Translating the Bible with the help of SHEBANQ

Data analysis regarding ancient texts is more and more common. Oftentimes, however, it is quite complicated if you don’t have any programming experience. It takes time to learn programming and query languages to an extent that it can be useful. This can be a obstacle for people to start integrating data analysis in their daily translation practices, even though they realize how valuable these analyses are. This post is about a tutorial that I have written on using the BHSA database in SHEBANQ. 

SHEBANQ stands for ‘System for HEBrew Text: Annotations for Queries and Markup’. It is an online environment for studying and doing research regarding the Hebrew Bible. The database contains extensive syntactic and morphological information that can easily be searched and accessed. It is an open-source program of the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (ETCBC), a research center at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Religion & Theology. To execute searches in SHEBANQ, you can write queries that can be shared with other researchers and can be used in academic publications. It is also possible to view earlier published queries by fellow researchers and to check whether there has been written a query on a specific text you are interested in. The following tutorial is written for those who do not have experience with working in SHEBANQ, and for those who are not familiar with the MQL language in which the queries are written. This tutorial explains the basics of query-writing and helps you to get started from the bottom. Getting good at writing queries involves trial and error and some time. However, it will improve the extent of your research, so it will be worth your while.

In the tutorial, first, the database itself will be explained. After this, a fair number of examples will be given, so you can determine if SHEBANQ can indeed help you with your research, translation, and/or exegesis. You don’t have to go through all of the examples, but they can be helpful. Then, a tutorial on how to write queries will follow. The tutorial contains helpful examples to get you started, so you will be able to write basic queries after finishing this tutorial and will know how to proceed with writing more advanced queries. 

You can download the tutorial here: https://github.com/ETCBC/Tutorials/blob/master/SHEBANQ%20tutorial%202021.pdf