Biblical Hebrew iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad Application

Biblical Hebrew iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad Application

The Biblical Hebrew application is designed for learning (or improving ones knowledge of) Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. It is a "universal application" (e.g. - you only buy it once and it runs on any of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices that you own) and it is entirely self-contained (e.g. - no Internet connection is required). The application is comprised of three main components (each represented by a separate tab-bar tab in the application):

1. Dictionary: The Dictionary tab provides two quick mechanisms to lookup Hebrew words:
   1. 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.
   2. Strongs: If you know the Strongs number of a Biblical Hebrew/Aramaic word, you can go directly to the detail information about that word.
   3. 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).
2. The Dictionary definition popup for a word includes (when applicable):
   • The Hebrew (with vowels) representation.
   • The phonetic pronunciation of the Hebrew.
   • The Strongs transliteration of the Hebrew.
   • The Strongs#.
   • The language classification (Hebrew/Aramaic/Name).
   • The part-of-speech.
   • A button to access a list of all verses in the Hebrew Bible where that word appears.
   • A button to access the BDB page related to that word.
   • Common definitions.
   • Common translation.
   • Explanation.
   • Exegesis.
   • TWOT (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament) number reference.
3. Lexicon: The Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) 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 Dictionary word lookup functionality.
4. Grammar: Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar is the standard Biblical Hebrew reference grammar in English. A complete copy of this grammar is accessible from within the application.

Notes:

Due to the density of the text in the Lexicon and Grammar texts, this application is best viewed on an iPad. However, it is still very usable on an iPhone or iPod Touch (the Lexicon and Grammar texts will be best viewed on those devices in either Landscape orientation or by "pinch zooming" the text).

Javascript needs to be enabled in order to use this application. This can be done using the standard iPhone iOS "Settings" application (under the Safari preferences). However, no Internet connection is required.

The overLIB (http://www.bosrup.com/web/overlib/) Javascript libary is used to display the definition popups in the Dictionary.

The list of verses in the Hebrew Bible and the dictionary definitions are based on XML files provided by David Troidl via openscriptures.org and opensiddur.org.

The BDB Lexicon and the Gesenius Grammar texts are Public Domain copies from Wikisource.

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

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

Release History:

The following releases of this application have been made:

• Release 1.0 - First release to iTunes App Store - August 24, 2010
• Release 1.1 - Fix: Application was not starting correctly under iOS 3.0 and 3.1. - August 27, 2010
• Release 1.2 - Enhancement: Added Search functionality to Words - you can now search for Hebrew words by their English definition. - September 18, 2010
• Release 1.3 - 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 - November 17, 2010
• Release 1.4 - May 6, 2011:
  1. Enhancement: Added Prev/TOC/Next buttons (segmented control) to 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.
  2. Enhancement: iPad enhancement to display (depending on orientation) portrait or landscape-specific splash screen on startup.
  3. Enhancement: Built with iOS SDK 4.3 but will run on any iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad with at least iOS 3.0.
  4. Fix: Fix for bug that was preventing dictionary display of 2-letter words that ended in a 'sofit' character.