Verbum 9 Tip: Aside: Comparison translations part 4
Docx files for personal book: Verbum 9 part 1; Verbum 9 part 2; Verbum 9 part 3; Verbum 9 part 4; Verbum 9 part 5; How to use the Verbum Lectionary and Missal; Verbum 8 tips 1-30; Verbum 8 tips 31-49
Reading lists: Catholic Bible Interpretation
Please be generous with your additional details, corrections, suggestions, and other feedback. This is being built in a .docx file for a PBB which will be shared periodically.
Previous post: Aside: Comparison translations part 3 Next post: Verbum Tip 8a
Bible reference guide: Interesting Words
From Verbum Help:[quote]
Interesting Words Section
This section takes the words in the guide’s key passage and compares their frequency with those of the same words in the surrounding sections. The results are computed at run time, and are not pulling from a curated list. As such, the results may not line up with a notion of "importance" within the passage. Rather, this section alerts you to the relative statistical frequency of certain words compared to the surrounding text, that is, how much they "stand out" from their surroundings.
Extracted words are presented as a "word cloud," where the sizes of the words corresponds to the relative statistical frequency of the word: the larger the word appears, the less frequently it appears and the more it stands out. Click a word in the cloud to list its occurrences within the key passage.
The statistical analysis can be performed against the translation language (for example, English) or against the original language of the passage (for example, Greek or Hebrew). When a language with a built-in stemming algorithm is chosen (for example, English), words are stemmed before they are collated, so that words like "run" and "runner" are counted as the same word. When run against an original language, surface forms are used.[1]
When using the Interesting Words section it is important to use common sense – a segment on the birth of Jesus is apt to use a different vocabulary than the report of a healing. However, the vocabulary in a series of healings one would expect more similar vocabulary. This means one expects a smaller difference in frequency in the context of a string of healings compared to the difference between a birth story and a healing. The wordle or word cloud visualization is used so that the analysis does not get hung up on insignificant mathematical differences.Based on the NRSV:
Compare the same passage from the Douay-Rheims-Challoner (Yes, change the preferred Bible ...):
Passage analysis: Compare pericope
From Verbum Help:[quote]
Compare Pericopes
Graphically displays pericope boundaries for multiple Bible versions.
1. Click Compare Pericopes at the bottom of the window.
2. Click Pericope Sets at the top, next to the Reference box to display a list of available pericope sets based on the Bible versions in the user’s library.
3. Select the sets to compare.
4. Type a passage or pericope in the Reference box and press Enter, or first choose a pericope and passage from the suggested matches.
5. Hover over or click the pericope title to see the passage in an appropriate Bible.
Each pericope set heading has a column of pericope titles below it, aligned with the verse numbers on the left to show the extent of each pericope.[2]
Given that pericope boundaries are selected based upon literary/linguistic elements adding to the cohesion of the text and those indicating a new text segment, pericope boundaries provide insight into the differences of various translators’ understanding of the structure and content of the text. Note that the New Jerusalem Bible differs in the pericope boundary between Mark 1:14-15.
[1] Verbum Help (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).
[2] Verbum Help (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."