I recently discovered that, by combining good free and open Bible software with excellent Internet Bible search tools it's possible to get all the functionality of an expensive Bible program without having to break the bank or resort to pirated copies!
It's always bothered me that Bible software is so expensive that most people have to use pirated copies. I'm not saying it's wrong for Bible software companies to charge for their work; it's just difficult to justify shelling out half a K to get good software on a student's or minister's budget: now you don't have to!
Here are some great options:
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Free/Open Bible software:
e-Sword (www.e-sword.net/index.html) - very good free Bible software--has lots of translations, multiple languages, commentaries, dictionaries, add-ons, etc. Allows Strong's Numbers searches (a method of doing original-language searches--see explanation bellow).
The SWORD Project (www.crosswire.org/index.jsp) - similar to the above (I think I like e-Sword's "look" a bit more) but open-source. (Works on Linux or Windows - not sure about Mac.)
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Bible sites:
Crosswalk.com (bible.crosswalk.com) - allows searches of multiple versions at once. Great when you can only remember a snippet of the verse you need and can't remember what version you're remembering it from!
Olive Tree Bible Software (olivetree.com/bible) - good English translation search site.
Blue Letter Bible (blueletterbible.org) - allows Strong's Numbers searches (a way of getting at an original language search: use the online JKV translation to find out the Strong's Number for a specific word [didasko^--"I am teaching"--is 1321], then see everywhere that specific Strong's Number occurs in Scripture [1321 occurs 99 times]).
The Online Greek Bible (www.greekbible.com) - allows stream searches - any time a particular stream of letters occurs it shows up in the results (downside: "dida" offers more than a hundred results; didasko^ [in any form] only occurs between 97-99 times in NT).
The Unbound Bible (unbound.biola.edu/) - good English translation search site: offers passage-specific access to Matt. Henry's Commentaries and passage-specific (not search) access to GNT with Strong's Numbers.
Greek New Testament (www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~fisher/gnt/) - allows Greek searches from Latin transliterations: didasko^ (how their Greek-Latin alphabet chart said to render it) produced 97 results.
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Enjoy!
Yeah I'm finally able to find your site!
hey I have E-Sword, it's excellent.
Are you serious that it's really $500 for a good Bible program? Man that's a rip off. That says to me, "pirate me!, pirate me!"
But anyway great site list.
Posted by: Rusty at October 11, 2005 07:21 PM