Best Free Bible Study Software

I like to use e-sword. In fact, there was a bible study software called 'Audio Bible Study', I used it in the age of windows 95,98. I still have the software but for some reason, it does not work in XP. I loved that software, but there seems no help or support any more. If anyone knows about it, please let me know. Thanks.

http://www.audiobiblestudy.org/

By far the best: The Word: http://www.theword.gr
If unsure, give it a try - then go back to others and you will understand :)

e-sword is very good. I have found a website of a bible teacher that has all of his teaching tapes online going back about 3 years for free. You can even download them in mp3 format. I have found his teachings to be very balanced.
This is the webpage to his teachings:
awmi.net/extra/audio

I have made a lot of search sometime ago before this best free STUDY BIBLE category been added here--My search criteria? BEST WORD FOR WORD BIBLEs TRANSLATION BUNDLE for the basic install download--
for me?..... http://www.berbible.org/ ---just like Mr.Meyers E-SWORD you can add other add ons after .

PastorSteve

I have used Online Bible http://www.onlinebible.net/ for many years. Some translations are not free but most are. Checking the "User Sent Material" will list dozens of additional free resources. Has very easy note taking features etc. Steve

E-Sword is a very useful bible computer program. Many bibles, commentaries, and dictionaries, etc. Has a KJ red letter edition. It has a nice layout that is adjustable. Easy to install. It's free but donations accepted, however, it's not nag ware. Used it on Win98 & XP Enjoy!

"Theophilos is available at http://www.theophilos.sk/ and it is simple, easy to use, and fast. Most of the other bible programs I've tried, especially e-Sword, are bloated."
I'm not sure what was meant by "Most of the other bible programs I've tried, especially e-Sword, are bloated."

I installed both Theophilos (with the KJV with Strong's numbers modual); and E-Sword with the KJV, KJV w Strongs, Eastons dictionary, and Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary (so Theophilos and E-Sword were identical).
40 MB installed size for Theophilos;
70 MB installed size for E-Sword.
E-Sword has a substantially larger installed size, but really, will 30 extra MB make a difference? Add in a bunch of moduals on both E-Sword and Theophilos, and E-Sword might be an extra 150 MB.

Theophilos opens instantly (1 second or less);
E-Sword takes about 3 seconds to open (On my laptop, E-Sword takes 5 seconds to open, with 10 Bibles, 10 dictionaries, 13 commentaries, and 4 devotionals. I have not tested Theophilos with a comparable number of add-ons). I find the 5 seconds to open E-Sword to be irritating, but not a huge deal. Once it is open, everything else is every bit as fast as Theophilos.

E-Sword requires a re-start when you install the basic set-up (no re-start needed when installing add-on moduals). Theophilos does not require a re-start. But this is a one time (during install) thing.

When Theophilos starts the first time, it freezes your computer for 80 seconds (trust me, it feels like ETERNITY) while it plays this incredibly, unbelievably obnoxious music. There is no way to shut off the incredibly, unbelievably obnoxious music, or to inter-act with Theophilos while this music is playing for 80 seconds (trust me, it feels like ETERNITY!!!). Once it stops playing, after what feels like ETERNITY, you can go to Programs>Settings>Multimedia, and de-select the Play Sound On Start-Up.

Both E-Sword and Theophilos offer 'must pay for' extra's, such as the NASB Bible, and the Complete Word Study Dictionary.
With E-Sword, I can highlight a verse in a large choice of different colors. I could not find that function inTheophilos, and I miss it.
I find both programs to be simple and easy to use. Once open, both programs are equally fast and responsive. Both have a Notes and (build your own) Topics option, which I like.

Bottom line, once you turn off the incredibly, unbelievably obnoxious start-up music, both E-Sword and Theophilos are excellent, and I recommend them both. I have them both on my notebook, along with some commercial (must purchase) Bible software. But again, E-Sword is my primary Bible software.

Final Note: If the start-up music on Theophilos were playing on the radio, instead of freezing up my computer for 80 seconds (which feels like ETERNITY), I would probably enjoy it.

Theophilos is available at http://www.theophilos.sk/ and it is simple, easy to use, and fast. Most of the other bible programs I've tried, especially e-Sword, are bloated.

In my opinion, eSword has everything a Bible student needs: A KJV Bible, the KJV+ (includes Strong's numbers), (TSK) = A Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Naves & Torrey's Topical Bibles, and a KJV concordance. The KJ2000 is a good alternative for those who want a modern translation (just Google "KJ2000 Bible" eSword). All four extra's (TSK, Nave's, Torrey's, and concordance) are geared for Topical Bible studies. In other words, pick a (word or) topic (love, faith, sin, etc) and these extra's will show you every Scripture that uses the word. and help you find out everything the Bible says about that topic. A commentary will tell you someone's OPINION of what the Bible says.
Having said that, I'm hypocritical enough to own a number of other extra's, such as:
A Word for the Day, by J. D. Watson. ($10.00. If you like daily devotionals, I highly recommend A Word for the Day).
Thru The Bible (McGee) commentary. ($40.00)
And a number of (both free and extra cost) commentaries and word studies, etc. But more and more, I lean towards topical studies, and mostly use the (free) four listed extra's.

I installed the free Bible Explorer 4 download, and it includes NOTHING except a Bible reading plan, unless you register and download the other stuff.

E-Sword is the best for me, but for basic speedy searches, and which allows copying in paragraph formatting, I find the last freeware version of QuickVerse the best. http://www.genesis.net.au/~bible (qv4nonav.exe) It was evidently made for W/3.1 but it works fine under XP Vists. Praise the Lord.

Davar3 is incorrectly attributed to Rick Meyers, the person who wrote and maintains E-Sword.

For work with the original languages I use (the expensive) BibleWorks, but for daily use and in the classroom I am a fan of E-Sword.

http://www.theword.gr/en/ - perfect GUI, many translations. In a word - the WORD.

Another Bible program worth a look is Evening Dew (Free) at www.eveningdew.com. Only a handful of bible translations though.
Regards
Gregg
South Africa

There are a lot of different ones out there all right.
I like www.Laridian.com
I have used it for many years on my Palm devices and now that there is a PC version I use it too. The two synchronize to keep me on track. I have read the Bible from "cover to cover" three times on my hand-held. It is not free but not expensive either it is very easy and flexible.
P.S. I am not affiliated with Laridian, just a fan.
R~

Hi everybody
I use the The Word bible program. It's a free bible program also. It can be downloaded at www.theword.gr What I like about it, you can enter your own footnotes and verse references in the verses. It also has a really powerful search engine. I like it better than E-Sword because it has more features.

The Internet Sacred Text Archive - http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

thanks for all the authors of bible softwares, it really helps those serious bible students out there to understand more and more and more. May God bless you in all your endeavors, especially those who give it for free.

Antonio L. Santos, Philippines

Any Linux users ? e-sword can be installed via wine .
I use it in Linux Mint as well as windows

I have used eSword for so long I can't remember when I started with it. Rick has, over the years, added and expanded it to a point that if you have all the things he is offering you may have trouble getting into your study. Not a poor reflection on eSword but a compliment. If you want it, it's probably there, including a good word processing tool.
Give it a try big or small or anyway in between Rick has provided a Bible study tool for your tastes. Some Bible versions and version extras cost a small fee, not Ricks choice I'm sure, but worth the small price if you need those tools.

I agree, Bible Explorer 4 is the best free bible software out there. Plus you get 192 bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, etc. for free.

I have used, e-sword, swordsearcher, online bible and logos and these are all good applications, however, my favorite is by far BE4.

I need the New International Version but it seems it's not for free at e-sword's. Does anyone know where i can download a freeware version of it? Thanks.

DAVAR3 in my estimation is the best free bible software suite allowing advanced students the ability to search and cross reference Hebrew and Greek among not just dictionaries, lexicons, and other references, but also searches all other plugins for the same, such as Jewish commentaries, the Didache, Early Church Fathers writings as well as other tools and commentaries. In case you may be wondering, DAVAR is Hebrew for Word and this program certainly lives up to its name as I have found it easier to search and more featured than E-Sword (and less resource heavy too!). The coolest option is to download the optional free Hebrew audio files and just let DAVAR3 read to you the entire Hebrew scriptures line by line in automatic mode, or whenever you pull up a verse - which is great for students desiring to learn how to read Hebrew as they study scripture. There is a project also in the works to provide the same thing for students of the Greek scriptures too. Currently after downloading and installing most Hebrew, Greek, and English add-ons, the DAVAR3 folder can easily climb to over 1GB worth of audio and text data. DAVAR3 also automatically checks for updates, which is good, since DAVAR3 is a Beta 2. Don't let the Beta version fool you though, since DAVAR3 Beta 2 is such an improvement over the officially stable DAVAR2, the maintainers of the project have made DAVAR3 Beta 2 their primary download option. There is also a mobile version of DAVAR called mDAVAR, but I haven't evaluated it yet. For screenshots of DAVAR3, check out: http://www.faithofgod.net/davar/index.htm

Hi here is a link to a small program I use called popup wisdom it contains a complete kjv as well as proverbs and is easy to add your own favourite scriptures to . (Create a book )
You can set it to any time frame when it will randomly pop up a scripture to read .
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/PopUpWisdom/index.html

http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html

NSRV is not available for E-Sword due to copyright problems. But if you look around the web, you can find it (NRS.bbl plus NRS.cmt). Same with RSV, which is easier to find, even a version with Apocrypha. There are also programs available for making custom E-Sword components from local and online sources. You can find them if you look around.

Unfortunately, NSRV is not available for eSword. NSRV edition of Bible Explorer costs $9.95.

Hi Guys it is good to see e-sword gets a mention as it is one of my favorites also , tho I use bible pro and after reading the comments here I have downloaded Bible explorer 4 which has some good features and addons
So keep up the good work .

I have been using Theopilos3 for years and have not found a better package for navigating the Bible text.
It is simple to use, free, small, and fast.

ISA Scripture for All
http://www.scripture4all.org/

I really enjoy this freeware for my in-depth Bible study. Blurb from authors: "designed for examination of the original... Hebrew and Greek text has been transferred to consistent etymological and idiomatic English equivalents. It is not necessary to learn Hebrew or Greek or turn up words in a Hebrew or Greek lexicon or look up the grammar, for nearly all this is given in English just under the text itself. The reader receives the same impression as if he were reading the original. In this way the facts of Scripture will be readily accessible to all who understand the English language."

I have been using BIBLEPRO for years now. It's a pro-quality Bible program. It has all the bells and whistles...too many features to list here.
Downloadable version, online version, FREE CD, 43 Bibles, 250,000 Commentaries, and 1,750,000 References. Nothing missing here!
http://www.bibleocean.com/

Recently came across this one. It's called BerBible and seems geared toward basic users. For my purpose I've got it installed on my USB drive - it's portable (2 MB). Now I've always got my bible with me and still have the ability to run quick searches when needed. It's lite on bells and whistles but so far working great. URL Below...

http://www.berbible.org/index.html

-JF

I agree with you about e-sword. It is an excellent free Bible study program. Bible Explorer (also free) is an excellent program as well, with a ton of free resources to go with it. A third "program" (it actually operates through your browser) worth mentioning is Blue Letter Bible. It is an online Bible study resource (blueletterbible.org), but you can also get a CD from them for free. The CD is missing most of the multimedia things you get at the website. But it still does an outstanding job.

I'm a pastor who prepares at least two studies each week. And I constantly use all three. Each has its own strengths and limitations. I've also tried Libronix, Pradis, and BibleQuote, but the three free offerings are superior.

http://www.bible-explorer.com/

I use "bible explorer 4" which I find to be the best free software after having installed most bible study programs. It has a huge library of free books to aid your study and a great interface.