Clause Search allows you to search every sentence clause in the Bible for terms acting in specific grammatical or semantic roles.
Note: Available in a Logos Max subscription and in legacy base packages Bronze and above.
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What To Do if Required Bibles Are Not Downloaded
Running a Clause Search
Let's say you're studying Jesus's relationship with Peter, and you want to see every instance in the New Testament in which Jesus is the subject and Peter is the object. To begin a Clause Search:
- Click the Search icon
in the toolbar.
- Ensure that the Clause search type is selected.
- Select the resource you want to search (in this case, select the Greek New Testament: SBL Edition).
Note: although you can search entirely in English, your search results will be based on the grammatical and semantic relations in the original language version.
Note: If you don't have the required resources downloaded, the software will display an error message. To fix this, follow the instructions in the section on what to do if the required Bibles are not downloaded.
- Enter your search in the format field:term (in this case, subject:Jesus object:Peter). The Field element of a clause search is the grammatical or semantic category, and the term element is your specific search term. Pay close attention to the suggestions Logos provides as you type; these may help you build a more precise search query. In some cases you must select a suggestion in order to disambiguate your search term. Logos provides several tools to help you formulate an effective query:
- Search Helps (in the main search pane) provide basic guidance about how to construct your search.
-
Search Suggestions: As you type, Logos will populate a list of suggestions to help you refine your search. For best results, select one of these. Otherwise, finish typing your search query and press Enter.
Search Results
Logos can display your search results in two ways:
Verses View
The Verses view displays your search results in the version you searched. Clicking a search result (highlighted phrase) opens it in a new window in the clicked Bible.
Here we can see any time Jesus's action is directed toward Peter in the New Testament, like when Jesus calls Peter to follow him in Matthew 4. Logos returns not only instances when Jesus's and Peter's names appear directly in the text, but also when they are implied (such as Luke 5:3:-"And he [Jesus] got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him [Simon Peter] to put out from the land a little.")
Analysis View
The Analysis view displays detailed grammatical and semantic information from the original language version of your search results. You can sort results by column headers, or right-click a column header to show or hide different categories.
Here you can find things like what verb lemmas appear frequently in interactions between Jesus and Peter, or when a verb's polarity is negative (such as Peter's insistence that Jesus will never wash his feet in John 13:8).
Refining Your Search
Bible Sections
You can limit your search to specific sections of the Bible, or to a Passage List, by clicking All Passages and typing a reference or by selecting a suggested section or range of verses from the drop-down menu. For instance, we can see where our query appears in the Synoptic Gospels.
Using Search Operators
You can use operators to create more advanced searches. For example, if you'd like to see where Jesus addresses his inner circle, use the search string subject:Jesus object:Peter AND object:John (son of Zebedee) AND object:James (son of Zebedee). Logos will return results like the transfiguration scene in Mark 9.
List of Clause Search Fields
You can find a complete list of search fields in Logos Help: Search Fields.
What To Do if Required Bibles Are Not Downloaded
To run a Clause Search, you must have purchased and downloaded the corresponding resources:
- Greek New Testament | Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
- Hebrew Old Testament | Lexham Hebrew Bible
- Greek Septuagint | LXX Swete resource
To download a required resource, open the Library, locate the resource, right-click it, and select Download:
- Use the filter sblgnt for the Greek New Testament
- Use the filter lhb for the Hebrew Old Testament
- Use the filter lxx swete for the Septuagint
Note: If you don't see the required resource in your Library, you will need to purchase it before you can use it.
After requesting the download you will see a couple of Library update messages - this should take just a few seconds. After that, the resources will be available to use.
Note: If you have a Clause Search window open, you will need to close it and open another one before the downloaded resources are recognized.
Additional Resources
Logos Help: Clause Search
Logos Documentation: Hebrew and Greek Clauses: Dataset Documentation
Logos Documentation: Semantic Roles and Case Frames: Dataset Documentation
Logos Documentation: Lexham Glossary of Semantic Roles.
Logos Documentation: Bible Sense Lexicon: Dataset Documentation
Faithlife Groups: Hebrew and Greek Clauses Dataset Group