Click HERE for a snapshot of the search dialog box.
The results are shown immediately, and are rendered in a nice chart form. You can even show multiple Bible versions in the result
list at once. Though the search is only executed against one of them, you can easily see how other versions translate the word.
As is my gripe with other functional windows, the search window covers your working area and will not allow you to use the rest
of the Bible program until you close it. This is a major impediment to working with your search results. There is an option to
insert your verses into an editor window, which then appears on your working desktop. This does help, but only provides you with
a static result set. If you have more searching to do, you have to bring up the search window again.
I found no method to search other books or topics.
BibleSpeak’s claim to fame is the ability to “speak” verses. Q-Software has been providing Bible software since the days
of DOS, though I had not heard about them until someone pointed them out to me after my initial set of reviews were published.
The Word Study pane is nicely done, giving you all the information for a Strong’s number, and various English words used for
translation. There is a [Display Verses] button that will give you a complete overview of that word’s usage throughout the
entire Bible. The results are nicely rendered , but unfortunately appear in separate window instead of another
pane. This interferes with my ability to actually work with the results as I continue my Bible study. Not only that, it takes
forever. I figured out this is because it actually parses the scripture for ALL the Strong’s and English words! This makes
the resulting window very easy to use and very fast, with a wealth of information right at your fingertips, provided you can bear
the long initial load. I found out this is a one-time load per version. Each time you select a different version you have to
wait. I was very impressed with the ability to select an English word, see how many times it is used in the entire Bible and
each book, along with a summary of the verses containing the word.
Second, you can choose to have your Bible scripture read to you. This is accomplished in the Bible pane via either the Speak button,
or by right-clicking and selecting the Speak option. It will automatically speak the text you have highlighted, or if no text is
highlighted, it will ask you for permission to speak the entire chapter. And you better be sure, because there is no stop button!
Actually, you can stop it by selecting the Speak option again and then just canceling out. But, this doesn’t work on dialog boxes, where
the entire text is read to you, even after you have closed the window.
BibleSpeak has the ability to keep your own notes. But getting there is a bit elaborate. There is a “My Bible Notes” option
on the Bible menu. However, it does not bring up a notes window or an editor. Instead, it displays a message in a pop-up
window asking you to select the “My Bible Notes” option from the following list of books and topics. In this regard it is
similar to e-Sword, where your notes are simply a separate topic file. In fact, the books listed in the “Book and Topic” list
again appeared to be all my e-Sword topic files. This is fine; still, I can’t see a reason why I must jump through three
unnecessary mouse clicks to get to the thing the program already knows I want to get to.
