Verbum Search through Tip of the Day #36

MJ. Smith

Tip 36: Factbook Biblical Person: Lemma: Bible Word Study: Preposition Use

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The easiest way to explain the preposition use chart is to show a basic prepositions of location chart in English. From the ancientpath blog:

From Verbum Help:

Preposition Use Section

The Preposition Use guide section shows a “map” of each possible preposition in Hebrew or Greek and highlights the ones that take the current word as an object.

This section appears in the Bible Word Study guide, and only returns results for original language words that appear as a prepositional object. Hover over a preposition to view more information.^[1]

Basic definition:

preposition — A word that helps express the relationship between two or more words in a phrase or sentence. A preposition typically has an object (the noun that follows the preposition) and a referent (the word or phrase the preposition and its object modify) heads or governs a phrase (hence, “prepositional phrase”). For example, in the sentence “The man smashed the car into the pole,” the preposition “into” has an object (the pole), creating the prepositional phrase “into the pole.”^[2]

The Preposition Use header bar contains:

• An expand/contact arrowhead
• The Preposition Use title
• There is no option for version(s) to be searched or displayed
• A help icon for a preview of the Help file
• An “x” to delete this section from the Bible Word Study guide

The diagram itself contains:

• The prepositions that have occurrences with the lemma that is the focus of the BWS are in standard black; those that have no occurrences are faded. Note that multiple prepositions can share a position in the diagram. This often means the prepositions are synonyms.
• Mouse over a preposition displays:
  • When an arrow is involved, the arrow is animated
  • A popup window with:
    • A title “Hebrew lemma”
    • The preposition in Hebrew script
    • A transliteration of the preposition
    • Number of occurrences of this preposition with the BWS lemma
    • Gloss of the preposition
    • Clicking on the preposition displays below the diagram
      • The preposition in Hebrew script
      • The speaker icon – click on this for the pronunciation
      • A transliteration of the preposition
      • Gloss of the preposition
      • Number of occurrences of this preposition with the BWS lemma
      • Intermediate heading:
        • An expand/contract arrowhead
        • The case that the object of the preposition takes. As Hebrew is not a case-driven language, “other” is used.
        • The number of times the object of the preposition takes this case’
        • Details (results):
          • Bible reference which on mouse over provides a preview of the verse in one’s highest priority Bible containing the passage.
          • The verse in Hebrew which on mouse over provides a preview of the verse in one’s highest priority Bible; on click that Bible is opened with the interlinear opened as the Hebrew. The preposition and its object is highlighted.
          • The verse in English with behavior similar to that for the Hebrew except the Bible is opened without the reverse interlinear.

Verification of results through passage lists

Note for illustration purposes, I have switched the BWS lemma from Abram to Abraham.

Step 1: Right click on the Preposition Use header bar to open a context menu.

Step 2: Select “Save as Passage List”

This will create a Passage List document:

Step 3: Create a Syntax search on Prepositional Object (Andersen-Forbes) on the lemma he.אברהם.

Step 4: Open the panel menu on the search panel.

Step 5: Select “Save as Passage List”.

Note that the Bible Word Study list has 87 entries while the Syntax Search list has only 85 entries. However, the BWS list allows for duplicates as there are subsections by preposition; The Syntax Search has no subsections and therefore no duplicates.

Delete the headings from the BWS Passage List using a right-click on each heading line. Then click on sort which not only sorts but drops duplicates. This results in the BWS Passage List showing the same 85 Bible references as the Syntax Search Passage List.

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^[1] Verbum Help (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).

^[2] Michael S. Heiser and Vincent M. Setterholm, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Lexham Press, 2013; 2013).