1 September 2004

Free Bibles for your PC, Mac and Palm

I carry about a hundred books in my pocket on a Palm computer - Bibles
(including Greek & Hebrew) and other texts which I often want to refer
to (eg Philo). They're quicker to look up than books, and mostly free.
On PC, Mac & Web, there are many remarkably good free Bible programs.
You only need to pay if you want to be able to search pointed Hebrew.

1) Free Bible software to install on a PC
2) Free Bible software to use on the web
3) Free Bible software on Palm and Pocket PC
4) Free Philo, Josephus and more on the Palm
5) Ancient manuscripts of the Bible on the web


======================================================
1) Free Bible software to install on a PC & Mac
======================================================
Online Bible - not pretty, but very fast even on old computers
http://www.onlinebible.org/html/eng/starterspack.htm
- very many free Bibles & tools, incl. Greek & unpointed Hebrew
plus copyrighted translations for a small fee
Many sites with useful collections for download, eg:
https://www.quickbase.com/db/6xeeg5d9?a=q&qid=1
http://www.online-bible.com/winonlinebible.html

eSword - much prettier, and a little slower
Download at http://www.e-sword.net/
- includes most texts available for Online Bible plus
more Greek: http://www.thechan.com/gate.html?name=e-Sword
more of everything: http://www.dnspad.com/engine/
Sword - (different from the above!)
Download at http://crosswire.org/index.jsp (for PC, MAC, Linux)
- includes most texts available for Online Bible plus
a Greek LXX with gramatical and lexical tags and many translations
BibleDatabase - a new and promising project for PC & Web
http://bibledatabase.org/full.html

MTR - DOS program for Hebrew texts
Bible, Talmud, Tg Onqelos, Mishneh Torah etc all at
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/mtrpromo.htm
Davar - Pointed Hebrew text with linked lexicons
http://www.faithofgod.net/davar/davar.htm
- a remarkable free program. Takes getting used to.
For the commercial programs, see the comparisons at
http://www.gettysburgsem.org/mhoffman/xnlinks/BibleProgramsCompared.htm


======================================================
2) Free Bible software to use on the web
======================================================
See previous Tyndale Tech emails about about Bibles on the web,
especially for academic editions:
http://www.instonebrewer.com/tyndalearchive/Brewer/TTech/TTech014.htm
http://www.instonebrewer.com/tyndalearchive/Brewer/TTech/TTech012.htm
http://www.instonebrewer.com/tyndalearchive/Brewer/TTech/TTech008.htm
There are lots of Bible sites out there. Try these first.
NT Gateway All-in-One: Bible Versions and Translations
http://ntgateway.com/multibib/bible.htm
- lots of English, foreign and original language texts
- links directly to the best databases for texts & tools
Bible Translations online
http://www.csenews.com/res/biblestudy/bibletranslations.html
- a long, long list of English translations on the web
- this is a Christian Science site, but the info is very useful
The Online Greek Bible [NT only]
http://www.greekbible.com/index.php
- click on any word for lexicon & morphology
Perseus Greek NT - with links to lexicons & grammatical analysis
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0155&query=toc
Lots more Bible texts listed at
http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/links_Biblical.htm#anchorBibles
http://jewishhistory.huji.ac.il/links/texts.htm#general
http://www.ntgateway.com/greek/


======================================================
3) Free Bible software on Palm and Pocket PC
======================================================
See previous Tyndale Tech emails about Palm software at:
http://www.instonebrewer.com/tyndalearchive/Brewer/TTech/TTech017.htm
http://www.instonebrewer.com/tyndalearchive/Brewer/TTech/TTech021.htm
(incl. instructions for the high-res fonts on a Clie)

Palm Bible+
View two versions at once (eg LXX in Greek & English)
Search for words in English or original language
Make bookmarks with descriptive titles
Download from http://palmbibleplus.sourceforge.net/
Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries etc for Bible+
from http://www.mclean.faithweb.com/PalmScriptures.html
and http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/pipexdsl/s/asci84/files/
- an Islamic site which also has lots of good Quranic texts
Scholarly texts from http://www.wjsp.net/pb_prim.html
- MT, LXX, Syriac etc prepared by a Tyndale scholar, Joseph Park.
Latest texts and news from TheChan http://thechan.com/
- with lots of Bibles at http://thechan.com/gate.html?name=BiblePlus

UniBible for Palm - a very new program which shows promise
http://unbound.biola.edu/unibible/downloads.cfm
Pocket PC Sword Reader
http://crosswire.org/sword/swordreader/
Still being developed, but stable.
Some commercial packages have some free texts, but (in my opinion)
Bible+ is better, except for the pointed Hebrew & linked lexicons
available from: http://www.olivetree.com/index.html
For a comparative review of other commercial packages, see
http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/software/bible.htm


======================================================
4) Free Philo, Josephus and more on the Palm
======================================================
Complete Josephus, Philo, Nag Hammadi texts on a Palm!
(English only, but great for quickly looking up a ref
or searching for an English word in the whole work)
plus Bible dictionaries, lexicons, and some commentaries
from http://www.mclean.faithweb.com/PalmScriptures.html
Targums from http://www.tulane.edu/~ntcs/palm/palm.html
- Targum Neofiti & Pseudo-Jonathan in Aramaic
- "TrgBible" is Aramaic Onkelos on Pent. & Jonathan on Prophets
- "TrgEnglish" is Etheridge's translation of Onkelos
and Pseudo-Jonathan (which he called "Jerusalem Targum")
plus Tgs on Ruth, Song, Psalms & Lamentations.
If you are really keen:
Maimonides' unabridged Mishna-Torah (and Bible)
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/pdbtnk.htm


======================================================
5) Ancient manuscripts of the Bible on the web
======================================================
The Aleppo Codex - Perhaps the most important OT MSS
http://aleppocodex.org/aleppocodex.html
A most beautiful presentation, but you need a fast connection
Biblical Manuscripts Project - images with no frills
http://alpha.reltech.org:8080/
Don't be put off by the ID & Password. Just type anything.
Greek NT Papyri
http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/texte/Papyri-list.html
- complete list and links to images

No comments: