Quickly Access the UBS Handbooks

Many years ago I visited my local bookstore looking for resources to help me with my sermon series on Ephesians. Almost hidden on the shelf was the single volume, A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Thumbing through the pages, I discovered this commentary was a goldmine full of riches providing insights into word meanings, morphology, and syntax. Here’s the icing on the cake: it was all in plain English! I understood every sentence.

For the next several months I wore out this volume devouring every word as I made my way through Ephesians. The following years I secured other New Testament volumes as I preached through Philippians and Galatians. I came to understand The United Bible Societies’ Handbook Series was prepared for Bible translators, assisting them in translating the Old and New Testaments. This set rapidly became my favorite go-to commentary. In addition to the Bible of course, if I could only have one set of resources in my library, this would be it.

I was thrilled beyond words when Logos digitized the entire series. I removed the print volumes from the shelf and added the e-books to my computer. Then Logos did the unthinkable by including the UBS Handbooks in the upper end collections: Gold, Platinum, and Portfolio.

If you have debating with yourself about upgrading to Gold or above, I encourage you to do so if for no other reason than the UBS Handbooks. This set alone costs $800, but is included in the Gold, Platinum, and Portfolio collections. I believe after using these Handbooks for just a short while, you too will find yourself referencing them before any other resource in your library.

Here’s but one way to quickly access the Handbooks:

• Open the Library
• Click Prioritize
• In the Library’s Find box type series:handbook (All of the UBS Handbooks will be listed separately. Please notice they appear by title as A Handbook on “a specific book of the Bible”)
• Right click on any individual volume
• Select Prioritize this series
• Drag in the Prefer these resources list United Bible Societies’ Handbooks until the set is in the top five of your versified resources (Bibles and commentaries)
• Open a Bible to a specific location like Colossians 3:16
• Right click on any word in the verse
• Select from the right menu Reference “your verse” such as Reference Colossians 3:16
• Select from the list of resources on the right menu the Handbook for your verse such as A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

Regardless of where you are in the Bible, the correct Handbook will appear on the right menu!

As you begin to work with these books make sure to read the Preface and Introductory Information to learn about the editors’ goals. In the New Testament you may recognize a name Eugene Nida, the N in the LN numbers scattered all though out your Logos resources.

Enjoy the authors’ insights into the biblical languages placed on a level easily accessible by all!

What volume, either Old Testament or New Testament is your favorite from The UBS Handbook Series?