Bible Study Software

This web page will provide links to Bible Study software and Bible Study systems that are available. It is work in progress. I intend to provide a complete description for many of the programs mentioned below.

Cross Compatible

logo Cross is a new data format for Bible book interchange. CROSS stands for Christian Reference Open Software Standard. It is based on XML but most documents are highly compressed and DRM controlled. I have many books that are cross compatible.

Books and tools that support this format include:

Word Search 9.0 from Word Search Bible has developed the new data format, CROSS, for its main programs. It has more that 14,000 volumes of books available and more released every day. Prior to adopting this format change WordSearch was Step compatible. WordSearch is complemented with a Lesson Maker software page that can use special lesson packages and all of the cross book. There is currently a promotion to replace Step books owned by users to cross format.
A free Bible Explorer software package is available that will work with cross formatted books. It is a subset of the functionality in word search Bible. This program is often included with books from other publishers.
Bible Navigator from LifeWay.com is a cross compatible Bible program.
Doxa Digital Press makes books that are cross compatible. They are dedicated to publishing theological resources that are from a reformed perspective.
Pleasant Places Press features lesser known books that are still important.
Dake Publishing features the DAKE annotated reference Bible.
Pastors.com features Rick Warren Bible Library.
Cross Partners contains a list of other publishers of Cross books. Many of these are available directly from Word Search Bible.

STEP Software

Step used to be a standard document interchange format between a number of Bible Software companies. But today this support is limited almost entirely to Parsons. I have many volumes of books that are STEP compatible.

Bible Study Software by Word Search Bible called Word Search 5.0 is my favorite Step compatible software. There are two complementary programs, one to study the Bible (WordSearch) and one to create lesson plans for Sunday School or Sermons (LessonMaker).
Parsons Church This software is my second favorite. Two programs, one for Bible Study (QuickVerse) and the best Bible mapping program available (QuickVerse Map Editor). Note that the map editor is included with QuickVerse and complements the Parsons Bible Atlas. (Parsons is owned by Findex.)
Quick Verse Bible Study Software A second source for Parsons software.
Kirkbride The Thompson chain reference Bible.

Logos Library System

Logos has been replaced by the Libronix Digital Library System. This is upward compatible with the older Logos system. There is a wealth of data available for this system as well. The Logos reader supports DDE and can work with programs like Parsons that support DDE. DDE allows for data exchange thus you could have verse syncing between two, otherwise, incompatible systems.

Books and tools in this format are available from:

Logos Bible Software is the primary company making software and releasing books in this format. This is a good collection of software and books.
Thomas Nelson Publisher This publisher supports the Logos Library system.
Unofficial Logos Bible Works Newsletter - Has other stuff too.
Pleasant Places Press features lesser known books that are still important.

Acrobat Reader

Some products are available that can be used directly in Acrobat reader which is freely available. There are many books available in this format from sites that offer ebooks (check my Ebook page for more details. The companies that are specifically focused on Bible and Bible study books include:

Ages Software This software uses standard pdf format files. It includes some addons for the Adobe pdf reader.
Sage Digital Library This is another source of the Ages Software in pdf format as well as some other products.
Geneva Bible This is a free copy of the original Geneva Translation with updated english.

Cross Wire Bible Society

CrossWire is a Society dedicated to bringing the Gospel to a new generation. The major thrust of the project is a free Bible software project called SWORD. Library modules will work with any software using the SWORD engine. They have products running on a wide variety of operating systems and environments. These include:

JSword - written in Java it will work with most web browsers that support Java. They have a version to run locally or you can use the web.
GnomeSword is for Linux systems while BibleTime is for other Unix systems.
Sword for Windows runs on windows systems. They have a simple version with less features for older windows systems as well.
MacSword is for MacOS X.
Handheld versions are available also.
SWORDWeb is an online resource.

The Cross Wire Bible Society has done extensive work to get permission to release Bibles and other copyrighted material free for non-commercial use. Be sure to honor their agreements. There is lots of material that is not available in this format due to copyright issues.

MobiPocket

Packard Technolgies has taken popular Christian study books and made them available in MobiPocket format. This is unusual in that MobiPocket is a very popular eBook format. There are thousands of eBooks available in this format but the ones from Packard Technologies are designed to work together. This brings Bible study books to a lot of new mobile platforms including some dedicated eBook reading devices. See my eBook article for more information on this.

Other Software

Free Bible Database Program Yes, its really free and in many languages.
Bible Library - a large collection of Bibles and books.
E-Sword.net Another free Bible study software package.
Online Bible North America Several Languages available for sites that are linked from this one. Some of the modules are free. They also have software available for several operating systems.
BibleSoft.com A Bible study package and they have an authoring system.
Zondervan The NIV Bible and more. They have their own standard called Pradis. There are several packages available in this format.
Sword Searcher is a Bible Study program that has a tool, called Forge, available to let you make your own books. There is a collection of user created books. It basically supports Public Domain versions of books but includes a good collection on the CD-ROM. The same author has a Daily Bible and Prayer program.
BibleWorks, is software for Biblical Exegesis and Research. This is a windows product and is currently released as Version 8. It is designed to study scripture in both your current language and the original languages. It includes some 190+ Bibles in nearly 40 languages and provides nearly instant search capability. A suite of reference works are also included.

Bible Software for PDA Units

See above for MobiPocket Christian book collections. MobiPocket is available on many PDA platforms including Palm, PocketPC, Nokia, Blackberry, and more.
Laridian - Bibles for Palm (my Bible) and Win-CE/PocketPC (Pocket Bible) machines.
Olive Tree - Bibles for Palm and Win-CE/PocketPC as well as Symbian based cellphones, Blackberry devices, and Apple iPhone. They also have a collection of other Christian eBooks including commentaries and fiction eBooks. Many eBooks and Bibles are free and others are reasonably priced.
Memoware - E-text source of Bibles and other text. (search for bible) These are suitable for Palm and PocketPC units.
Scriptures - A free reader program. The software is available in many languages and the Bibles are in even more languages. You can also add your own notes. This is a great study tool.
AsaiSoft - A freeware Bible reading program for Palm devices.
QuickVerse - Quick Verse for Palm units and PocktPC units offers Bibles, Commentary, Dictionary, and reading plans. QuickVerse PDA books are not compatible with QuickVerse for Windows which defeats the pioneering idea of Parsons for STEP. Personal notes are interchangeable with version 8.0 on the pc.
Bible Thumper - Bible Study for the PalmOS with the King James Bible, a concordance for fast searching, bookmarks, dictionary, commentaries and greek/hebrew lexicons. Some support for German as well.
Devicecom.net makes a program called Bible Link that offers good compression and fast searches. It is available for pocketpc, palm, and includes a free pc version. It has a few Bibles and several commentaries, dictionaries and even books that are not Bible related. It is available in English and Korean. A lite version is available for free.
Pocket E-Sword is the Pocket PC version of the E-sword Bible study program. It is free but some of the Bible versions are not. While it has the same name it will not read the same books and does not have the same features of the PC version. It does support multiple Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and devotionals.
WordSearch to go is a product from Word Search Bible but seems to be a repackaged copy of Bible Link. As of version 2 they have partnered with OliveTree.
Online Bible has versions for Palm and Pocket PC. For users still using HP LX palm tops they also have a DOS and Windows version. The Pocket PC version is included with the PC version and will use the same books.
Bible+ is a Palm based reader (formerly called BibleReader) has more than 74 books available.
Dagger is a Crosswire compatible reader for portable devices running Opie (typically Zaurus but some iPaq have been modified for Opie).
QPSWord is a Qtopia SWORD reader for Crosswire Bibles and books. It runs on iPAQs and Zaurus.
SwordReader for Pocket PC based devices. It uses crosswire Bibles and books.
Godspeed has a product for PDA (Both Palm and Pocket PC) at eBible for PDA. Bibles and commentaries are available.

Mac Programs

There are not nearly as many programs available for Apple computers but there are a few. I have listed some of them below:

Accordance Bible - Probably the premiere software on the mac.
The Online Bible - uses Online compatible Bibles and books.
Mac Sword Project - uses Crosswire compatible Bibles and books.
QuickVerse Mac - uses Step books - see description above.
WordSearch Bible - uses cross books - see description above.

Of course many of the PC programs will run on Macintosh systems with the appropriate PC/Windows emulation software.

Online Bible Study

Bible Study Tools on crosswalk.com On-line Bible Study
Internet Christian Library - Lots of on-line reading and they have some Dos and Mac programs.
Cross Wire Bible study online.
Lifeway.com online Bible Study.

Hardware Solutions

Generally PDAs and small laptops are used for the hardware to read Bible software when you want portability. However, e-book hardware, can also be a candidate for Bibles and other books. Franklin makes hardware devices with specific Bible support. At one time Godspeed made a special e-book reader called Godspeed eBible with Bibles and commentary preloaded. They no longer offer this product but it can occasionally be found on ebay.

Other Bible Software reviews

Commercial and Ideal Bible Study Software This is a really old review. It is good reference but does not represent current releases on any of the products.
Logos reviews are available on their web site.
My E-book Page has lots of data on e-book sources, software, and readers. Bibles and religious books are available from most of these sources as well.
Bible Software review has a chart ranking the different features in a side by side comparison. It was completed in May 2008.
Word Search comparisons of various versions.

Availability

Generally all of the software and books mentioned above are available from the manufactures. In addition many of the programs and books mentioned above are available from Christian books.com. Tap on Software. They have a filter that lets you pick the data format standard.

Know of any more products to list? Let me know.