easiest way to look at two verses at the same time

Hi @MJ. Smith, thanks, but no, that didn't work.

Hi @John Simpson, thank you very much for the screenshots. That was helpful. I do have a few concerns, however. First, the fact that Logos is requiring quotes and OR seems very awkward, given that it has been standard to separate verses by commas. If I am in a class, for example, I would type Gen 1:2, Ps 1:1, Lk 1:1. I can then copy that strip and paste it anywhere, Accordance, BibleGateway, Google, it doesn't matter, it is just a basic recognized way of doing biblical references. By contrast, Logos' "Gen 1:2" OR "Ps 1:1" OR "Lk 1:1" is obviously not standard, and further, this is not standard for other students to be able to copy and paste into whatever they are using.

The second concern I have is that you seem to be in the Search field, as opposed to the normal Bible window. For example, in Accordance let's say I have the ESV open and I am reading something, then I can simply type Gen 1:2, Ps 1:1, Lk 1:1 and it all just shows up as soon as I press enter. I don't need to leave the ESV tab or anything. By contrast in Logos I need to leave what I am doing to type a special command into a search box, but then this search box is not only not the Bible, but the text isn't even treated like the Bible (there isn't parsing information, as a random example). The only way I can see such information is to somehow get it back to the ESV main tab and it is not clear how to do that.

Hi @Bradley Grainger (Logos),
Thank you for your response. I was actually just getting ready to press send to John when I saw your response, which I would like to address as well.

Logos has always approached texts from a "book" perspective: texts are formatted close to how they are in print, with pericope headings, paragraphs, poetry formatting, etc.; presented with front-matter and back-matter; and so on.

Thank you for clarifying this, and this makes sense. I hope this does not come across wrong, but the Bible has always felt like an afterthought in Logos. I understand it is not (since I looked it up to see), but I think this is a good example. The way verses are looked up in Logos is perhaps less than smooth. However, as soon as I use that same method on anything extrabiblical it works beautifully, as if it was designed for it, and it sounds like it was.

This means that database-like queries that are "basic" to do in Accordance may feel surprisingly difficult in Logos, because it wasn't really intended to work with books that way. OTOH, Logos may have some different capabilities that would be very difficult to replicate in Accordance.

I think this is true, but I think with this specific situation of searching for multiple verses, this isn't really an issue of "Accordance" compared to Logos, but more like "what has been recognized as standard" compared to Logos. So think about reading a book either online, or in a Bible software, where a book says "See Gen 1:2, Ex 4:5, Ecc 1:3." I can typically just copy the string and paste it anywhere but Logos, which just seems unusual.

I think you already said this in another post, but it may be best to approach Logos with a "blank slate" and not try to replicate Accordance workflows. You might find yourself just fighting the software instead of working with it the way it was designed to be used.

Yes, I remember you saying that before, and I have truly found it helpful. Thank you. When I forget about what I am doing in Accordance and just focus on what Logos really shines at, I truly love it. I really love how the notes are done with those little anchor symbols, I love reading all extrabiblical material, and something I really appreciate is that when I do research and there is a book I don't own, but Logos sells it, Logos let's me know where the resource is that I need. That has been super helpful on a few occasions. So while there are some things about Logos I find kind of quirky (like this verse situation), when I just view Logos as the blank slate like you said, I find that it is a very helpful program.

That said, it does seem like quickly and temporarily displaying a list of Bible verses could be something Logos could help you do more easily than the current approaches (Passage Lists or Inline Search, neither of which was really designed to address this particular problem); I'll pass that feedback along.

Thank you, I appreciate it. I think this is a real need as it has been something a few people have asked me about recently, which is what brought it back to my attention. In case it helps, I can attach a screenshot of what I am trying to accomplish.

Hi @Michelle,

Thank you for the screenshot. A couple of things though. First, you are in the Search window, and I am trying to look at multiple verses at the same time in the normal ESV tab just like I would look at a single verse in Logos.

Second, however, the Search doesn't work on my end. I notice yours says "AI" and perhaps that is why it works on your end? So Logos' search doesn't naturally do it, but AI connected the dots that you wanted to see a few verses?

Hi @Morgan,

Thank you for the screenshot. Typing "OR" did work. So that is thankfully better than needing quotes. I think the main concerns I have are:
1) OR is not standard, but rather commas
2) It only shows the Hebrew, and even if I scroll down there is no way to see the Greek (is there a way in this view?)
3) It is still in the Search window making it free of notes etc. While I understand I can't just search for multiple verses in the Bible like I would search for one verse, once I find them in this Search view, is there a way to move these results back to the main Bible tab to make them functional?

Smart Bible Search did the trick and it uses my preferred Bible or I can filter it to any other translation/version I want. I don’t have to use OR either just the commas.

Hi @DAL, I understand that the Smart setting allows Logos to recognize a comma, but isn't "Smart" the AI function? The task of looking up more than one verse at a time with a comma has been standard almost everywhere and really shouldn't require AI. This is also still in that limited Search pane.

Hi @Andrew Batishko,

Thank you for the clarification. That for sure helps a lot. I still need to type OR (which prevents me from just pasting a string of verses), but the notes are viewable here which is for sure helpful. That said, it seems to only show the first OL. Is there a way to fix this? (I tried starting with the OL, but then it didn't show Lk at all).

FWIW, I'd do this using a Passage List and then filtering by the Passage List. I have a passage list called Bible Filter.

Hi @Mark Barnes (Logos), thank you for the idea. I think I might find the passage list more workable, so I will play with that and see if it can be a little smoother. I am thinking maybe if I have a specific passage list always open which I can refer to and type over it might work, since this thing does recognize commas, thankfully. In fact, I think the commas would be a selling point to cause me to use the passage guide over the search function.

That's correct. To put this another way, the Parallel Books feature only shows the parallel books for a single reference at a time, showing the other books that have content at the current location. You would need to scroll so that the reference in the navigation box changes, or manually enter a verse, or use the up/down arrows in the location bar (with the "Search Result" option active) in order to see that verse in your parallel books.

Hi @Andrew Batishko, thank you for clarifying this. If I scrolled down literally nothing would happen. However, after I clicked the little down arrow then it did show the Greek and after that scrolling back and forth worked. I am not sure why just scrolling doesn't work on it's own, but as long as I can click the next button to sort of activate it, that is fine. I had just been worried there hadn't been a way.

There is no way to get all of what you want (seeing a filtered view of the "live" content in multiple books at the same time) short of having each of those books open and repeating the search in each book panel (which is obviously not going to be a great experience).

That is ok. As long as I can press the next button and have it work that is fine. I had just been worried since I had originally just tried scrolling which did not work, but after pressing the next button now scrolling does. On a side note, scrolling is how it works in Accordance too. In Accordance if I have Gen 1:1 and Lk 1:1 or whatever, both verses show in the ESV, but only the Hebrew will show until I scroll down, then the Greek will show. So now that I clicked that little arrow, it is working the same as in Accordance regarding showing the OL.

FWIW, the Search with (gen 1.2, ps 1:1, luk 1:1) worked for me. Gotta love the Search in Logos…. it's great! It's also great to use to cross reference a passage. I use "cross reference verse" and it works great, i.e. cross reference Act 2:38.😎

Gotta love Smart Bible Search 🔍 I think it’s very useful despite the extra step in opening the Search Panel.

Hi @xnman and @DAL

Regarding the Search, it sounds like you guys must be using AI, as commas work there, but the regular search requires this unusual OR command. I am very grateful that commas work with the passage list though, so I will see how functional that will be. I agree cross-references work well here. :)

Hi @Brian Leathers, thanks for the screenshots. I think the milestone thing is pretty impractical since I am often needing to look random verses up pretty quickly in class. Is that how all your screenshots are done? It doesn't appear to be, but I can't figure out how to replicate it. Are you able / willing to post your workspace so I can open it?