High-Tech

By Richard N. Ostling

There is a Bible for every taste, or lack thereof: Bibles bound in denim and hand-tooled leather, translations in street slang, Bible comic books, Bible cartoon videos and seventy times seven other gimmicky editions. Now, for the parson who has everything, here comes the ultimate in modern packaging: the Electronic Bible. This is not a new translation but a hand-held computer containing the entire scriptural text in either the King James or the Revised Standard Version. The item, manufactured by New Jersey-based Franklin Computer, will go on sale in selected retail outlets next week. Price: $299.

Weighing 13 oz., measuring 5 1/2 in. square and powered by four AA batteries, the microchip Bible is more portable than most published editions. By punching in book, chapter and verse, the user can immediately call up any of the 31,173 verses of Scripture on the screen's four display lines. From there the text can be read continuously, backward or forward.

But its other search and concordance functions make the machine far more valuable. Want to find every place in the Bible where "taxes" appears? Just punch in the word and sit back. The computer displays all the books where the exact word is found, and a simple added command then brings each text to the screen. Taxes turn up but once in the King James, in Daniel 11: 20. A handy extension of this feature can also search for all variant forms, such as taxed or taxation (there are eight in all).

Or try this: type in a request to find any place in the Bible where the words valley, shadow and death occur in the same verse. The machine will obligingly display Psalm 23: 4. Can't recall the exact words? A built-in thesaurus lets the user search through synonyms. The machine also provides - pronunciations for proper names (Enoch is EE-nuck). A handicap for some will be difficulty in reading the enhanced liquid-crystal display, whose resolution is still inferior to that of larger, more expensive personal computers that can process Bible-reference software.

Franklin's Bible will soon have to compete with a similar product developed by the SelecTronics company of Minneapolis. The SelecTronics Bible, also priced at $299, will contain the New International Version that is favored by conservative Evangelicals. Why the scramble to break into the microchip-Bible market? According to II Timothy 3: 16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable" for believers. Obviously, computer companies are also hoping to turn a profit from Holy Writ.

With reporting by Michael P. Harris/New York