I find myself depending mostly on Bible Gateway and Study Light … but I wonder if you use a particular Bible Study Software … and what kind you prefer? Would you recommend it to others? I’d love for you to answer the poll but also in the comments give a reason or two why you think the software you prefer is … preferable.
Looking forward to your answers!
John
looks like you might need a poll to find out what “other” people use. Bible Library is what I use. The old stuff.
when I started at Harding’s SBS, my father in law bought me an expensive Logos scholar’s pack. it was “outdated” then and still costed a lot at the half-off price.
probably about 10 years old but I love it. it has lots of books, resources, dictionaries, greek stuff, which I occasionally use, but still prefer a hard copy unless I don’t have it in a hard copy.
I have used it the most, but mainly for the search function. and being able to print out the search results with just scripture reference or sentence, or entire verse
Accordance is generally recognized as the best. I haven’t used much else, but can see why they say it’s #1. You can see it here:
http://www.accordancebible.com/
Though some people have bought Macs just to run Accordance, they have instructions for using it on toy computers, err, Windows machines.
Grace and peace,
Tim
I use BibleReader by Olive Tree Bible Software on my Windows Mobile phone.
John, I’ve been using Logos for over a decade; it was updated/merged with Libronix Library a few years back. I’m not sure if it’s the best, but I’ve used it so long I can’t imagine going to anything else.
If I have internet access, I use Studylight and Biblegateway most of the time. I do use BibleSoft the rest of the time.
I was obviously mistaken in my notion that I was posting the most popular software programs.
I’m also surprised there are not more people using the free bible Explorer… is that a matter that people do not know about it … or it’s not what they need?
I mostly use Bible Gateway and Yahoo/Google, which brings me to Studylight, the B Greek list, CCEL.org, http://www.christian-thinktank.com/, writings of Carl Ketcherside (http://www.unity-in-diversity.org/welcome.htm), and hundreds of other sites. Most of the computers I use have access to the Internet and most of these sites are free and offer an abundance of information.
I use Libronix Logos. I bought the third most expensive one, with my student discount came to about three hundred dollars. It is basically a digital library. It has hundreds of books and the library makes them all searchable. So, if I am doing a sermon on repentance, I can search that term and it will show me all of the resources I have dealing with that subject, with links to them all. If I want to do a study on a particular passage, I have several search options that will bring up a wide range of references. The best feature I use is right click on a word in the bible, English, Hebrew or Greek, or interlinear, and you can be linked to articles on that word in Brown Driver Briggs, Theological Wordbook, Kittle, the abridged Kittle, and many others. So, you are using books that are established and respected but you have all of the benefits of fast searching, copying and pasting (with automatic footnoting in whatever format you want), and not having to lug all of those books around. This has been very valuable in sermon prep and was incredibly valuable in Greek and Hebrew exegesis. I really recommend it.
There is never a day that I don’t at least visit Biblegateway.com. I use the ESV version without foot notes or cross references for my Bible reading. Then when Its time to dig in I rely on Google search and perhaps a dozen or so sites I have bookmarked where I can get various views on a subject or passage.
I am finding less and less use for my library. Its too easy to find on Google. On the rare occasion I do use software I have E-Sword including hundreds of notes, messages from Spurgeon, Pink, Tozer and others..
Royce
I just use Bible Gateway online. I’ve tried Bible software in the past (Quickverse I think), but never found it to be very useful.
I use WORDsearch for gneral reading and some light research and I use Logos for in-depth word studies in the original languages. I really like Logos’ OpenText Syntactical Clause Analysis that allows me to see the sentence structure. The drawback to Logos is the initial outlay of money (but free updates when they switch versions). WORDsearch is less expensive but whenever they update to a new version, you need to buy the new program.
I started using eSword years ago as it required no Internet connection to access and at that time I was on dial-up. Also, the allowed you to make copies of their software to distribute for free.
I also use Bible Gateway frequently now that I have DSL.
When it comes to Bible study software I am a huge fan of Logos. In fact, I’m such a fan that I got a job there! I love books as much as the next person, but there is nothing like having a 500+book library indexed and searchable with the click of a mouse. Plus, with more and more great books added all the time, Logos is the way to go!
I use Studylight mainly out of habit. I use YouVersion on the iphone. It is put out by lifechurch.tv I think.
I use both a cheap version of Librinox, which I upgraded to (for free) from the $15 version of Logos I ordered on a CD from Gospel Advocate a few years ago and e-Sword. I gave up on Quick Verse after about version 4. They eliminated all the features I liked (mainly the macros written by someone who didn’t even work for Quick Verse) and put in features I didn’t like. I like to be able to paste verses into MS Word, which is what I use to outline sermons and write articles and Quick Verse would no longer do that in a format I prefered. Neither Librinox nor e-Sword do it exactly as I would prefer, but they come closest. Also, Quick Verse = $$$$