Online and Free Bible Study Resources Updated - Sites, Programs, Apps

Online and Free Bible Study Resources  

(updated 2018.05.23)

The variety of online Bible study resources continues to change. This is my latest list I share with students. These are all worthwhile resources, and you need to check to see which works best for you and your desired platform. I've starred* ones that you should probably check first. Also remember that for deeper study, you probably want something like Accordance, BibleWorks, or Logos.

• ONLINE BIBLE SITES which provide extra helps for English readers to study the underlying Greek and Hebrew
• *Lumina Bible (still available in the previous NET Bible Study Environment which has some different options.) This is my recommended choice. It gives you access to the NET Bible notes which I recommend consulting. Use the Hebrew or Greek tab in the right column, and you will see how it highlights the matching English and Greek words. Double-click on a Greek/Hebrew word to get a rudimentary lexicon entry. Click on  an English word in the NET to do an original language word search or open the Parallel tab on the left to see NET, NIV, NASB, ESV, NLT, MSG, NRSV, and KJV together.
• *STEP Bible: Another outstanding site with both original language and many English version texts (NET, NIV, ESV, KJV…). Like the NET Bible Study Environment, it can highlight matching Greek/Hebrew//English words, and has links to many lexical resources.
• TheBible.org: Excellent site that is very nice for comparing original and translated versions with access to lexical resources. Many English versions including NRSV, NASB, ESV, KJV, NAB, NIV, NLT…
• Bible Web App: Less full featured, but it’s fast and includes the NET with all notes. Parallel highlighting of Greek/Hebrew//English with Strong’s lexical popups.
• Tyndale Tool Bar: Provides access to Bible texts and articles

• OTHER ONLINE SITES primarily for English language study
• *YouVersion: The primary attraction of this site is the abundance of Bibles it offers, both English (e.g., CEB, CEV, CJB, ESV, GNB, HCSB, KJV, LEB, Message, NAB, NASB, NCV, NET, NIV, NKJV, NLT) and nearly countless non-English ones. For Greek, it includes SBL GNT and Textus Receptus, and the Westminster Leningrad for the Hebrew. Two texts can be set in parallel.
• *BibleGateway: There are too many English (and it does include the NRSV), non-English, Greek, and Hebrew versions to list. If you want to compare English versions, you can see a verse in every version they offer with a single click. There are quite a few linked resources, but many need you to subscribe for $4 USD/month. If your main interest is in comparing English versions, this is your best option.
• FaithLife: This is the online site. Many original and modern language versions are available, but the best part is the connection with the FaithLife Study Bible.
• Bible Hub: A nice collection of resources. The Atlas alone is quite helpful.
  
  
• FREE DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAMS and APPS if you don't already have Accordance, BibleWorks, or Logos
• *Logos Academic Basic: If you are a student, staff, or faculty person at an educational institution, this should be your first option. A more basic version of Logos is also available as an app for Android or iPhone.
• *The Word: The Word is one of the first I recommend to people wanting a free program, since it is rather full featured program. It includes Greek / Hebrew. You can always buy some modules, e.g., NRSV, to expand its versatility. Among many non-English versions, free English versions include: Douay-Rheims, ERV, ESV, HCSB, KJV, Tanakh 1917, NET (but with limited notes), LEB. For Greek: LXX, SBL GNT, and other Greek text. For Hebrew: a tagged Hebrew Bible.  Only runs on Windows or under Mac emulation.
• Olive Tree: This free Bible app is available for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and Android. Once you get the app, check out the free resources. It includes SBL GNT and Hebrew Westminster Leningrad. For English, it includes many of the usual versions (KJV, NKJV, ESV, limited versions of HCSB and NET, Douay-Rheims, Tanakh 1917), but it does also offer the NIV. A number of useful study tools can also be added.
• BibleGateway: Similar to the online version described above, the app is available for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Kindle.
• e-Sword: The basic installation includes the KJV with Strong’s and its related lexicon along with a few other resources. Once installed, there are many other free Bibles and resources that can be added. Windows and Mac.
• LaParola: Does a nice job of creating concordance lists and working with text variants (Windows and Linux)
• *MySword: A fine Android app which I recommend along with the YouVersion app
• YouVersion*: Available for Windows and just about any mobile device. It is similar to the online version described above.
• FaithLife Study Bible: It's free and available for just about all platforms. It's a Logos product and uses their rather literally translated Lexham Bible. It comes from a conservative perspective, so you need some discernment, but many of its study features, especially the FaithLife Study Bible itself, can be helpful. (E.g., go to Phil 1.1 for The Life of Paul graphic.) 
• WORDsearch 11: Offers a free basic version. There are more than enough resources to get you started, and they have a large collection of resources for purchase to expand your work. For Windows and Mac. 
• *YouVersion: This app, available for just about every platform, includes over 1000 Bible versions. It is similar to its online version described above.
• Since I have Logos, I use their included Logos app most often on my phone. I’ve noted a number of the programs above which have mobile editions, but for more information on mobile Bible apps, look HERE.

My Recommendations:

If you want to study and read the most English versions, then YouVersion is best. If you want more study tools and resources, I recommend that you look first at The Word, e-Sword, and Logos 7 Basic. If you are connected with an educational institution, then your best bet is to get Logos 7 Basic and then pick up Logos 7 Academic Basic. Some of these programs are expandable for a cost or have full-featured upgrades, so you may want to check out trial versions of Accordance, BibleWorks, Logos, and WORDsearch.

Mobile Bible Apps - Load Times

I am working towards an updated list of recommended mobile Bible apps, but I'll offer some preliminary parts in separate posts. In this one, I want to look at how fast a few apps are, since one of the things I desire is to get quickly to the text to start reading and be able to change versions even more quickly. I did a more extensive test back in 2012, but I wanted to see how things have changed. The main changes are updates to the apps and an update to my phone. These are all relative times as calculated as well as I could on my Samsung Galaxy Note 5. (This phone is now almost 1.5 years old.)

So, I conducted an unscientific test to see how long it takes to:

• Tap the app to launch it and start reading the text. For BibleGateway and YouVersion, the app starts at a home screen, and it takes another touch to get to the Bible text.
• Exit (but leaving it in memory) and immediately relaunch the app
• Switch to a new passage
• Switch to another version (one that's been previously downloaded)
• Switch back to the previous version.

I tried to make sure that nothing else was going on with the phone, and I ran the tests twice. The averages do basically confirm how it feels in real practice.

Here are my results, but the main number to look at is the combined average in the last column. This gives an idea of the relative time it took to accomplish the 5 tasks listed.

When I ran the test in 2012, MySword was notably faster than most, and it remains the fastest here. Both Logos and YouVersion, however, have considerably sped up their app responsiveness. In actual practice, the difference in speed is not really noticeable with any of the apps, so a decision on the best app should be based on other factors. (Which I will get to in upcoming posts...)

Bible Software Reviews

I taught a JTerm course last month on "Technological Tools for Biblical Studies." (Go figure...) One of the requirements was to provide a brief review of a couple Bible software resources, either downloadable or online, including programs for mobile devices. Students were to pick from this list I compiled which you may want to check, which I describe thus:

This list of resources reflects free or low-cost Bible study options that might be recommended to persons who may not have original language training or who do not want to invest in the major Bible software programs like Accordance, BibleWorks, or Logos. 

I set up a course blog where we accumulated all the reviews. Here are direct links to the various reviews:

• E-Sword
• Xiphos
• Online Bible
• BibleZ for Palm Pre
• Scripture 4 All version 2.1
• Blue Letter Bible
• YouVersion
• LaParola 7.13
• Great Treasures in the Scriptures
• OliveTree BibleReader (Palm OS with NET Bible)
• Into the New Testament
• MacSword 2.1
• Cross Word 3.5
• Biblos.com and Biblos.com / Online Mobile Bible
• Crosswire: MacSword and Xiphos
• NET Bible Online
• BibleWorks8
• Bible Explorer 4.0
• The Bible Gateway
• Theophilos
• Online ESV Study Bible

Thanks to my students for giving me permission to share all their work!

Bibloi.NET for the Web and Mobile Devices

Received the following notice today:

Silver Mountain Software is happy to announce the release of Bibloi.NET. Bibloi.NET is a web version of the Analytical Greek New Testament and the Analytical Lexicon. The program can display the AGNT as a regular text or as an interlinear text. There are several different translations and versions (Modern Hebrew NT, TR, and several other languages) which can be interleaved with either the plain or interlinear text. More alternate texts are on the way... Works great with the iPhone and other mobile devices!

Check HERE to see a sample of the text.

Many of you may remember Silver Mountain for its Silver Greek and Hebrew fonts and for its Bible Windows program--now known as Bibloi--which was at one time the premiere program for scholarly, original language work in the OT and NT. Bibloi.NET brings some of that to the web in an online and mobile format. Some things to note:

• It provides access to the Analytical Greek New Testament (AGNT) and Fribergs' Analytical Lexicon. I don't think those are available anywhere else online.
• As you can see in the graphic above, it provides a true interlinear with the Greek text, analysis, lemma, gloss, and translation. I don't know that there is anything exactly like that on the web.
• For now at least, there is the drawback that the ASV is the only English translation available, and the only other versions available are Tagalog, Textus Receptus Greek NT, Modern Hebrew, and the Spanish Reina Valera.
• It costs $49.00 which includes a one time setup fee and a one year subscription to the site.

For comparison, do note what you can do at the NET Bible site, at Biblos, and at the interesting Bible Web App site.

Revised Common Lectionary for Desktop and Mobile Devices

Many ELCA pastors are accustomed to using the little red book not only for appointments but to check out upcoming texts in the revised common lectionary. As they did last year, AugsburgFortress is making the Revised Common Lectionary texts available for free download for the following platforms. Note that once you get it into Outlook, for example, it will sync up with your WinMobile device or with your Google Calendar. (Click on the graphic to go to the Augsburg Fortress page.)

CPH also offers a similar offering they call the 2010 Pocket Diary. It is basically a public Google Calendar, but they show how to get it into other devices.

Research on the go (or Photocopiers are so 20th century)

Most of you have probably already figured this out, but I find I need to remind my students occasionally about some research tools we now have that were not readily available even five years ago. So, let's say you are in the library or a bookstore and you find something you want to remember. The 20th century way would be to get out paper and writing utensil or, if you were in the library, bring the book to a copy machine and make some paper reproductions. What does the true 21st century researcher do? [Check Tommy Keene's (TK) comment to this post.]
If it's short enough:

• I use my PDA and add it as a note.
• Send a text message to myself on my cell phone.

If it's a bit longer:

• Use my PDA and make a voice recording.
• Send a voice message to myself on my cell phone.
• Send a voice message to your drop.io box. (Thanks, TK! I've been using drop.io for files, but I was unaware that you can also drop voice mails as well. [drop.io is free, but you do have standard phone charges.])
• I had really liked using Jott (I'd blogged about it here) because it did voice to text conversion and sent them as text messages or emails. (I really hate trying to type out text messages on my phone...) Jott is dropping their free, basic plan, however. A standard plan will now cost $3.95/month which is not bad at all, but I wasn't using it quite enough to justify it. Do check out Jott Links, though. Using your phone, you could use the voice to text to set appointments for your Google Calendar, add items to your Remember the Milk list, update Twitter or FaceBook, or name some item/book and come home to find a link to that item on Amazon.
  

If it's a chunk of text or a visual:

• In our seminary library, we now have a copier that saves files as PDFs and delivers them to my network folder. That's sweet...
• No PDF copier? Use your cell phone camera or (if, like me, your cell phone is one of those ancient ones that only is a phone) take a digital camera picture. (Now, how do you get the pic from your phone to your PC? Good advice HERE.)

But what if it's really the text and not just a picture of it you want? Open your picture in optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

• I have an inexpensive scanner that comes with some basic OCR software. I can open JPG, PNG, TIFF... and it does a pretty good job of getting everything into text. Note that this also works well if you want to convert PDFs which are 'images' and not text. Use a screen capture utility (suggestions here) to take a pic of the PDF, then feed it through the OCR.
• Don't have a scanner or OCR software. Check the Wikipedia OCR entry, and note the list of software (some of which is free/open source) available.
• Don't want to bother with dedicated OCR? Want to try full-featured note-taking software? Then remember that Evernote (there is a free version--my review here and another here) and OneNote ($59 for Microsoft OneNote Home and Student 2007 or $80 as part of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007) have a built-in tool that can identify and extract text from pics.

For biblical studies sorts, however, there is a problem... None of the OCR software (unless you buy very expensive professional stuff) knows how to deal with Greek or Hebrew text. (I do know of HOCR which is free OCR software for Hebrew, but I have not tried it.)

Do you have any research tools suggestions for the 21st century? Help save some paper and share them here!

BTW, as TK points out in the comment, did you see the Zotero icon up in the address bar of this (and any other) blog post? Click on that folder icon to see the Zotero options for saving info.

Catching up...

Trying to catch up on a bunch of stuff that's accumulated in my reader...

• The Bible Style Guide: A free eBook from BiteMyBible. Though intended for non-specialists, it really has a lot of helpful information presented objectively. (HT: Tim at SansBlogue) From the site:

The Bible Style Guide is a reference text designed specifically for those working within the media industry. It provides a crash course in the Bible for busy journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.
Packed with useful facts and figures, it includes handy overviews of issues that often hit the headlines, as well as terms that are often misunderstood. Whether you’re covering Creationism or Zionism, or want to know your apostle from your epistle, The Bible Style Guide is here to help you get started.

• Island Jewels: Understanding Ancient Cyprus and Crete - Free eBook from Biblical Archaelogy Society (btw, use that link instead of the incorrect one on the front page of the BAR site) A 70 page PDF download upon subscribing to the BAR enewsletter; mostly classical stuff, but some biblical related. (HT: Todd Bolen at BiblePlaces)
  

• Mobile Computing, OliveTree BibleReader4: Some interesting observations noted and linked on this post. There are challenges for those companies trying to create Bible software for a variety of all the mobile platforms out there. OliveTree has released a beta of BibleReader4 for the Blackberry, and they have been working on iPhone apps too. OliveTree has also set up a Twittering service to keep updated. Our IT department at my seminary has also gone to Twittering to keep everyone updated on systems issues, but I'm still not a Twittering or Plurking fan... The latest CCMag issue has an article reflecting on the importance of iPhone and Google Android phones in the coming years.
  

And finally, just for fun, check out igod, an artificial intelligence site. (HT: lingamish) Here's what I found out:

A whole bunch of stuff...

I've been away and my Google Reader is getting full of saved stuff. So, a quick unloading...:

• Freepath 2.0: Check it out via Jane's. A neat way of creating a 'playlist' for a wide variety of on/offline media.
• ProProfs QuizSchool: "Perfect for tests, training, recruitment, assessments, trivia or just plain fun quizzes!" Free. [via Jane's]
• e-Sword Users Wiki: This is a new wiki with lots of resources. Check out the OT in NT References and NT in OT References harmonies you can download. [HT: Scabbard for e-Sword] And speaking of e-Sword Tim Bulkeley has a screencast on SansBlogue showing "students how to use e-Sword like an English/Hebrew concordance to see how a word is used - in this case עֵ֖זֶר in Gen 2:18."
• Study Bibles: Iyov has a couple of interesting posts on study Bibles. Are they textbooks or reference works? He recommends the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV 3rd), the Jewish Study Bible (NJPS), and the Catholic Study Bible (NAB 2nd) as examples of good textbooks, the NET Bible as a reference work. He also has some observations about notes in the NLT Study Bible compared to other study Bibles.
  
• Basic Bibliographies for Theological Research: Jim Darlack has been busy. He provides lists of 'gateway' books that provide bibliographic collections in the fields of Theological Research in General, Church History, Biblical Studies, Bible Commentary Evaluation, Style Manuals, and Guides to Theological Writing/Writing Well.
• OliveTree offers Bible Reader for iPhone along with the ESV Study Bible. Compare it with Laridian's iPocketBible.com.

Laridian PocketBible 4 for Windows Mobile Review

The July 2008 issue of Christian Computing Magazine has a review of Laridian PocketBible4 for Windows Mobile devices which includes smartphones. The reviewer highlights a few features that I also think (cf. here) are noteworthy:

• I appreciate Laridian's efforts at making the software available for so many platforms, both desktop and mobile.
• The ability to synchronize notes and such on the various platforms on which you may be using the program. Personally, I'm running it on my Dell Axim PDA and using the USB drive option to run it on my other computers.
• PocketBible works especially well with mobile devices that have a touchscreen.
• Laridian has done a nice job of maximizing the limited screen real estate on mobile devices.

Check the full review.

BibleWorks, Logos, Accordance on your mobile device

The question was recently asked again on one of the Bible software forums whether the Bible software application could be run on a mobile device like a smartphone or such. Short answer: No, you can't really run one of these programs on your WindowsMobile or smartphone as far as I know.
BUT... if you really need it and are willing to put up with a little inconvenience and have good eyes... You can see from the screenshot below that I do indeed have BibleWorks7 on my WindowsMobile device. (In my case, it is a Dell Axim x51v with true VGA display.)

Here is what you need to do:

1. Go to www.LogMeIn.com or go here directly for the free version.
2. Download/install the program on your home PC or Mac. Set up account, access codes... (It is indeed free and secure.)
3. Now, on your WindowsMobile device or smartphone, you need to get on the web, go to the LogMeIn site, and logon.
4. You will get a display showing which computers are online and on which you have set up the LogMeIn software and provided access. Click on your home computer, supply the access code, and you will now see your home computer screen on your mobile device. You will have complete control over your home computer, but due to screen resolution/sizes, you will probably have to move around the screen quite a bit.
   

Okay, note a couple things:

• You don't really have the software on your mobile device. You are simply running your home computer's installation. Hence >>>
  
• You do have to leave your home computer running and LogMeIn enabled...
• It really is quite fast. The only real issue is viewing and moving around the screen, not the speed. (If you want to make it easier, reduce the resolution on your home computer display.)
• I use this program regularly, but my main use is to control computers for other members of my family. I'm the computer guy in the extended family, and when they have problems... well, it's just a lot easier taking over their computer and fixing things than trying to provide instructions over the phone.
  
• I have had absolutely no problems with security or with spam using this program.
  

Give it a try...

Bonus items for research and note-taking

In the previous post I listed a couple tools for conducting research and note-taking. The person in the BibleWorks forum who had provided the impetus for this discussion noted that he sometimes made voice annotations. It was a quick way to take notes, but he was trying to figure out how to organize them or to convert them into text. One solution: simply use Zotero with the Vertov plugin (see that previous post) and simply work with the audio files.

Jott is another option that you may not know, but it is one I find myself using more and more. First, it is a FREE service and uses a toll-free phone number, but you must be a USA or Canadian resident, and, depending on how you use Jott and your phone service contract, you may incur some phone charges. (With two teenage daughters, we have unlimited text messaging, so I'm good to go...)
You can use Jott in all sorts of ways, but the main wonder of it is that you talk into your phone, it converts your speech into text (though it also saves the audio), and then posts it to a wide variety of places you can choose. E.g., I hate to try to type out those text messages on my phone, but with Jott, I simply call, tell it to send a message to my daughter, and then (clearly) speak my message. She gets the text message about 5 minutes later. (Officer, I wasn't texting while driving. I was Jotting. ;-) ) You can also speak a message and have it post on your blog. Or Jott to yourself to set up a reminder or create to-do lists. You can also use Jott on your computer and have it send a text message reminder to your phone at a designated time. Okay, so what does this have to do with biblical research? There are at least two ways I am using Jott.

• Let's say you are driving walking, and you get some great idea, and you have no paper. Simply Jott yourself a message and pick it up in your email later on.
• You are in the library or a bookstore, and you come across some book you want to reference again later. You call Jott (quietly when in the library), and use its built-in connection to Amazon. Say (or spell) the author and the book title. When you check your email later, it will have the link to the Amazon page, and from there you can Zotero it in to your bibliography.

It really is a cool technology. It's in beta, but I have had no problems, and they are assuring users that it will always be free.

Super bonus extra: If you don't know about GOOG-411, you can thank me now. It's from Google, it works great, and it is FREE. (I like FREE.) You simply dial 1-800-GOOG-411 from any phone (USA or Canada only), indicate location (city/state), and state the business type or the name of a specific business. It will start returning best possible results to you, and when you get the one you want, it will automatically dial the number for you. (Note that this is all voice-activated interaction.) Okay, I'm not sure how you will use this for biblical research (though I did just check and called the seminary where I teach), but it sure is handy.