Review Contents: Accordance Bible Software 9
1. Introduction 2. Setup & Support 3. Interface 4. Performance		5. Features 6. Resources 7. Recommendations

Accordance Bible Software features an impressive list of features for users of all levels. The core features are the extensive search and amplify capabilities.

Search Features. Accordance supports a great variety of simple and complex search options:

• simple word, phrase, and verses searches;
• searches using Strong's numbers;
• combine simple searches using <AND>, <OR>, <NOT>, and other Boolean operators;
• proximity and sequence-specific searches, such as Jonathan <WITHIN 5 Words> <PRECEDED BY> Saul;
• search within clause, sentence, paragraph, verse, chapter, or book fields to limit searches (with Boolean operators) to those boundaries;
• search within user-definable ranges, such as "Torah," "Prophets," "Gospels," or even more specific ranges such as "Genesis 6:5-9:18," "Isaiah 1-39," or "Matthew 5";
• global and character-specific wild-card searches for related groups of words, e.g., sp?(ao)ke finds "spoke" or "spake" but not "spike";
• find similar phrases with the [FUZZY], allusions with the [INFER] command, or words that occur a specified number of times in a given search range with the [COUNT] command;
• grammatical searches with Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin morphologically tagged texts;
• by the end of 2012, syntactical searches for the entire Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament, and possibly other texts;
• construct searches to define complex word relationships using a graphical interface (now with the ability to ignore word order); and,
• combine search windows to use the argument or results from one window in another.

While most, though not all, of these capabilities are now available in other Bible software programs, such as Logos and BibleWorks, the implementation of these search options in Accordance and the speed and accuracy with which the searches are performed by the program still sets Accordance apart from its competition. Notably, the syntactical information being released for Accordance 9 is the product of a new collaboration and research initiative undertaken by Robert Holmstedt and Martin Abegg, not a rehash of the old, oft-criticized Andersen and Forbes syntactical databases. For an introduction to the project, I encourage you to read Dr. Holmstedt's article, "Understanding and Using the New Syntax Searching Capabilities in Accordance 9."

Amplify Features. The ability to amplify your research is one of the most powerful aspects of Accordance Bible Software. Buttons on the resource palette and the search window allow users to access a tremendous amount of information instanteously. The amplification features in Accordance include:

• vocabulary comparisons between texts;
• analytical tools;
• graphing and statistical tools;
• a concordance tool;
• search tools that allow users to search selections in primary texts, lexical and reference aids, secondary sources, maps, timelines, user notes and tools, and custom tool sets;
• parsing tools for keyed, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin texts;
• a diagramming/charting tool;
• a speech tool that reads selected text for you; and,
• quick access to six databases that present, side-by-side, the parallels to the selected text.

These features, although impressive, remain relatively, though not completely, unchanged since Accordance 6 or even earlier (excepting graphs, which have received attention). The analytical tools are especially overdue for greater attention. In particular, I made two suggestions already with respect to Accordance 6 that have yet to be implemented. First, in the analysis details, all the statistics, i.e., number, frequency, importance, uniqueness, etc., should appear together in columns and an option should exist that allows users to sort the results by each column in descending/ascending order. Second, some baseline numbers for the statistics, especially importance and uniqueness, would be helpful to interpret the results. More generally, I am quite sure that other analytical and statistical tools could be developed for the program.

Still, the power of Accordance's concordance and statistical tools is reflected in their extensive use by professional scholars to create concordances and reference tools from primary texts. For example, the authors of The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, published by Brill, used Accordance Bible Software to concord the primary texts.

Other Features. In addition to industry-leading search and amplify features, users can create user tools and notes, import text from .txt, .html, and TLG files, highlight and bookmark texts, export text, export Greek and Hebrew text in Unicode or using a variety of fonts including the public domain, cross platform SPTiberian and SPIonic fonts, print from all resources, print to PDF, generate and copy bibliographic citations, customize over 185 preferences and defaults, create custom timelines and map layers, and so much more. Many of these features are standard for leading Bible software products.

Naturally, there are always new features that could be added to Accordance to make it just that much more powerful. Logos, e.g., features a Bible reading planner and some useful report tools that combine information across multiple resources, both of which remain unmatched by Accordance 9. Additionally, Accordance only features hyperlinks from its newer secondary resources to non-biblical primary resources, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew Inscriptions, Greek Pseudepigrapha, Apostolic Fathers, and Mishnah modules; many resources need to be updated in this regard. Similarly, hymn titles in the "Hymn Writers" module should link to the text of these hymns available in other modules (e.g. Hymns, Watts, and Wesleys). OakTree has always prided itself on the fluid integration of Accordance modules, especially the ability to jump between texts seamlessly so it is particularly surprising that little development has occurred in this regard since I initially mentioned this problem with respect to version 6.7. I am also still awaiting the ability to edit or create parallel databases and import text from PDF files.

On the whole, Accordance 9 provides a strong set of features. Its search and amplify features are second-to-none and its other program features, while not at the forefront of the industry, are adequate for most users.