I personally prefer to hold the book in my hands. But sometimes the rush to find a Bible verse quickly necessitates a Bible study program that can quickly call it up for you. Plus, turning those really thin pages they always use to make Bibles can get pretty annoying.
If you’re on Mac, you’re probably stuck with MacSword, a less than impressive program. If you’re on Linux, you’re actually lucky: BibleTime is great (excellent search, nice readability), and GnomeSword almost as good. Here’s what I have to say, though, about Windows Bible study programs.
First, don’t get Bible software that costs money, such as BibleWorks, Logos, PC Study Bible, QuickVerse, WORDsearch, or the Workman’s Study Bible. No matter how powerful some of this software is (or many cases, how horrible and weak it is), you don’t want to encourage their peddling (2 Corinthians 2:17).
Besides, although there’s some terrible free Bible software out there, some of it is quite good.
Bible Explorer
Bible Explorer is WORDsearch’s free Bible software. As such, although it is itself free, it does not offer much in terms of translations. The free translations which are available for it are a hassle to download, and as most of their stuff costs money, they list the price of their rather rare free downloads as "$0.00." Besides the basics, like the KJV, a few other translations, unnecessary commentaries, and some maps, it doesn’t give you anything. Amateurish interface, though not ugly.
My rating: 3/5
BiblePro
BiblePro doesn’t give you anything in the download except the KJV, ASV, and annoying ads. As such, it’s virtually useless. You can, however, order a free CD which includes much more. The interface is readable and usable, though nothing special. If you want to use something resembling the free software, but with more content, use the Web version.
It’s good that they will give you a free CD. That’s much more in the spirit of Matthew 10:8.
My rating: 2/5 for the download, 4/5 for the CD.
e-Sword
e-Sword is everyone’s favorite, but I must say that I hate it. The functionality of the interface is difficult to ascertain. Most prominently, it’s unclear how to use some of the features that it claims to bundle, and its Bible view isn’t so great. Overall this is an outdated program, with an outdated storage format for Bibles, an outdated interface, and as such is a pain on the eyes of a modern user.
My rating: 2/5
The Sword Project for Windows
The Sword Project for Windows is by far the worst of the lot. I’m not worried about the translations available here, nor the features, but simply the interface. Bible texts are virtually unreadable. Besides being even more outdated-looking than e-Sword, the whole interface is a mess of poor design choices. If you insist on using the SWORD Project, use JSword.
It’s funny how the Linux SWORD programs (BibleTime and GnomeSword) are so vastly superior to their Windows counterpart.
My rating: 1/5
The Word
The Word (or In the beginning was The Word, as version 2 is called) is the best free Bible software for Windows available. Version 3 is approaching usability, but with several bugs like the verse reference box not working (to fix this, start the program from its Program Files folder instead of using the shortcut), it might be safer to stick with version 2 for now. It has the most dynamic and readable Bible text view, as well as the most modern and intuitive interface available. This is one case where the program is better than its screenshots depict.
One reason people use e-Sword is because of the many translations available, but The Word has an importer tool which converts some (though not all) of the translations for e-Sword into the more modern format that The Word uses. So, even though one of my personal favorite versions of the Bible, the Hebrew Names Version of the World English Bible, is available neither on e-Sword’s site nor The Word’s site, you can still download the e-Sword version from the HNV site (hnve-sword.zip) and then have The Word’s importer import it into The Word.
This is the most powerful, most dynamic, most user-friendly, and simply most aesthetically pleasing Bible study software available. And guess what? I am not an advertisement!
My rating: 5/5
I must admit that I’m confused by your advice.
Logos offers more than 8,000 books for biblical studies. If I’m going to buy a commentary set that’s not in the public domain, why wouldn’t I want to buy it for Logos and save money, space, and time? How is their offering me a great resource peddling the Word of God. Do you refuse to buy print books as well? To be consistent, wouldn’t you have to?
Confused.
Bible texts, or any other religious texts for that matter, should never cost money. Therefore, if the text doesn’t (shouldn’t cost money), why pay money anyway for a program when you can get a perfectly good reader program for free?
Also, there is no reason to buy commentaries or other such things. You wouldn’t want to look at the Bible through a lens (like Calvinism or Arminianism, which both nullify certain passages of the Bible). But even if you did want to surround yourself with all sorts of commentaries and other such things, they shouldn’t cost money.
I’m not saying, however, that paper shouldn’t cost money. When I buy a Bible, I am purchasing the leather binding and the paper. The Word of God is free and should always be that way.
But the text itself should never cost money. There is no reason to buy software just so you can buy those texts. It’s like buying your salvation. Religious teachers can sell their books, but only to pay the cost of putting the book together and distributing it. The money should never go to the author. Also, the author should make the text inside the book freely available on the Internet.
If a religious teacher does charge money for your salvation, and particularly if the profits go to him or his ministry, you know this is a false teacher (2 Corinthians 2:17), a peddler of the word of God.
Being rich brings a snare. It buys you access to all sorts of false teachings and other temptations. Truly, blessed are the poor.
You have no appreciation for the insights of godly commentators. How, then, can you use an English translation of the Bible, where you are relying on the insights of godly translators? Interpretation and translation are inextricably intertwined.
The Scripture makes it clear that “the laborer deserves his wages.” Note that: he deserves. If he deserves his wages, how can you then say that he shouldn’t get any except to pay for paper? I’ll go with Jesus and Paul on this one.
Finally, if paper books can cost money to cover the cost of the paper, why can’t digital books cost money to cover the cost of programming, conversion, tagging, bandwidth, and media?
I think you need to think through these issues a bit more before telling others that they shouldn’t buy Bible software.
Let me make clear again that I only made the statement not to buy Bible software with the presupposition that you’re only getting the software to read the Bible, not anything else. The free programs give you all you need to study the Bible on your computer. If you want all the commentaries and stuff you can get with Logos, regardless of whether or not you agree with the commentaries, go ahead and buy it.
Legitimate question. I am not ordering anyone not to buy anything; my advice is practical advice, and isn’t necessarily always going to apply. But if a saint does all the work himself to get the text into a suitable media format for digital distribution, he should not ask for money for his work. His work is for the Lord, not for his living. My advice was based on the assumption that people who do such work are doing it for the Lord, and not for a living. If that is not the case, my advice is inapplicable.
And besides, it really just doesn’t matter. The point of this post was to recommend the best free Bible study software. Do not dispute over doubtful things.
Here’s a dispute though that is not doubtful.
I do not appreciate ungodly commentators. I appreciate godly ones. I do not believe that the authors of commentaries commonly read are godly men. Matthew Henry, Charles Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis, and a host of other well-spoken-of men are wells without water.
Even the translators are usually not godly men. God nevertheless uses these vessels of dishonor to preserve His word for the saints’ sake.
Amen, the laborer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7). You misapply this Scripture. “And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages” (Luke 10:7). Take what is given to you, but do not turn religion into a business. I do not ask for pay for working for God, because I do not peddle the word of God. Yet I could nevertheless receive it, and such donations are what God likens to a laborer receiving wages.