within the app.
• Release 2.1 - August 20, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: Added Google Translate functionality to the "Words" tab with a segmented control that allows user to switch between "Roots" lookup functionality and "Translate" functionality.
  2. Fix: Fixed problem where crash occurs if a book later than Deuteronomy has been bookmarked and the user has changed the default Bible version to a Torah-only version (e.g. - one of the Aramaic versions) using the iphone preferences.
• Release 2.2 - November 5, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: When in the Bible text screen, swipe-left will hide the tab bar and swipe-right with display it. This makes more room available for reading the text when you're reading the Bible.
  2. Enhancement: When playing the audio in the Bible text screen, the Play button now changes to a Pause button when pressed (instead of the Stop button previously displayed). This lets the user pause and resume audio playback.
  3. Enhancement: The Translate functionality (in the Words tab) now has an additional button for "Swap Languages" to allow the source and destination languages to be reversed. For example, if the user had selected French as the "from" language and English as the "to" language, pressing the Translate button converts French to English. Pressing the "Swap Languages"button reverses the two languages so that the translation will be from English to French.
  4. Enhancement: The languages that are used for the Translate functionality (in the Words tab) are now "sticky" (e.g. - once a translation has been done between 2 languages, the selected languages are the defaults the next time the application is started).
  5. Fix: Moved the "i" button on the Bible screen further from the tab bar (to prevent accidental touches).
  6. Fix: Corrected positioning of popup box in the Hebrew Torah with Commentary version (in certain cases, the popup would not appear on the visible screen).
• Release 3.0 - November 24, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: Added "Hebrew (reader)" Bible version (it is based on the Leningrad Codex and is designed for those who are learning Hebrew and wish to read a Hebrew-only version of the Bible but still have access to English-language definitions of words. While reading this version, if you touch any Hebrew word, you will be presented with a pop-up English definition based on information from the Strong's Concordance. The "Hebrew (reader)" version is stored entirely on the iPhone and no Internet connection is needed in order to use this Bible version. This version displays cantillation marks to the extent that is supported by Apple's current fonts.).
  2. Enhancement: Added "Hebrew (with cantillation)" Bible version (displays cantillation marks to the extent that is supported by Apple's current fonts).
  3. Enhancement: Changed root word lookup functionality to access local word definitions rather than the 2LetterLookup web site, speeding word lookup functionality significantly. Having a local set of word definitions also makes future enhancements (both content and presentation) easier to do.
  4. Enhancement: Added popup showing all verses in Hebrew Bible where a particular word is found. This is accessible from either the root word lookup or from the "Hebrew (reader)" word lookup functionality.
  5. Enhancement: Added callout detail disclosure to show all verses in Hebrew Bible where a particular map location is found.
  6. Fix: Fixed bug that was causing intermittent Bible text display issues on rotation to landscape mode.
• Release 3.1 - December 11, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: On the Words definition popup, changed the "Close" link and the verses link to buttons for improved visual appearance.
  2. Enhancement: On the Words summary display, Aramaic words are now displayed in green (Hebrew words are still displayed in black) in order to visually differentiate Aramaic words from Hebrew words.
  3. Fix: Corrected bug that was causing some display issues in landscape mode when reading Bible text.
  4. Fix: Corrected bug that was preventing display of 1Kings chapter 22.
  5. Fix: Minor spelling and word corrections for the Words dictionary data.
  6. Fix: Corrected sort order of verses from Words popup so that numerics were sorted properly (for example: app was previously displaying "Gen.19.31" before "Gen.2.24").
• Release 3.2 - December 30, 2009:
  1. Enhancement: The HebrewBible app will now work on 1st Generation iPod Touch devices (with OS 3.0 or higher) in addition to iPhones and 2nd Generation iPod Touches.
  2. Fix: Fixed problem with Read Book not working sometimes for double books (e.g. - 1&2 Samuel).
• Release 3.3 - January 27, 2010:
  1. Fix: Changed "i" icon to a gear icon and moved it to bottom/center of Bible selector screen to make it easier to access in order to change Bible versions.
• Release 4.0 - April 1, 2010:
  1. Enhancement: Support for iPad added to app.
  2. Enhancement: Alternative fonts added as a preference setting (for devices with iPhone OS less than 3.2, only the default font will be displayed).
  3. Fix: When Parashah is selected, selecting Read Chapter will position to the relevant start verse of the Parashah.
• Release 4.1 - May 12, 2010:
  1. Enhancement: Updated Hebrew(reader) text to WLC version 4.12.
  2. Enhancement: Improved performance of Bible text display with alternative fonts.
  3. Enhancement: Added display of true Strongs transliterations to word definitions.
  4. Enhancement: Eliminated superfluous spaces after certain characters for improved readability.
  5. Enhancement: Added Part-of-Speech description to word definition popup.
  6. Enhancement: Added word definition lookup by Strongs number.
  7. Fix: Changed alignment of Translate form for better visual presentation on both iphone and ipad devices.
• Release 4.2 - May 28, 2010:
  1. Enhancement: Added in-app settings (accessible via "gear" icon on Bible view).
  2. Enhancement: Added access to full text of BDB Lexicon (as a separate tabbar item).
  3. Enhancement: Added access to relevant BDB page from Hebrew word popup.
  4. Fix: Fixed bug where Psalms Chapter 88 was listed twice in picker instead of Chapter 89.
  5. Fix: Fixed rare bug which caused crash when switching to a different Bible version.
• Release 4.3 - July 1, 2010:
  1. Fix: Fix bug when switching to Aramaic when in a non-Torah book.
  2. Fix: Fix crash (only on iOS 4) when changing Bible version.
  3. Fix: On flipside view, moved buttons so that messages weren't obscured.
• Release 4.4 - August 26, 2010:
  1. Enhancement: Fast app switching in iOS 4.
  2. Enhancement: Pickers now displayed in popover element on iPad to better conform to Apple HIG standards.
  3. Enhancement: Improved default viewing size of Root pages when "Big Text" is set off.
• Release 4.5 - September 3, 2010:
  1. Fix: Application was not starting correctly under iOS 3.0 and 3.1.
• Release 4.6 - September 18, 2010:
  1. Enhancement: Added Search functionality to Words - if you know the English equivalent of a Biblical Hebrew/Aramaic word, you can search for all words that contain that text in one of their definitions. This function supports wildcards as well (e.g. - you can use a "_" character to represent any single character and a "%" character to represent any number of characters).
  2. Enhancement: This version contains a number of iPad-specific enhancements to better conform to Apple HIG (Human Interface Guideline) standards. (The Temporary Bible Version change picker is now displayed in a popover element, the "Read Book" button has been replaced with an "Entire Book" switch setting).
  3. Enhancement: Built with iOS SDK 4.1 but will run on any iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad with at least iOS 3.0.
  4. Enhancement: Built with iOS SDK 4.1 but will run on any iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad with at least iOS 3.0.
  5. Fix: Some minor fixes were made, fixed issue where switching to next/prev chapters was positioning incorrectly sometimes.
• Release 4.7 - November 17, 2010:
  1. Enhancement: Built with iOS 4.2 but will run on iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad with any version of iOS from 3.0 and above.
• Release 4.8 - April 29, 2011:
  1. Enhancement: Added Prev/TOC/Next buttons (segmented control) to Bible tab's version of BDB page display so that the user can navigate in the BDB more easily when accessing the BDB from the word definition popup of the Bible.
  2. Enhancement: Added Prev/TOC/Next buttons (segmented control) to Words/Dictionary tab's version of BDB page display so that the user can navigate in the BDB more easily when accessing the BDB from the word definition popup from that tab.
  3. Enhancement: iPad enhancement to display the last Bible chapter previously selected on startup.
  4. Enhancement: iPad enhancement to display (depending on orientation) portrait or landscape-specific splash screen on startup.
  5. Enhancement: Support display of settings in both Portrait and Landscape orientations (previously only displayed in Portrait orientation).
  6. Enhancement: Built with iOS SDK 4.3 but will run on any iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad with at least iOS 3.0.
  7. Enhancement: Changed the temporary Bible version Menu Bar Button to a regular Button to better conform to Apple HIG (Human Interface Guideline) standards.
  8. Fix: Fix for bug that was preventing dictionary display of 2-letter words that ended in a 'sofit' character.
  9. Other: Some minor UI fixes/adjustments were made for improved usability.
• Release 5.0 - October 25, 2011:
  1. Enhancement: Added "Hebrew/English (reader)" Bible version which provides a parallel Hebrew/English version of the Tanach with support for Hebrew word lookups (by touching on a Hebrew word, the definition is displayed with buttons to display verses or relevant page from BDB).
  2. Enhancement: Changed word translate functionality from Google Translate to Microsoft Bing Translate.
  3. Enhancement: Built with iOS SDK 5.0 but will run on any iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch with at least iOS 3.0.
  4. Enhancement: Changed cache functionality so that cached Bible data is not backed up to iCloud (better performance, doesn't impact user iCloud storage limits, and is in keeping with Apple's iCloud guidelines).
  5. Fix: Audio was sometimes not terminating properly on iPad.
  6. Fix: Minor cosmetic fixes.
• Release 5.1 - October 28, 2011:
  1. Enhancement: Added support for device-local audio files.
• Release 5.2 - February 20, 2012:
  1. Enhancement: Changed the default font to Ezra Sil SR for better display of cantillation.
• Release 6.0 - October 14, 2012:
  1. Enhancement: Support for iOS 6.0 and iPhone 5.
• Release 7.1 - November 27, 2013:
  1. Enhancement: Updated look and feel of app to conform to iOS 7 standards.
  2. Enhancement: Added new "on-device" Bible versions that all support the "touch Hebrew word for definition" functionality. They are:
     • Hebrew (cantillation)
     • Hebrew (vowels)
     • Hebrew (no vowels)
     • Hebrew/English (cantillation)
     • Hebrew/English (vowels)
     • Hebrew/English (no vowels)
  3. Fix: Fixed issue which sometimes caused the word definition popups to not appear.
  4. Fix: Fixed issue where Hebrew and English texts were not in-synch in Deuteronomy 5.
  5. Fix: Fixed broken word link in Genesis 14.5.
  6. Fix: Fixed numbering of verses in Psalm 70.
  7. Enhancement: Increased the size of the "X" used to close the word definition popup.
  8. Enhancement: On the iPhone version of the app, the "gear" icon has been eliminated. Now, you can temporarily switch Bible versions or change the app settings using an icon on the main Bible toolbar.
  9. Some miscellaneous fixes/updates.
• Release 7.2 - December 18, 2013:
  1. Fix: Minor bug fixes.
• Release 7.3 - July 18, 2014:
  1. Fix: Minor bug fixes.