One of my favorite types of Bible Study is Word Study. For instance, take out a concordance and search for the word “hope.” You will find that it occurs more than 163 times in the text of the Revised Standard Version. I know this because I just used an electronic Bible Search to find and automatically count them. It took about three seconds. If you made this search for all the occurrences of “hope”, in a paper concordance or on a computer, and then looked at those occurrences from the Old Testament to the New Testament, in context, you would know a great deal more about Biblical “hope” than you had known before. You will see that it certainly reaches its highpoint in the Resurrection of Jesus, who is “the first-born from the dead,” and “the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep,” implying that there will be others, especially those who believe in and trust him.

A full-fledged Computer Bible Study Program can cost hundreds of dollars, but there are other, low cost options. One of my favorite is the Bible App by Olive Tree. I use it on my 2012 MacBook portable, on my iPhone, and on my wife’s iPad. Many of you have seen me using it on my phone and thought that I was checking texts. I was, but not the kind of texts you thought. I often use my phone to double check a text, even when I am in my chair behind the pulpit! Likewise, on Ash Wednesday, I used the Olive Tree App on my phone to read eleven chapters in Matthew’s gospel before serving the Holy Communion to those who gathered. The darkness of the sanctuary was not a problem, as the phone screen is well lit.

Now here is the good news. The Olive Tree Bible Reader is free. It includes the King James Version (KJV), and the English Standard Version (ESV), and in app purchases of other versions. I have personally purchased the Revised Standard Version (RSV) text, and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) text for my app. The App is available from the Apple App Store or Android Market and it offers the following features:

1. Purchase on your phone. (Its free!)
2. No internet required after initial purchase. (Its free!)
3. It is add free. (Its still free!)
4. Search the text within a user defined range. (Whole Bible/NT/OT/Gospels/Etc.)
5. Highlight Text in Multiple-Colors.
6. Add Your Own Notes.
7. The in-App purchase options include multiple popular versions,
   foreign language versions, original language versions, Study Bible versions and many popular Bible Study Tools such as Commentaries and Interlinears like an English/Greek New Testament.

Interested? Here is how to get Olive Tree Bible Reader:

Android Phones: Open Android Market. Enter “Olive Tree Bible” in the search field. Download the app.

Apple Phones and iPads: Open the App Store App. Enter “Olive Tree Bible” in the search field. Download the app.

Apple Computer: Online go to https://www.apple.com/ios/app-store/. Open the App and the enter “Olive Tree Bible” in the Search field.

Windows Computer: On-line go to https://www.olivetree.com/pc/. Click on the download button, and install of your computer.

A number of video’s featuring the Olive Tree app are available at :

https://www.youtube.com/user/OliveTreeBible

There are other reader out there, but I haven’t used them. If you have a favorite, post it in the comments section. I would also like to hear back from people who download and use Olive Tree.

Enjoy!