The most useful tool is the most expensive, Logos Software. The Ancient Languages version is around 700, but the Scholars Platinum Edition with all of the necessary add-ons, tops out at around 3 grand, maybe 4. If you wanted to get started at a couple of hundred clams, the best bet is the four volume Complete Word Study of the Old and New Testaments. It's available as a set from Christian Discount Bookstore.

But here's the good news. There are a bunch of good and free online sites which you and others can use. Since I've got better tools than those offered online, I'm not the best person to ask for the URL's, but if you spend a few hours with Google, I'll bet that you come up with at least 20 great sites.

Here is an example of one: http://www.scripture4all.org/

If you get a list together, send it to me and I'll have JP post it on the YY site.

Yada

Fifty Years of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Half a century ago, a wandering goat brought a shepherd to a narrow opening in the cliffs of the Judean desert. Peering into the darkness, the shepherd gazed upon barely visible jars protecting texts whose message has transformed our understanding of the Bible, and ourselves... No one book, let alone an introductory Internet course, can offer the beginning student a comprehensive and balanced introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls. While this course will attempt to touch on the major topics and key issues of the Scrolls' discovery and study, our real hope for you, the student, is that you will be inspired by this course to use the various references provided to begin your own adventure.

A Journey Through Jerusalem

Discover the story of Jerusalem in words and pictures, spanning the ages from Jerusalem's infancy as a small walled town 4000 years ago to the dramatic growth the city has seen in the 20th century.

"The Fragments" seminar on the Scrolls, was hosted by ABC Radio National's Rachael Kohn with leading Scrolls scholars, Geza Vermes, Lawrence Schiffman and Emanuel Tov. It was recorded in the Domain Theatre at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on July 14th, 2000.

The seminar explores six ancient texts that were on exhibition at the art gallery. These include biblical, apocryphal, sectarian, and legal writings. Click on the images below and hear the stories unfold from the tiniest fragments.