Bible Study Software for Mac

I just wanted to drop a post to let everyone know that Logos Bible Software has finally begun selling the Mac version of their Bible study software.  Logos has been the industry leader on the windows platform with their easy to use interface and ENORMUS (and ever growing) library selection.  They now bring their powerhouse software to the mac world… and might I say, as a mac user, I’m pretty psyched.

BibleWorks

BibleWorks is a tightly integrated collection of software tools designed specifically for analyzing the texts of the Bible.

According to its website, BibleWorks is the premier original languages Bible software program for Biblical exegesis and research. It comes with Greek, Hebrew, and Septuagint Bibles for your computer, as well as translations in English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and more! For fifteen years, BibleWorks has satisfied Bible software users around the world.

BibleWorks contains 115 Bible translations in 35 languages, 14 original language texts with 18 morphology databases, 12 Greek lexicons and dictionaries, 5 Hebrew lexicons and dictionaries, plus 30 practical reference works. Instead of providing a loose collection of books, BibleWorks tightly integrates its databases with the most powerful morphology and analysis tools.

Platform: Windows® (System Requirements)
Price: $349
Link: www.bibleworks.com

Features:

• 30-day money-back guarantee for all products purchased directly from BibleWorks.
• The fastest tool on the market.
• Easy-to-use with minimal clutter, tabs for organized searching
• Task-oriented Study Guides with four hours of accompanying videos and a detailed on-line manual.
• From complex morphological searches through the original text, to simple word and phrase searches through your favorite translations, the BibleWorks search engine zips through the databases and shows you the results.
• Greek & Hebrew Texts, Bible Versions, & Lexicons: BibleWorks comes with standard Greek New Testament texts, LXX texts, and the Hebrew Old Testament text. In addition to the texts, four of the Greek New Testaments, the LXX, and the Hebrew OT also have their own morphology versions, where every word is parsed and lemmatized.
• Major Bible versions for 26+ modern languages, in addition to Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Detailed study of the original texts is now possible for those who know English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Indonesian, Swedish, Czech, etc. -Almost all major English versions are included in BibleWorks: KJV, ASV 1901, NKJV, NASB 1977, NASB 1995, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NLT, NJB, NAB, NET, CSB, and the ESV.
• Includes lexicons and dictionaries for Greek (Louw-Nida, Thayer, Lust, Friberg, UBS, Liddell-Scott, etc.), and Hebrew lexicons (Holladay, unabridged BDB-Gesenius 1905, condensed Pierce-Strong’s BDB-Gesenius, Whitaker’s abridged BDB, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, etc.). Separate BDAG and HALOT modules are available for purchase.
• Includes several Greek and Hebrew grammars (Burton, Conybeare, Davis, Futato, MacDonald, etc.) to keep language skills sharp. Other optional modules (Wallace, Waltke, Moulton & Milligan, Weingreen, Zerwick, etc.) can be added.
• Quick and easy grammatical and morphological searches
• Autocomplete Morphology feature allows beginning users to easily construct detailed and complex language queries. (Advanced users who have mastered the codes can quickly type in queries using a terse query language.)
• The Parallel Versions window puts the Bibles in parallel columns for scrolling the columns in sync, or independently.
• Word Analysis, as well as tight links to the lexicons and dictionaries.
• Bible versions you are studying are shown in a single window with the passage from each text.
• Quick and organized access to concordance, lexicon, Bible dictionary, etc.
• Attach notes (with Greek and Hebrew) to verses and have them automatically display when the verse is opened.
• Works smoothly with other programs, making it simple to transfer texts to your favorite word processor.
• In response to the variety of user suggestions, window sizes, window placement, output format, abbreviations, and font sizes can all be customized.
• Comes with TrueType and Unicode fonts for accented Greek and pointed Hebrew.
• With the built-in editor, notes can be taken in English, Greek, and right-to-left Hebrew.

E-Sword

It is hard to believe that bible software this good is FREE!  However, Rick Myers has done the world a great service by offering e-Sword free of charge.  As he points out on his site, there might be expensive software packages out there that can do more “things” than e-Sword, however the average user doesn’t know how to take advantage of them. e-Sword is an easy to use and robust application that is a great resource for studying the Bible.

If you’ve never owned Bible study software or can’t afford or don’t need a more robust application, then you should go and download e-Sword right now.  It is an excellent tool at an amazing price… FREE!

Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Link: www.e-sword.net

Features:

• Multiple translations, commentaries, and dictionaries available
• Create your own parallel bible with up to 4 translations
• Create your own notes
• Comprehensive print capabilities
• Strongs definitions appear by mousing over words
• Compare translations to Greek and Hebrew
• Powerful Search
• Create your own lists of scriptures
• Copy and print in a variety of styles
• Graphics viewer for studying maps, charts, and images

Accordance

Accordance is the only Bible software that was built entirely for the Mac.  While there are a few Bible programs that have Mac version, none has been nearly as mac-centric as Accordance.

First released in 1994, Accordance has (like most things Mac) has drawn a huge following from users who are tired of using windows based products.  With more and more people switching to Macs, Accordance is set to be the Bible program of choice.

Now, it being the only Bible software built exclusively for the Mac does not mean that they have skimped out due to having no real competition.  Quite the contrary.  Accordance has built a powerful Bible tool that includes graphical searching, statistical analysis of search results, instant parsing, and diagramming… not only that, but they were all pioneered by Accordance.

While Accordance is a tool that any scholar would be happy to use, it is also a very approachable product for any user (it is designed for a Mac after all).

If you are a Mac user and want an established Bible program that will meet your every need, then look no further, Accordance is here.

Platform: Mac OS
Price: Varies - See site for pricing
Link: www.accordance.com (Free Trial)

Logos

Whether you are looking for a Bible program to deepen your personal Bible study or you are a Ph.D looking to perform complex Hebrew morphological searches, Logos has the software for you.

Built on the Libronix Digital Library system, Logos offers users the ability to grow and expand their personal library at a great cost savings. Not only does using Logos save you money compared to buying print books, but all the books you add to your Logos collection are indexed to be incorporated in the search feature putting, potentially, thousands of books right at your finger tips.

An added bonus with Logos is the tutorial section of their website. With so much power available to the user, it is easy to miss out on some of the amazing features available to you. For this reason Logos has put together a library of online videos to help you get the most out of your software.

While Logos was built for windows based machines, they currently have a Mac version of their product available in Alpha testing.

Platform: Windows, Mac (currently in Alpha testing)
Price: $149.95 - $1379.95
Link: www.logos.com