SEEK Bible Software is a free open-source program for searching the Greek and Hebrew text of the Bible. It is a console application that can be run within a terminal program of UNIX-like systems. It can be run also in Windows under the Cygwin/X environment.
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SEEK is a console application for searching the text of the Scripture in the original language. It supports unpointed Hebrew text and unaccented Greek text. The program accepts a number of commands for searching and displaying the text of the Bible. In interactive mode, the program responds to the commands typed by the user. The program can also be used to execute the commands recorded in a file. Greek or Hebrew text can be typed by switching the keyboard to Greek or Hebrew mode or by means of one of the keyboard mappings of the program.
The program works with three modules:
One translation module;
One Greek module;
One Hebrew module.
The Hebrew module has the text of the St. Petersburg codex. The Greek module may be either the New Testament text of the 1550 Stephanus edition or the Septuagint. The translation module is the KJV Bible.
A specific module may be loaded by typing its name. The names of the modules are NT (the Greek New Testament), OT (the Hebrew Old Testament), KJV (the KJV translation), and LXX (the Septuagint).
The commands g, h, and t may be used to search the Greek, Hebrew, and translation modules. For example
g πιστος εστι κυριος
will search the Greek module for text in which πιστος, εστι, and κυριος appear near each other. The top portion of the figure below shows the effect of this command. For more information on searching text, see the search features article.
As
shown in the figure above, Scripture text can be displayed by typing
a Scripture reference. The default module for the New Testament or
the Old Testament will be used for the Scripture text. The default
module is changed by typing the name of a module. The typed name
becomes the default text for the New Testament and/or the Old
Testament.
After typing a Scripture reference, the text beginning with that reference is displayed. Additional lines of text may be displayed by pressing enter or arrow down. For each line of Scripture text, the reference column indicates whether a verse begins on that line of text and where. The program uses the verse numbers of the English Bible. When different, Hebrew verse numbers are displayed between parentheses.
The following is the list of commands supported by the program. It can be obtained by typing help index. For more information on a command, type help followed by the command name.
|
check |
checks the content of a text module. |
|
cset |
controls the characters included in a search. |
|
dcset |
controls the default set of characters in a search. |
|
echo |
determines whether warning messages are displayed. |
|
exit |
exit the program. |
|
g |
search Greek text. |
|
h |
search Hebrew text. |
|
help |
help information. |
|
map |
sets the keyboard mapping for Greek and Hebrew text. |
|
path |
adds file paths. |
|
pause |
pauses the execution of a script until a key is pressed. |
|
preview |
prints the result outline of the last search. |
|
pwd |
shows the current directory. |
|
r |
sets the search range. |
|
show |
displays program settings or module path. |
|
si |
search with interval. |
|
t |
search translation text. |
|
translit |
displays transliteration information. |
|
version |
displays version information. |
|
win |
sets the number of characters of the search window. |
The current version of the program is 0.5.3 (October 2016). The software is distributed in source form. The program is built using the GNU make and gcc programs. These must be present when installing the SEEK software.
To install the software:
Extract the content of the zip file.
Note that the README file contains useful information about installing and running the program.
In a terminal window, change the directory to the directory of the program.
Run make install in the terminal window.
The program can be run within an xterm terminal window. In Ubuntu, it can also be run using the default terminal program (the gnome-terminal program).
Recommended gnome-terminal settings: In Edit/Profile Preferences/General select Allow bold text and the font FreeMono Bold.
Recommended xterm settings: The terminal should be in VT102
mode. Moreover, it is recommended to enable the scrollbar. If these
are not the default settings, the command line
xterm +t -sb
could be used, where the option +t
requests VT102 emulation and the option -sb enables the
scrollbar. Alternatively, these settings can be made by means of the
xterm option menus. If the terminal is not in VT102 mode, place the
mouse cursor inside the terminal, press and hold the Ctrl key and the
middle mouse button. Next, select Switch to VT mode. Moreover,
to enable the scrollbar, press and hold the Ctrl key and the middle
mouse button and select Enable scrollbar. Note that the font
size can be adjusted using the VT Fonts menu. To display this menu,
press and hold the Ctrl key and the right mouse button. The Medium
setting is recommended.