The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops established National Bible Week from November 15–21, 2015 in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. This is a great time to load a Bible app onto your mobile device.
The Word of God is ALWAYS with you when you have a Bible app on your mobile device. What is the Bible?
God speaks to us in many ways. One way God speaks to us is through the Bible. The Bible is the most important book in Christian life because it is God’s message, or revelation. The Bible is the story of God’s promise to care for us, especially through his Son, Jesus. At Mass we hear stories from the Bible. We can also read the Bible on our own. <Read more from Loyola Press>
How do I know if a Bible is an approved Catholic translation?
You can check out the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ list of approved translations of the Bible for private use and study by Catholics. In addition to the translations listed, according to the USCCB, “any translation of the Sacred Scriptures that has received proper ecclesiastical approval ‒ namely, by the Apostolic See or a local ordinary prior to 1983, or by the Apostolic See or an episcopal conference following 1983 ‒ may be used by the Catholic faithful for private prayer and study.”
What Bible translation do we use for Scripture readings for Mass in the Roman Rite?
- In United States: The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE). (Note: not the New American Standard Bible which is a different translation.)
- In Canada: New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
From USCCB: “Released on March 9, 2011, the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) is the culmination of nearly 20 years of work by a group of nearly 100 scholars and theologians, including bishops, revisers and editors. The NABRE includes a newly revised translation of the entire Old Testament (including the Book of Psalms) along with the 1986 edition of the New Testament.”
Want to learn more about reading and understanding the Bible from the Catholic perspective? Check out the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ web site to start your journey.
• Easy-to-use and reliable Bible search, both online and offline
• Daily Bible verse in the translation of your choice
• Daily Bible reading plans
• Bible audio in a number of different translations and styles (none are Catholic translations)
• Parallel translation viewing (iPad only, currently only available when online)
• Quick Bible reading history, so you can go back and forth between Bible verses you have viewed
• Personal notes – both general notes and notes tagged to specific Bible verses can be created
• Star the Bible verses that are your favorite
• Highlight Bible verses or passages
• Easily view Bible study resources (Bible Commentaries, Bible Dictionaries, etc.) to help you unpack your Scripture reading
• And integrated sharing tools make it quick and simple to share your favorite Bible verses with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter
– Easily switch between books by touching book title
– Move between chapters via swipe left/right gesture
– Increase/decrease font size by pinch in/out gesture
– Search verses, filter by chapter, book, old, new, entire bible
– Bookmark verses by touching a verse
– Copy multiple verses
– Highlight verses
– Tweet verses
– Book introductions
– Hypertext footnotes
– Hypertext endnotes
– Hypertext references
– Daily Readings
– History of Last 50 Verses Visited
– Stories, Parables, Miracles, Prayers found in the Bible
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Catholic Bibles in Spanish las Biblias Católicas
Autorizada por la Fundación Palabra de Vida. Contiene los 73 libros de la Santa Biblia Católica, Ester Suplementos Griegos,Daniel Suplementos Griegos y Carta de Jeremías.Te permite un busqueda rapida por capítulo,
asi como compartir el verso elegido en otras applicaciones. Puedes publicar los versos en Facebook. Acceso al Evangelio del Día
Catholic Audio Bibles (some contain full text of Bibles too)
From Developers: “More than 70 actors help bring the scriptures to life in this 22-hour audio production, complete with This award-winning audio New Testament is endorsed with an Imprimatur from the Vatican and including a foreword by Pope Benedict XVI.”
Although you only get the audio version of the Gospel of Mark with this free version, developers note that at any time you can purchase the full New Testament audio AND the full Ignatius Catholic Study Bible annotated by Dr. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Download link to full package here. Developers note: “The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible includes superb notes, essays, and commentary, as well as a doctrinal index.”
Individual audio books of the New Testament are $1.99 ea; the complete new Testament is $19.99 and the entire package audio and study bible is 29.99. Stuck in traffic? On a long road trip? Fire up this app and enjoy having the Gospels read to you while you listen to the oars of Peter’s boat slapping the water on the Sea of Galilee or the crowds gasp in amazement on witnessing a miracle from Jesus. The background music does not interfere with the dialogue but actually enhances it. In addition to exhilarating audio, the app features:
- Complete text of RSV-CE synchronized with audio [text highlights move with the audio reading- very cool]
- Go directly to any verse and hear and see the Bible instantly [very cool!]
- Use the built in playlist to hear the New Testament in 40 days or in Chronological order [built-in reading plan]
- Create your own playlist of verses [who else provides that?]
- Remembers where you left off.
- Easily fit entire 22 hours of audio on your device.
Check out the video promotion for this app:
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Catholic Study Bibles
Study Bibles come with tremendous extra resources to help you dig deeper into the text for your study or devotional purposes. Want to discover treasures hidden within Sacred Scripture? A Catholic study Bible is a great place to start. These resources typically include commentaries, extended footnotes, maps, lexicons, photos, Church documents, search capability, Hebrew and Greek translations, concordances and much more.
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Screen shot of one of the many pages filled with resources in Verbum.
Verbum (Free for basic components) iOS and Android and Kindle Fire and Mac and PC. This is the best Catholic Bible study app in the market. It is produced under the Logos Bible Software product line, a powerful Bible study platform all on its own. While Logos is primarily Protestant in orientation, its developers have created a Catholic version of their popular Logos App under the brand, Verbum. Not all Bible study apps are created equally. This one caters uniquely to Catholic study in that it incorporates sacred scripture and tradition. That means that documents of the Church, writings of Church Fathers, Catholic commentaries and the teachings of the faith (various Catechisms) are among many Catholic resources included in the bundle. But it goes beyond that. Verbum integrates Church documents and writings and commentaries into your experience of studying sacred Scripture. That’s because the search function includes your entire library, not just Scripture. So, you can enter Scripture or a topic in the Passage Guide and within seconds it finds material from all the books loaded into the app including the Scriptures, Church Fathers, Medieval theological works, and contemporary theology— all linked to the page you need. If that is not enough, the Exegetical Guide introduces you to original ancient languages, even if you don’t read Greek or Hebrew. You can split screen to read Bible verse with another book simultaneously. The complete Roman Catholic lectionary is included in the free version, so even if you only got this app for the Mass readings, it’s worth it. There is a lot more to this exceptional Catholic Bible study app including highlighting, bookmarking and note taking capabilities which it saves on line so you can access your information and open to the last page read among your mobile devices or your computer. A video tutorial is bundled with the app to help you learn how to use many of its features. Here is an in-depth review that will sell you on this power-app if you are not convinced of its value already. Some of the valuable resources bundled into the full version of Verbum ($49.95-which you can pay for and download after you load the free Verbum app) include:
- The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition ($13.95 if you want to purchase it separately)
- The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (Text Only)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church
- The Catechism of the Council of Trent (Text Only)
- Catholic Lectionary
- The Decrees of the Vatican Council
- Douay-Rheims Bible
- The Sources of Catholic Dogma
- Vatican II Documents
Olive Tree Bible Study (Free to $24.95) iOS Android, Kindle Fire, Windows Tablet, Apple Watch, Mac and PC. A reviewer characterized this app as the “gold standard of Bible study apps.” Check out these videos to see how the various functions work. You will be amazed! The interface to delve into all the various tools is elegant and smooth. All the popular Catholic editions are included in their offering. So much is packed into this gem of an app: extensive footnotes; option to include maps and charts; search capability; load optional commentary; verse chooser; text highlight; book ribbons; pop-up lexicon; ability to make notes in the text. It has a split-screen capability to view two passages simultaneously, so you can keep Greek or Hebrew open while you read English, for example. Free Bibles available in dozens of editions including Catholic. But it does not include or incorporate documents and writings from the Church’s sacred tradition, so that part of your experience of studying Sacred Scripture is not available in this app. If you want that included, choose the free Verbum app instead and skip this one. If you choose an Olive Tree Bible, the FIRST thing you do is download their Bible Reader software (Free). The Bible Reader is the program used to read the text–much like Kindle software is used to read digital books. Once the software is loaded, set up an account and then choose Bibles you want to download from the developer’s web site (includes all the popular versions, study versions, non-English, Greek and Hebrew Bibles!) Prices range from free to $24.95 and the site explains how to retrieve your book for your Bible reader. Bibles and books can be purchased directly from within the app on your mobile device, or they can be purchased through the Olive Tree web site and downloaded to your device later. There are hundreds of free books and study tools in Olive Tree’s catalog. Video tutorials are loaded on the app to help you use its many features.
Mobile Bible Software for advanced Greek and Hebrew Olive Tree Bible Software offers the standard scholarly Greek and Hebrew texts, parsing and morphological information at the touch of a finger, and fast and powerful searches on words or morphologies – developed for all mobile devices. Watch the video to see how it works. This. Will. Blow. Your. Mind.