Why I switched to digital bibles
And my favorite ones
A wise man once said, “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible”. Whether you read the Bible or just listen to it being read to you, it’s absolutely vital that you get a helping of God’s word on a regular basis, so you’re not spiritually malnourished.
If you haven’t already made a daily habit of spending time in God’s word, I encourage you to commit to spending 15 minutes in the Bible and prayer for the next 10 days. By then you’ll have developed a habit that I think you’ll learn to enjoy. I know you’re busy. We all are. But without spending adequate time in God’s word, there can be no spiritual growth.
Why go digital?
You probably already own a bible, or maybe six of them. If you’re the kind of person who prefers the feel of paper in your hands, I understand. I also own several Bibles that are printed on paper. They rarely get used anymore, though, since I’ve gone almost entirely digital. There are several reasons I prefer digital bibles over the printed ones:
They’re more mobile. I can carry dozens of translations of the Bible as well as study Bibles, commentaries, and more than 100 books on a tablet or smartphone that weighs less than any of my printed Bibles. It’s great when I visit a friend or go on vacation because I can take my entire library with me.
I can make the text as small or large as I like. This may seem trivial to some, but with my poor eyesight, this is very important to me. Besides, those large print bibles weigh a ton.
Some digital bibles will read the bible to you. I rarely use this feature, but I know people who prefer listening to the bible being read to them more than they like reading it. Also, with a digital Bible on a tablet or smartphone, you can listen to God’s word while driving to work or when you’re doing chores around the house. Or, you can listen to it being read to you while reading along with it.
You can read one or more translations side-by-side. I know there are bibles in print that do this, but the print tends to be smaller than I’m comfortable with. Also, it’s a good practice to read a passage of scripture in several different translations because it can help you pick up on things you might have otherwise missed.
Easier to look up cross-references. I can see the full text of bible verses that are cross-referenced with just a click or two, without losing my place.
Easier to read commentary: If you purchase a digital Study Bible, you can read the commentary more easily without losing your place. Study Bibles printed on paper tend to print the commentary in a much smaller font size, which makes it difficult for me to read.
Built-in linguistic tools. Some digital bibles (I list one below) will show you the original language word that was used and its meaning in that language. This is useful because the original meaning is sometimes lost in the English translations of the Bible.
Search. Have you ever tried to remember a bible verse but could only remember a few words of it? You can use search in a digital bible to find it quickly. By the way, Google is also pretty good at this as well.
My favorite digital Bibles
Here are some of my favorite digital Bibles.
Mobile Digital Bibles
If you want to read the Bible using a mobile app, here are some you might consider.
Life Bible (my favorite)
The way I study the bible the most these days is with the Life Bible app, previously named Tecarta bible. You can access the app in your browser, tablet, or smartphone. You can download the app to your tablet or phone for free and it comes with the King James Bible at no charge which you can also download to a mobile device, such as a phone or tablet. This lets you read the Bible when you’re not connected to the internet. If you’re connected to the internet, you can access Life Bible in your browser at https://lifebible.com/.
You can purchase other bible versions, study bibles, and commentaries and download them to a mobile device. At full price, additional Bible translations are around $10 US and study Bibles run about $20.00. If you sign up for their newsletter, they'll notify you of their yearly half price sale.
I prefer the Life Bible app over other apps that I’ve used because of the large library of resources Life Bible offers, and the ability to easily switch between different Bibles and commentaries that I’ve purchased. This makes it much easier to research a particular passage of the Bible without having to flip through a tall stack of printed Bibles, and Commentaries. Other Bible apps that I’ve tried are very limited to the number of translations and study Bibles they offer.
I love that they’re regularly improving the app’s interface to make it easier to use. For example, when you’re using a Study bible in the app and want to read the commentary for a verse or group of verses, the commentary used to appear in a side panel which made it hard to match the commentary to the verse it refers to. Sometimes I’d have to scroll which would make me lose my place in the chapter. Now, verses with commentary have a green icon you can tap that pops up the commentary on the page. I love, love, love this!
YouVersion
(Available on PC, tablets, and smartphones)
This free app gives you 50 different translations of the Bible. Many of them can be downloaded to your iPad so you can read them even when you’re not connected to the internet. I’d recommend the NET (New English Translation) because it’s easy to read and more accurate than some of the other easy-to-read translations. Some of the translations will also read the bible to you. For example, you can listen to the NLT (New Living Translation) with this app.
Note: I didn't review any apps for Android tablets because I don't own one.
John MacArthur Study Bible
(Available on iPad, Android tablets, and iPhones)
I’m giving this free app and honerable mention because it was my first Digital Bible that I could use on my tablet. You can download the John MacArthur Study Bible for free from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-study-bible/id992237916?mt=8. It provides three free translations of the Bible that you can read or listen to, when you’re connected to the internet. It includes the ESV, NASB, and KJV. I bought the John MacArthur’s Notes for around $6 US (it might cost more now) which converted this from a simple Bible app to a full-fledged MacArthur Study Bible. This was my first Study Bible Bible app and the reason I bought an iPad in the first place.
Bibles in your web browser
There are many free Bibles that you can read or listen to right from your internet browser. They provide dozens of English translations of the Bible and some of the translations will read the Bible to you. They provide the ability to show one or more translations side-by-side. You have to be online to read some of the bible translations but you can also download some of the translations so you can read them even when you’re not connected to the internet.
BibleWebApp
This one’s my favorite of the browser-based Bibles because you can click or tap on a word in a bible verse and it shows you the word in the original language (for example, Hebrew or Greek) as well as a description of the word’s meaning in the original language.
http://biblewebapp.com/study
Bible Gateway
(Available via a browser)
Bible Gateway is a free app I like to use when I’m working on my laptop and want to quickly look up a Bible verse. Even when I can only remember part of the verse, I can use the search functionality to find it. However, search is scoped only to the selected Bible translation, which means I somtimes have to switch translations to find what I’m looking for. As with most browser-based apps, when I close the browser, it doesn’t retain the last place I was reading which makes it unfeasable for reading through the entire Bible. I use the Life Bible, mentioned above, for that. On the plus side, it provides more than 60 translations that you can use for free, and you can read two translations side-by-side.
Please let me know about your favorite Digital Bible in the comments below.
May the Lord bless you richly as you grow closer to Him through His word.