Webster Bible Electronic Format. PUBLIC DOMAIN February 1992 TOPICS: Webster Biography Introduction to the Electronic Format Process Description Text Considerations Typeset Corrections Word/Spelling Standardizations 12/25/91 Corrections Webster Biography: Noah Webster: America's first grammarian and founding father of American education. In 1828 Noah Webster published the 'American Dictionary of the English Language'. This dictionary demonstrates the Christian values which were found in America's educational and scholarly systems. It is from this early dictionary that we have todays popular 'Webster Dictionary'. In 1833 Noah Webster, who had mastered 20 languages including Hebrew and Greek, published the King James Authorized Version 'with amendments to the language'. In stating his reasons for producing this version of the Bible, Webster said: 'In the present version, the language is, in general, correct and perspicuous; ... in many passages uniting sublimity with beautiful simplicity. In my view, the general style of the version ought not to be altered. But, in the lapse of two or three centuries, changes have taken place, which, in particular passages, impair the beauty; in others, obscure the sense, of the original languages. ... they do not present to the reader the Word of God. ... My principal aim is to remedy this evil.' It was with cautious reverence that Webster corrected misused grammar, removed offensive terms and expressions, and substituted commonly understood words for words that had fallen into disuse, or no longer carried the same meaning. In 1834, the year after completing the Webster Bible, Noah Webster wrote a companion piece titled 'Value of the Bible and Excellence of the Christian Religion - For the Use of Families and Schools'. Webster, who was considered 'The schoolmaster to a nation' and produced the earliest spellers and textbooks for America's school children, believed Christian religious values and American public education to be inseparable. He believed the Webster Bible to be 'the most important enterprise' of his life, and referred to the Bible as: '... the chief moral cause of all that is good, and the best corrector of all that is evil, in human society; the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men, and the only book that can serve as an infallible guide to future felicity.' Introduction to the Electronic Format: Beginning in July of 1991 the task of placing the Webster Bible text in electronic format began. The original purpose was to provide Larry Pierce, who produces the On-Line Bible program, with a more modern *public domain* text, similar in content and style to the AV but with a grammar that would provide better comprehension in todays English. I plan on maintaining an accurate copy of the Webster text. Anyone finding an error should contact me; Anyone desiring to obtain the latest, most correct text, can find it on the Bible Foundation BBS, or can contact me in the following methods: Internet acus10@waccvm.corp.mot.com Home phone 602-829-8542 Address Mark Fuller 1129 East Loyola Drive Tempe Arizona, 85282 Bible Foundation BBS 602-242-2462 - 2400/8n1 I would like to thank the Bible Foundation not only for scanning nearly the entire Webster bible but for encouraging me to undertake this monumental work; particularly around page 20 when I realized what I had gotten myself into. Special thanks to Jerry Kingery of the Bible Foundation for scanning, and Jerry Hastings for doing some preliminary scan cleaning and making the texts available on the BBS. Process Description: The process which occurred was: - Photocopy pages from a Webster Bible facsimile, enlarging and controlling contrast for maximum character recognition. The Webster Bible used was printed by Baker Book House, 1987, isbn 0-8010-9684-7. - Mail the photocopies to the Bible Foundation where they were OCR scanned using an HP Scanjet and Omni-Page OCR software. - Visual comparison and cleaning of the resulting scan files against the printed Webster Bible. - Spell checking. - Electronic comparison of the Webster text files against the KJV AV text files contained in the On-Line Bible program. All differences were double checked against the printed Webster Bible. The program used for comparing was the IBM Superc Compare Facility developed for IBM Mainframe computer environments and available for the IBM PC platform. (see below) - Produce a list of unique (ignoring the case of the first character of each word) words contained in the Webster files, with a count of their occurrence. This list was then checked for consistency of spellings, hyphenations. Text Considerations: During this process the opportunity presented itself to 'enhance' the text. These changes could have fallen into 3 categories: - Correcting obvious and perceived 1833 typesetting errors. - Correcting spellings not currently in use today. - Change outdated words which have no meaning in todays English, or have a different meaning than they did in 1833. It was decided to limit changes to the first category. The last 2 changes will possibly be a future project and carry a name such as 'New Webster Bible'. In the first category a fairly large amount of 1833 typesetting errors were discovered. Some are quite obvious while others are questionable; extreme caution was taken in deciding what should be corrected. For instance, the word Spirit is not capitalized in many places. Based on the pattern I see, I believe this was intentional on Webster's part: although I disagree with it. In the second category there are a number of word spellings which are wholly incorrect today: Cesar, lanch, to-day. These have not been changed. Anyone desiring to validate this text should consider comparing it to the AV. This produces the fastest check of integrity. The compare program I used, the IBM Superc Compare Facility for the IBM PC, can be obtained from IBM. Cost is $15, plus $5 for shipping. To order call 800-426-7279 and ask for 'Superc'. This is an outstanding compare program. Perform a Word type compare with a Delta listing. Another useful tool for working with the raw ascii texts is the PS text find program available as Shareware on many BBS's. A good reference tool for understanding the changes Webster made, and did not make, is the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary. This provides a clear insight into what Webster had in mind regarding the English language in 1833. This dictionary is available from the Foundation for American Christian Education, PO Box 27035, San Francisco, CA, 94127. Typeset Corrections: NU 30:12 Lord > LORD NU 32:32 {Extraneous line from 2 verses below appears in this verse.} NU 33:49 Beth-jesimoth > Beth-jeshimoth GE 24:31 LORd > LORD EX 1:22 every > Every EX 7:16 the > The EX 8:1 let > Let EX 9:29 as > As EX 13:8 this > This EX 15:26 if > If EX 16:25 eat > Eat EX 20:6 commadments > commandments EX 23:11 my > may EX 25:30 alway > always EX 22:5 ano4her > another EX 26:1 lined > linen EX 32:25 v.35 > v.25 EX 33:15 him if > him, If EX 39:23 hand > band EX 39:43 had, > had LE 18:15 v.45 > v.15 DE 1:13 v.12 > v.13 DE 3:24 according thy > according to thy DE 13:10 bonddage > bondage DE 23:4 thy > they DE 26:7 heared > heard DE 28:49 nnderstand > understand JOS 14:12 hearedst > heardest JOS 19:35 Cinnereth > Chinnereth JOS 22:20 son Zerah > son of Zerah JUD 6:11 nnder > under JUD 7:24 Beth-bara > Beth-barah JUD 11:34 Jepthath > Jephthah JUD 11:39 she > he JUD 20:35 v.25 > v.35 JUD 20:40 behold the > behold, the RU 1:22 the the > the 1SA 6:4 emerods. > emerods, 1SA 8:10 of of > of 1SA 14:30 to day > to-day 1SA 24:11 trangression > transgression 1SA 24:21 out my > out of my 1SA 25:41 they > thy 1SA 26:7 and, behold, > and behold, 2SA 1:7 answered Here > answered, Here 2SA 3:5 sixth > sixth, 2SA 10:14 Abashai, > Abishai, 2SA 13:34 hill side > hillside 2SA 16:21 Aphithophel > Ahithophel 2SA 17:17 Enrogel > En-rogel 2SA 21:19 Beth-lehemite. > Beth-lehemite, 2SA 23:26 Tekoite. > Tekoite, 2SA 23:27 Hushathite. > Hushathite, 1KI 4:5 the the king's > the king's 1KI 6:6 ahout > about 1KI 6:16 plaee > place 1KI 7:36 proprotion > proportion 1KI 8:11 of LORD. > of the LORD. 1KI 18:31 of LORD > of the LORD 1KI 19:2 ahout > about 1KI 20:26 Ben-hahad > Ben-hadad 2KI 2:3 to day > to-day 2KI 7:9 upon upon > upon 2KI 9:21 saying > saying, 2KI 13:13 Israel? > Israel. 2KI 13:24 Benhadad > Ben-hadad 2KI 15:16 Manahim > Manahem 1CH 2:17 Ismaelite > Ishmaelite 1CH 2:37 Obed. > Obed, 1CH 4:24 Memuel > Nemuel 1CH 4:28 Moladar > Moladah 1CH 3:9 and and > and 1CH 6:22 sons > son 1CH 6:22 on > son 1CH 6:81 suburbs, > suburbs. 1CH 7:32 Hothan > Hotham 1CH 8:8 after, > after 1CH 9:3 of of > of 1CH 9:28 ministring > ministering 1CH 11:45 Jedial > Jediael 1CH 24:26 Malhi > Mahli 1CH 25:14 brethren > brethren, 1CH 25:20 brethren > brethren, 1CH 25:21 brethren > brethren, 1CH 25:27 sons > sons, 1CH 27:7 couse > course 1CH 27:13 Maharia > Maharai 2CH 4:8 a a > a 2CH 6:29 bis > his 2CH 10:7 forever > for ever 2CH 12:1 pass. > pass, 2CH 15:1 spirit > Spirit 2CH 17:1 Johosaphat > Jehoshaphat 2CH 22:2 Jerusalem, > Jerusalem. 2CH 28:12 son Johanan > son of Johanan 2CH 29:35 of LORD > of the LORD 2CH 35:1 Joash > Josiah 2CH 35:12 familes > families NE 3:15 Shallum > Shallun NE 9:10 a a > a NE 11:4 of of > of ES 9:12 shall done > shall be done JOB 21:5 and and > and JOB 31:18 be > he PS 31:11 me- > me. PS 75:5 wot > not PS 78:36 Nethertheless > Nevertheless PS 82:1 the the > the PS 119:76 Let > Let, PS 119:141 depised > despised PS 132:7 foostool > footstool PS 137:6 roof my > roof of my PR 1:9 shatl > shalt PR 13:6 wickednesss > wickedness PR 15:33 humilty > humility PR 20:20 obscnre > obscure PR 21:1 the the > the PR 23:12 intruction > instruction SO 7:9 roof thy > roof of thy ISA 14:9 tho > the ISA 21:16 LORD, > LORD ISA 23:12 thou > Thou ISA 32:7 detroy > destroy ISA 35:8 and and > and ISA 43:9 and and > and ISA 66:11 we > ye ISA 66:19 them. > them, JER 4:10 {line 3 and 4 were reversed} JER 4:12 againt > against JER 5:15 saith LORD > saith the LORD JER 5:19 ye he have > ye have JER 6:4 lenghtened > lengthened JER 7:24 and and > and JER 14:13 he > ye JER 14:19 lothed > loathed JER 25:4 hearkenened > hearkened JER 36:15 ears, > ears. JER 42:4 you God > your God JER 49:36 whether > whither JER 52:21 cubits? > cubits; LA 3:60 imginations > imaginations LA 4:4 break > bread EZE 3:14 of LORD > of the LORD EZE 6:1 word the > word of the EZE 11:11 it > it; EZE 17:1 come > came EZE 28:1 word the > word of the EZE 28:25 when > When EZE 45:8 Isral > Israel EZE 48:16 An > And DA 1:19 them > them; DA 2:10 there > There DA 8:17 the the > the DA 9:24 reconconciliation > reconciliation HO 14:3 your hands > our hands JOE 2:20 northen > northern AM 1:6 for > For AM 2:6 trangressions > transgressions AM 5:8 the mout > them out MIC 5:4 strengh > strength NA 3:4 familes > families NA 3:7 see > seek NA 3:18 shepsherds > shepherds HAG 2:13 it > It ZEC 1:4 heaken > hearken ZEC 7:1 of LORD > of the LORD MT 2:2 where > Where MT 4:1 spirit > Spirit MT 7:21 me > me, MT 8:31 v.21 > v.31 MT 10:1 pow- [against] > power [against] MT 15:32 v.22 > v.32 MT 16:22 LORD > Lord MT 17:26 from > From MT 21:21 If > if MT 21:41 he > He MT 25:17 two. > two, MT 26:8 to > To MT 26:40 alseep > asleep MT 27:65 said them > said to them MR 6:1 Juda > Judas MR 9:21 from > From MR 9:50 yourselvs > yourselves MR 10:45 ranson > ransom MR 11:14 let > Let LU 3:30 Juda > Judah LU 3:33 Juda > Judah LU 3:34 Nachor > Nahor LU 3:34 Thara > Terah LU 3:35 Saruch > Serug LU 3:35 Ragau > Reu LU 3:35 Phalec > Peleg LU 3:36 Sem > Shem LU 3:37 Mathusala > Methuselah LU 4:10 he > He LU 5:4 lanch > Lanch LU 5:27 him > him, LU 6:10 as other > as the other LU 6:13 choose > chose LU 10:41 her > her, LU 17:33 peserve > preserve LU 20:6 from > From LU 20:14 the the > the LU 24:34 the > The AC 1:6 the the > the AC 2:18 those, days > those days, AC 12:8 And > and AC 16:18 name Jesus > name of Jesus AC 16:25 prases > praises AC 17:6 word > world AC 18:6 go the > go to the AC 19:17 name, > name AC 22:16 of Lord > of the Lord RO 5:4 patience > patience, RO 9:26 ye > Ye RO 16:1 is Cenchrea > is at Cenchrea RO 16:25 keept > kept 2CO 8:7 into his > in this 2CO 11:2 jealously > jealousy EPH 4:1 LORD > Lord EPH 4:17 LORD > Lord COL 1:1 Chirst > Christ 1TI 5:18 And > And, TIT 2:8 vs.9 > vs.8 HEB 4:3 the the > the HEB 4:5 if > If HEB 6:20 Melchizedec > Melchisadec HEB 9:19 and and > and HEB 11:32 Sampson > Samson 1PE 3:12 aad > and 1PE 4:15 your > you 1JO 3:11 beginning > beginning, 1JO 4:11 love another > love one another RE 3:22 spirit > Spirit RE 4:11 LORD > Lord RE 15:6 of temple > of the temple RE 17:4 stone > stones RE 17:9 wisdom, > wisdom. RE 21:20 ninth > ninth, Word/spelling standardization: ---------------------------------------------------------------- birthright in Heb 12:16 is the only non-hyphenated occurrence. Changed to birth-right as 9 other occurrences. bride-groom in LU 5:35 is the only hyphenated occurrence. Changed to bridegroom. handbreadth in PS 39:5 is the only non-hyphenated occurrence. changed to hand-breadth as in 6 other occurences. hand-maid in EX 23:12 is the only hyphenated occurrence. changed to handmaid as in 43 other occurrences. hand-maidens in AC 2:18 is the only hyphenated occurrence. changed to handmaidens as in 2 other plural occurences. land-mark(s) in DE 19:14, 27:17 is hyphenated unlike other occurences in PR and JOB. changed to landmark(s). mill-stone 2SA 11:21 is the only hyphenated occurrence. changed to millstone as 10 other occurences. outstreched EX 6:6 JER 21:5 is not hyphenated. changed to out-strecthed as in 15 other occurrences. rain-bow RE 4:3. hyphenated unlike the only other occurrence. changed to rainbow as RE 10:1 roe-buck(s) 1KI 4:23 DE 14:5, 15:22. hyphenated unlike 2 other occurences. changed to roebuck as in DE 12:15, 12:22 shew LU 20:24 is the only spelling. Webster changed hundreds of these. changed to show. stablished PS 148:6 is the only occurrence and apparently overlooked. changed to established as webster did to all others. stedfast(ly) JOB 11:15 PS 78:8, 78:37, RU 1:18 the only occurences of this spelling. Webster changed all the others. changed to steadfast(ly). water-courses ISA 44:4 this is the only hyphenated occurrence, and the hyphen in the printed copy looks somewhat like an imperfection. changed to watercouses as 2 other occurences. wayfaring JUD 19:17 is unhyphenated. changed to way-faring like 5 other occurences. winepresses JOB 24:11 is the only un-hyphenated occurrence. changed to wine-presses as 17 other occurences. Baalzephon EX 14:2 is the only un-hyphenated occurrence. changed to Baal-zephon as 2 other occurences. bare-foot 2SA 15:30 is the only hyphenated occurrence. changed to barefoot as 4 other occurences in ISA. Beersheba JOS 19:2 is the only un-hyphenated occurrence. changed to Beer-sheba as 33 other occurences. Bethel 1CH 7:28 2KI 2:23 EZR 2:28 not hyphenated. changed to Beth-el as 63 other occurences. Bethjeshimoth EZE 25:9 is the only non-hyphenated occurrence. changed to Beth-jeshimoth as 3 other occurences. Bethshemesh JER 43:13 is the only non-hyphenated occurrence. changed to Beth-shemesh as 20 other occurences. Bethlehem GE 48:7 2CH 11:6 are the only OT non-hyphenated occurences. changed to Beth-lehem as 27 other OT occurences. Bethlehem is used in the NT. earrings JUD 8:24,25 the only un-hyphenated occurences. changed to ear-rings as 13 other occurences. eye-lids PR 4:25 PS 11:4 is hyphenated unlike 7 other occurences. changed to eyelids. fether(s)(ed) PS 68:13, 78:27, 91:4 JOB 39:13 not spelled as other 5 occurences. changed to feather(s)(ed). fore-skin GE 17:24,25 are the only hyphenated occurences. changed to foreskin as 12 other occurences. fore-part EX 28:27 is the only hyphenated occurrence. changed to forepart as 4 other occurences. four-square EX 27:1, 28:16, 30:2, 37:25, 38:1, 39:9 are hyphenated unlike other occurences. changed to foursquare as 4 other occurences. Gathrimmon JOS 19:45 not hyphenated. changed to Gath-rimmon as 3 other occurences. high-way DE 2:27 NU 20:19 are the only 2 hyphenated occurences. changed to highway as 25 other occurences. Kibroth-Hattaavah NU 11:35 is the only capitalized H. changed to Kibroth-hattaavah as 4 other occurences. law-giver DE 33:21, NU 21:18, JAS 4:12, GE 49:10 are hyphenated unlike 3 un-hyphenated occurrences at PS 60:7;108:8, ISA 33:22 changed to lawgiver. manslayer NU 35:6 is the only non-hyphenated occurrence. changed to man-slayer as 2 other occurences. needlework PS 45:14 is the only non-hyphenated occurrence. changed to needle-work as 7 other occurences. noonday JOB 5:14,11:17, ISA 16:3 not hyphenated. changed to noon-day as 4 other occurences. oliveyard(s) EX 23:11, NE 5:11;9:25 not hyphenated. changed to olive-yard(s) as 2 other occurences. Rabsaris 2KI 18:17 not hyphenated. changed to Rab-saris as in 2 other occurences. sheepcote(s) 1CH 17:7 not hyphenated. changed to sheep-cote as 2 other occurences. sheepfold(s) PS 78:70, JOH 10:1 is not hyphenated. changed to sheep-fold(s) as 2 other occurrences. soothsayer JOS 13:22, MIC 5:12 not hyphenated. changed to sooth-sayer as in 6 other occurrences. storehouse(s) 2CH 32:28, JER 50:26 not hyphenated. changed to store-house(s) as in 6 other occurences. stript GE 37:33, EX 33:6 changed the only 2 occurences of stript to stripped as 16 other occurences. arch-angel 1TH 4:16 hyphenated. changed to archangel as JUDE 1:9. bondmen EZR 9:9, DE 6:21; 7:8, GE 43:18 not hyphenated. changed to bond-men as 20 other occurences. sevenfold ISA 30:26 not hyphenated. changed to seven-fold as 5 other occurences. threshold 1KI 14:17, 1SA 5:4; 5:5 not spelled uniformly. changed to threshhold as 14 other occurences. 12/25/91 - Corrections (after original release) ISA 59:17 breast-place > breast-plate - This is a typo in the original 1833 text which was not detected in the previous process. MR 7:26 Syro-phenician > Syrophenician - The hyphen was for word wrap and was accidently retained. After reading the chapter intro, which uses no hyphen, it became obvious it should not be hyphenated. ??/??/01 GE 6:15 height > hight - The original 1833 ed. consistently used hight instead of height. While not common today, this is true to the 1833 ed.. JOH 15:2 my > may - This is a typo in the original 1833 text which was not detected in the previous correction