Olive Tree Bible for Mac with MASSIVE Update 3 Years in the Making
Olive Tree update their Bible. study app to make it look and work more like the iOS and iPadOS app. It now only has a few minor differences.
According to the Mac App Store page, the Olive Tree Bible app on the Mac desktop has received a "MASSIVE update three years in the making."
The jump to version 7.16 brings the iOS mobile app and the Mac app together with a similar look and feel. The app on Mac and iOS always looked similar. However, Olive Tree updated the Mac version to behave like what you'd see on an iPad. Here's what's new.
Audiobook Access on Olive Tree Mac Desktop
Your library provides access to audiobooks and other audio features. Open the Library from the button in the toolbar. Click on Add Filter and choose Audio. Your audiobooks will appear there. Open one and start listening. The controls let you jump to parts of the book.
The above steps also work on your iPad and iPhone. If you want, you can click the minimize button in the audio player and the player will show in your sidebar.
Access Video from the Resource Guide
When you open your Resource Guide, you may find video content. Scroll down till you see the Videos section of the guide. Click to open a video and it will play in the guide. You can also pop the video out using the button int he upper right corner of the player.
When you pop open the video player, you can jump to YouTube if the video comes from YouTube. Additionally, you can maximize a video. If you're playing it for your small group, you can see the full-screen video.
Other Changes in Olive Tree
The Message Center, which should probably be called the ad section, also appears now. It's in the left sidebar. The app also offers an improved Store and Shopping experience.
The Quick Details section from the lower left corner looks and acts just like the mobile app.
The Resource Guide gets some speed improvements. Everything will scroll faster, especially if you have a slightly older Mac.
The My Stuff section shows up in the left Side Bar towards the top, as seen above.
PocketBible for iOS and Mac Adds ChatGPT to Autostudy
There's a new version of Laridian's PocketBible for iOS, iPadOS and Mac that fixes some bugs, adds new features like an improved Reading Mode, and more importantly integration of ChatGPT AI Insights.
Laridian announced that they added ChatGPT to their Autostudy feature. This feature is available to subscribers of the company's Advanced Feature Set, which gives users more features than the free Bible study tool.
PocketBible for iOS is available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and runs on Macs. The new version is 4.18. Find the full list of updates using the previous link.
How to Use Autostudy in PocketBible
The app's Autostudy feature helps users study their Bible with a simple report on a word or verse that the user selects. It's similar to the Guides in Logos, the Resource Guide found in Olive Tree.
To use Autostudy, hold down on a verse or double-tap a word. A toolbar with an icon that looks like a graduate's cap will pop up. Tap that to see the Autostudy window. Then tap on Show Results to see your Autostudy report.
The row at the top shows the content of your Autostudy. Swipe to see the rest of the row. Tap a category to jump to that category in the Autostudy list.
Autostudy includes the verse or passage report, which shows the following...
- Text from each of your Bibles (shown above).
- Strong's numbers.
- Dictionary definition of every word in the passage.
- Greek or Hebrew word definitions.
- Commentary entries from all the commentaries you own.
- Cross-references from Treasure of Scripture Knowledge or other cross-reference titles you own.
- Your user-created notes.
Autostudy for each word includes ...
- Definition from your selected dictionaries.
- Number of times that word is found in your Bible.
- Strong's number info if you own a Strong's tagged tool.
A new feature in the recent update offers Autostudy Devotions features, which include...
- Reading for today.
- Text of Bible passages referred to in your devotional.
Laridian includes a couple of nice features in PocketBible's Autostudy. Users can customize the report's look, which you see under Customize CSS when you run a report. They can also customize the order of content from within an Autostudy report.
ChatGPT Integration in Autostudy
Adding ChatGPT to Autostudy adds a lot of content to the app that a smaller company like Laridian could never add alone. In fact, big companies would likely struggle to add such far-reaching content.
From Laridian's Craig Rairdin...
We’ve spent a lot of time over the last year and a half designing prompts and instructions that cause it to give responses that are Bible-based and Bible-first. It avoids dogma and denominational bias and favors what it clearly reads in the Bible. It uses biblical terminology where political correctness would prefer non-biblical alternative language.
To use Autostudy, users must first subscribe to the Advanced Feature Set and turn on the AI feature in the settings. To do so, they tap and hold on a verse and then tap on the Autostudy button in the toolbar that appears.
In the Autostudy's first window, find Content and Order near the top. Tap it to open it. Ensure there's a checkmark in the AI Insights item at the bottom of the list (#1 above). You can also turn off other items by removing the checkmark. Hit Order (#2 above) in the upper right corner to change the order of the items in Autostudy.
Now, when you tap the Show Results item on Autostudy's first screen, it will find all the content it can from your library and ChatGPT. This takes longer than a regular report that doesn't use AI.
Example of AI Insights Results for Commentary
To give you an example of the results of AI Insights in PocketBible, I ran an Autostudy on John 3:3. Here's what the AI Commentary offered.
The Gospel of John, traditionally attributed to the Apostle John, is unique among the four Gospels in its theological depth and focus on the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. Written in the latter part of the first century, likely in Ephesus, it aims to strengthen the faith of believers and present a clear understanding of who Jesus is. John’s Gospel addresses a broad audience, including both Jewish and Gentile readers, and highlights the necessity of spiritual rebirth, a theme central to John 3:3.
In this verse, a conversation takes place between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council. This dialogue occurs at night, indicating Nicodemus’s cautious interest in Jesus and the disruptive nature of Jesus's teachings to the established religious order. The phrase “born again” introduces a pivotal theological concept that reflects on the necessity of spiritual transformation.
The context surrounding this verse encompasses the introduction of Jesus's public ministry and the manifestations of His divine authority, characterized by miraculous signs. John 3:1-21 emphasizes the contrast between human understanding based on earthly standards and the spiritual insights required to comprehend the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus, representing the religious elite, approaches Jesus, seeking clarification about His teachings and miracles, which sets the stage for Jesus's profound statement regarding the need for rebirth.
The phrase “unless one is born again” underscores the necessity of a radical inner transformation that is not achievable through human efforts or religious observance alone. This rebirth is explicitly spiritual, highlighting that entry into God's Kingdom requires a renewal of the heart and mind, an action attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit as described later in John 3:5-7.
The practical application of this teaching is substantial. It emphasizes the fundamental Christian belief in the necessity of conversion and the transformative power of God’s grace. For modern readers, it serves as a reminder that spiritual renewal is not merely a one-time event but an ongoing process of growth and reliance on God's spirit. It invites believers to examine their own spiritual lives, acknowledging that true faith encompasses a personal relationship with Christ and a transformation reflected in their thoughts, actions, and purposes.
The passage, therefore, teaches that understanding spiritual truths and entering into a relationship with God begins with an acknowledgment of one’s need for renewal, making it clear that human wisdom alone is insufficient for salvation. It aligns with the broader biblical narrative that presents salvation as a gift from God, to be received by faith and resulting in a changed life (Ephesians 2:8-10).
That's not bad! I wouldn't replace a solid, reliable commentary, but it's a nice supplement.
Other AI Insights that you get from PocketBible include...
- Bible Dictionary - a summary of info about the word or phrase studied.
- Inspirational Thoughts - a reflection for that day's Bible reading or other Bible passages.
- Applying Today's Verses - practical application for the day's Bible reading.
- Today In Christian History - info from church history.
Other New Features in PocketBible Update
Laridian added a new Reading Mode, removing distractions from the text so the reader can read their Bible. This mode removes the toolbars, toolbox, and other window stuff around the text. You open Reading Mode by tapping the button on the Toolbar with two arrows (second from the right).
If you wish to remove verse numbers, go to the app settings (the menu button is on the right of the toolbar) and choose Settings under the PROGRAM section. Tap on Hide Verse Numbers in the first section.
Finally, as with most apps or software, this update includes many bug fixes or minor feature changes.
How to Get PocketBible for iOS and Mac and Advanced Feature Set
You can download PocketBible for iOS or iPadOS in the Apple App Store on your iPhone or iPad. For Mac, get the app from Laridian's website. Both apps are free. The Advanced Feature Set costs $.99/month or $99/year through an in-app purchase or on the company's website.
Logos Subscriptions Bad or Good for Your Bible Study?
Should you upgrade to the one of the new Logos subscriptions or stay put? We'll show what they offer and how to save money.
When Logos released the new Logos Subscriptions version of the Logos Bible Study Platform, it dropped the numbering nomenclature and added a subscription model. These moves upset some users and confused others, so we want to help alleviate the confusion. We can explain the name quickly, but the new Logos subscriptions model will take up more space here on KevinPurcell.org.
The most significant new features in the Logos Subscription options include AI tools, a redesigned user interface, Bible Study Builder, and a vastly improved Sermon Assistant with AI Outlines, Questions, and Sermon Illustrations.
What's the New Logos Called?
Just Logos! Previous versions all came with the number of that update - Logos 9 went to Logos 10. However, Logos 10 was something like Logos 10.11.34. Then they released Logos 10.12 or something like that. So, now they're getting rid of the first two digits that we expected to be Logos 11. Instead, they want to release more minor updates, which they call versions.
The company named the new subscription-based version of the program Logos Version 37. That's because the last version of Logos 10 came with version 36. Sometime soon, they will give us Logos 38 and so on. For a while, I'll call it the New Logos Version 37.
Get One Extra Month Free
Whether you're an owner of Logos 10 or trying it out for the first time, you can use this link add 30 days free. That means you'll get either 30 or 60 days for free..
Three Options for Logos Subscriptions
You can subscribe to one of three options for the new Logos Subscriptions (affiliate link). They focus on three groups of users as follows:
- Bible Study Leaders: Logos Premium starts at $9.99/month and will help people who lead Bible studies.
- Pastors: Logos Pro starts at $14.99/month and adds tools intended to help pastors dive deeper into the Bible and write sermons. You can start using Logos for slightly more advanced language study at this level.
- Academic Users: Logos Premium starts at $19.99/month and takes users to the level of a scholar studying the Bible in advanced ways for scholarly research, translation, and writing academic research projects for school.
Each of the above subscription levels comes in annual subscriptions, too. You can get Premium for $99.99/year. Pro costs $149.99/year, and Max costs $199.99/year. If you pay for two years, you'll get a 21% discount off the second year, so the three cost $189.900, $284.80, or $379.80.
If you already own Logos 10, you can save on a subscription. Check out the chart above to see your savings. Also, using my Logos Affiliate link will give you an extra 30 days in your free trial offer.
Subscribers get more tools per tier the more you pay. For example, the cheapest plan doesn't include the Counseling Guide or Lexham Counseling Ontology Dataset. Pro and Premium subscribers will also not get many of Max's language tools. And each tier bumps up the number of included books you get. Premium users won't get the High-Definition Commentaries that Lexham Press produced, nor will they enjoy the Holman Old and New Testament Commentaries.
Which of the Logos Subscriptions Should You Choose?
Most people should take a look at Logos Pro. That level gives you the best bang for your buck with Logos subscriptions. Otherwise, go with the tier Logos recommends for each level of the Logos subscriptions. Lay people who teach the Bible could go with Premium. Pastors could get Pro, and academics could subscribe to Max. However, some laypeople may want more books and language tools. They should jump up to Pro. Some pastors might now use language tools as much and don't need the Pro features and tools.
You could also approach your decision based on money. Buy the most you can afford. Try to save by going with an annual or a 2-year subscription.
2025 Logos Collections for Subscribers Only
First, remember that you have to subscribe to buy one of these new 2025 Logos Collections.
While the subscriptions include many new books, Logos also adds new 2025 Libraries. Their offerings look too complicated. I wish they'd simplify things, but people love the dizzying array of options. Let's try to understand the possibilities.
Think of the collection colors as levels. They offer Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. You can start lower with the Starter Library or higher with the Collector's Edition Library.
To see the new libraries and what they offer, look at the slideshow below.
They label the collections with the year and level for 2025. We assume that we'll also get 2026 and 2027 libraries.
Add to the year and color a user description. Logos offers a 2025 Starter Library, which costs the least and comes with less than any other collection. If you're a Leader (the target of the least expensive Logos Premium Subscription), then consider the Leader Starter Library, which has a different set of tools at the introductory price than that basic Starter Library.
Logos offers libraries not just for Starter and Leader categories but also for Preachers and Researchers. You can combine them for options like the 2025 Preacher Silver Library or the Leader Gold Library. If you have a lot of money, you could purchase the 2025 Researcher Portfolio Library for $3,324.99 or the 2025 Collector's Edition Library for a whopping $7,699.99.
Don't forget dynamic pricing for 2025 libraries. The above prices mainly target new buyers. However, if you already own Logos and a library of books, you can save money. Make sure to sign in to Logos.com and then check prices.
Logos Ownership Explained
If you choose to subscribe to Logos, then do you own Logos? The answer depends on when you first purchased or subscribed to Logos. First, if you owned Logos before the subscription update, then you will own what you owned before. However, you won't receive any new features that come with this Logos version 37 or higher.
Subscribers will earn the right to own the new features of their subscription after 24 months of subscribing. If you subscribed to Logos Pro today and then chose to stop subscribing in November 2026, you'd keep all the new features that came with the subscription. Logos calls this the "Legacy Fallback License." This only applies to features that don't rely on the cloud or any new Logos AI features. You have to have owned a Logos base package to receive this Logos Fallback License.
Should You Subscribe to the New Version of Logos?
That's a terribly complicated question without an easy answer. Here are some people I think will enjoy subscribing to Logos. Take a look at the screenshots in the gallery below.
- You love having the latest and greatest version of Logos and are willing to pay $7-$20 monthly or $70-$200 annually for the new features and books.
- You want the new features (see screenshots above) available only to subscribers, like...
- Dark mode without restarting Logos.
- Getting started wizard to new users.
- Smart search.
- Insights.
- Help Center improvements.
- Factbook improvements.
- Summarize tool.
- Bible Study Builder.
- Sermon Assistant with AI Outlines, questions, illustrations, and application.
- Sermon Builder/Manager on Android and iOS
- You want a 5% discount on everything you buy and enjoy free books and courses and a 5% rebate on everything you buy in a year.
Don't subscribe if you can't afford a monthly or annual fee and/or don't think the new features will benefit your Bible study. Some people hate subscriptions, so don't upgrade if that describes you.
I received a free upgrade but planned to pay for it before I knew Logos would give me a free subscription to write an article for them at ChurchTechToday.com.
The New Logos Subscription Model and How to Save Money
What's with all these new Logos subscription tiers and libraries. We'll explain what's going on and what you should get. We've also got a deal for 2 months free.
Logos released a new version of Logos Bible Study on October 21. It includes some interesting new features and a new user interface; however, they also introduced a new subscription model. So, what's new in the new Logos, and should you subscribe to one of the three new tiers of Logos version 37?
What Do You Call the New Logos?
For over 20 years, I've used Logos 3, 4, or some other version that ended in a small number. When Logos 10 came out, that became the last version that we'd described that way. What we called Logos 10 was called something like Logos 10.24.01. They just dropped the final numbers and called it Logos 10. We're dropping the 10 and getting Logos 37 as the first version of the new Logos (my Partner Link gets you 2 free months), which we thought they'd call Logos 11.
Logos Changed the Way You Buy the Logos Bible Study Platform
In the past, most people upgraded to Logos XX by paying for new features plus a library of new books. Now, you pay for a monthly, annual, or two-year subscription and add a library of books in a separate purchase.
Think of it like this. You decide to lease a home to own. YOu're paying monthly for the right to live there and over time you build up enough equity that you can buy it and own it outright. However, you decided you also want to make some improvements, so you add on a new bedroom and bathroom. You turn on of the rooms into a home theater and you build a nice gazebo out back.
Logos asks you to subscribe to get the new version and then asks you to add-on. You pay monthly for the new version of Logos like you pay monthly for the house. You add onto the house and make improvements like you buy a 2025 Library for the new Logos 37. If you quit paying for the home, the bank will kick you out. If you quit paying for the new Logos, then you lose the new features, unless you subscribe for a minium time. I'll explain that below when we discuss the "Legacy Fallback License".
To get new features, you will have to subscribe. Logos told me:
We will no longer sell a perpetual license to feature sets to consumers. For software, subscription will be the only way to get a premium Logos experience.
The subscription doesn't give you libraries of books. You will get the tools needed to use the new features. These will mostly come from Logos and not other publishers like Zondervan, Holman, or Baker, to name a few.
Three Tiers of Subscriptions
Logos reduced the number of different groups of features from nine to only three. They are as follows:
- Logos Premium - Focused on lay leaders who teach a small group in their church or community. The tools sit at the intermediate level of skill or knowledge and focus on English language study. Think of the old Bronze level of feature sets.
- Logos Pro - Focused on pastors and preachers who pastor a church or often preach and teach the Bible. They need advanced-level tools and will get access to intermediate-level language tools in Greek and Hebrew. People who study deuterocanonical books will need this level of subscription. Think of the old Preaching Suite or Silver packages.
- Logos Max - Bible students who need serious language study tools for advanced research will want to pay for this level. You get the whole feature set at this level to study Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Syriac, and more. Scholars or language nerds will want this subscription.
Most Logos users will want the Logos Pro level unless they need hardcore Bible study tools. However, lay people should get Premium, and then if they think they need more, they should jump up to Pro. Start lower and move up if you need it.
Logos Subscription Pricing and Benefits
How much does the new Logos subscription cost, and what do you enjoy besides the latest features? We'll share the full price. You can get discounts if you own Logos 10 or an older version.
- Logos Premium - $9.99/month, $99.99/year, or $189.80 for two years.
- Logos Pro - $ 14.99/month, $149.99/year, or $284.80 for two years.
- Logos Max - $19.99/month, $199.99/year, or $379.80 for two years.
If you own Logos 10 Bronze or higher, take $3, $5, or $7 off the monthly price of the three tiers. What if you own something lower than Logos 10 Bronze now? The discount gets smaller ($1, $2, $3).
Logos also offers discounts for Faculty and Students who subscribe annually. These users also get excellent deals on libraries—more on those below.
What else do you get besides the new features? Take 5% off every purchase from the store. Get another free book each month and up to eight Logos Mobile Ed courses each quarter. Pro and Max subscribers get access to the Logos Sermons service, which lets you host sermons online in a podcast or transcript format.
Pro and Max subscribers will earn an annual coupon worth 5% of all purchases the previous year. This coupon arrives in February each year and is only for current subscribers. So, if you plan to cancel your subscription, don't do it until after February, or you'll lose this perk.
Legacy Fallback License
What happens if you cancel your subscription? You will lose access to the features that you get by subscribing. However, there's something Logos calls a "Legacy Fallback License," which allows users to keep offline features when they end their subscription after 24 straight months of subscribing. You'll keep the features that don't need cloud or AI. If you have any questions about this, contact Logos to see what you'll lose before you cancel.
What Do You Get in the New Logos Subscription?
What's available in Logos after a user subscribes? We'll cover the new features in another fuller article, but here's a quick listing of new features taken from Logos PR documents:
- Dark mode without restart.
- Get Started Wizard - shows up on the new Logos Dashboard.
- Smart Search - use regular language to search your library.
- Insights - quick looks at your most essential library tools with one click.
- Dynamic toolbar - we covered this in a previous article.
- Help Center (see screenshot below).
- Factbook improvements - new sections and "lenses" to see what's in their passage.
- Smart Synopsis - AI-generated synopsis from search results with footnotes.
- Summarize tool - quick summaries of books, passages, or search results. More is coming.
- Bible Study Builder - the Wordsearch Lesson Maker, but reimagined for Logos and with better-resulting questions.
- Sermon Assistant - Only for Logos Pro and Max Subscribers...
- Outlines - AI-suggested sermon themes and outlines.
- Questions - AI-suggested questions for discussion based on your sermons built using Logos Sermon Builder
- Applications and illustrations - AI-generated sermon applications and illustrations from your sermons.
- Sermon Builder/Manager on Android - Android users can now use this tool, not just iOS users.
New 2025 Libraries to Add More Books to Logos
If the three subscription tiers didn't confuse you, the three tracks of libraries with eight different levels will. Each comes with books you own and can use if you subscribe to Logos. We'll offer a more in-depth recommendation in another article. But let's look at the three tracks and who they're meant for.
The tree tracks focus on who's using Logos. For example, the Standard Track Libraries help people who use Logos for personal use and to teach a Bible study or small group. If you buy a Logos Premium subscription, then you'll likely want to consider the Standard Track Libraries. Take a look at the price and what each includes, and you can buy what you can afford or need.
Next, we see the Leader Track, which focuses on church leaders. Again, if you teach a class or Bible study, you'll want to take a look at this track. You'll get more intermediate-level books.
The Preacher Track Libraries were designed for preachers and pastors. Logos Premium subscribers will likely want to look here.
Finally, the Research Track Libraries will help people who subscribe to Logos Premium or Max. These users write commentaries, translate for new Bibles or in missionary settings, or teach at a seminary or Bible college.
Look for more complexity with Denominational Libraries coming in January 2025.
Recommended Upgrade Path for Different Users
What should you do if you want to upgrade to Logos. First, consider using my Partner Link. Logos gives you one month free and using my link gets you a second month free if you upgrade to a subscription.
First, choose a subscription level. Most users will want Logos Pro, the mid-level tier. You get the most bank for your buck. Since the majority of my readers are pastors, teachers, and serious Bible students who need to do language study, but might not possess an advanced level of Hebrew and Greek skill, then get this tier for $14.99/month, unless you already own Logos 10 Bronze or above. Then it's just $9.99. You can save more with an annual subscription.
Second, you need to pick a library of books. You can get the subscription alone, but why not add some books to your library at a discount. Take a look at the Libraries for 2025 and choose what you an afford. Logos will let you split up payments into a couple of months up to a year to pay off your purchase.
As we said above, they offer several tiers of libraries too. For now, go with Standard and then add to it later. Or jump to the Preacher level if you're subscribing to Pro. They seem to fit together well.
Logos gave me the the Gold Library, but if they hadn't, that's what I would have bought. You add the Preacher's Outline and Semon Bible, the ESV Expository Commentary Collection, and Theologocial Wordbook of the Old Testament to name a few. It's only $600 and if I wanted, I could pay for it over several months to make it more affordable. Logos doesn't charge interest, but you do pay a small fee for processing.
New Logos Redesign - Where Is That Button in Logos 11
First, let's discuss one important element we'll all need to get used to—Logos will no longer be called Logos 11 or any other number. Instead, the new Logos redesign comes with a new designation. They will call it simply Logos and then use version numbers like version 37, the shipping version of the brand new Logos, which many will want to call Logos 11. Think of Logos 11.37, but they're dropping only the 11 part of it.
Second, the new Logos Redesign moved around many things thanks to a new Logos Resource Toolbar in Logos version 37. You might ask, "Where is that button I need?" We'll show you where that button went and the new user interface of Logos version 37 and beyond.
Get the New Logos Now
If you read this article and decide to invest in the new Logos subscription, visit their subscription page. You can also invest in a library to get extra non-subscription content. Let me recommend a few things.
First, the new Logos comes in 3 subscription levels targeted at 3 groups of users.
- Logos Premium—for the average user, it costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year unless you already own Logos 10 Bronze, in which case you'll only pay $6.99 or $69.99. Use my link above to get two months free.
- Logos Pro - for pastors or serious Bible students who don't need academic tools. It costs $14.99/month unless you own Logso 10 Silver and up, in which case it only costs $9.99/month. Yearly discounts cost $149.99 or $99.99, and using my link gets you two free months.
- Logos Max - the highest tier meant for academic users. It costs $19.99/month or $12.99/month for Logos 10 Full Set owners. Logos 10 owners pay $199.99/year or $129.99/year.
These subscription tiers come with discounts for people who subscribe for two years. You get five months free.
Watch the Logos announcement video below.
Subscriber Perks for the New Logos 11
Logos doesn't call it Logos 11 anymore, but they do still offer some great perks. They include the following:
- 5% off store-wide for all subscription levels.
- Extra free book each month for everyone who subscribes.
- 8 Logos Mobile Ed courses focused on the people Logos expects to subscribe to each tier.
- Logos Sermons adds some sermon prep tools for Pro and Max users.
- 5% Annual Reward for Pro and Max users gets you a discount of 5% of your annual spending in February each year for active subscribers as a reward for subscribing. So, if you spent $2,000 on Logos in the past year, you'll get a coupon for $100.
Libraries for the New Logos Subscription
Second, get one of the 2025 Logos Libraries, which are only available to subscribers. These libraries use the same names as previous versions. They range from Starter, which costs as little as $23.79 for Logos 10 owners or $33.99 for owners of older packages, to Collector's Library for $10,999.99. The best bang for the buck comes at the Silver or Gold levels, costing $250 or $850 for new users. Owners of previous versions will pay less.
The above are for Standard Track Libraries. They confusingly offer many other tracks for Leaders, Pastors, and Researchers, and they add to that their denominational Libraries. I suggest that you start with the Standard if you're an average user. Preachers and pastors should look at the Preacher Track Libraries, and academic types or language nerds should go with Researchers Libraries.
Since I'm a preacher, I'd go with the Preacher Track and look at the Silver or God Libraries. This would add to my library the ESV Expository Commentary Series or Biblical Greek Made Simple for Silver. In Gold, I'd get the Preaching the Word Commentary, The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, and The Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible. Each of those links is a partner link.
Logos Redesign Changes the Home Page to the Dashboard
We'll start with a minor change. Logos used to boast a cluttered Home Page, including things like book information, layouts, reading plans, and ads. You could add them by clicking a plus button in the upper right corner.
The new Logos Redesign changed the Home Page to the Dashboard. It's not that different, but it has a new name. If you use the default toolbar location, look for it in the upper left corner. People who position their toolbar on the top edge of the program window will find the button to the right of the Logos logo. Hover over it, and you'll see the popup tooltip that shows the Dashboard label.
You'll find a few important features on the new Dashboard.
- Welcome to Logos Video - click this video in the upper left corner labeled Welcome to Logos Pro or whatever subscription level you use. You can watch the short intro video that explains many of these new changes.
- What would you like to do today? - The lighter blue square next to the Welcome video square shows five options, including...
- Personal study
- Group Bible study
- Write a sermon
- Original language
- Pick up where I left off
- Need some help? - gives help for using Logos with options to:
- Ask about Logos - ask natural language questions about how to use Logos.
- Get Started - opens a page for those new to Logos.
- Videos and Webinars - take users to the great Logos tutorial videos and helpful webinars page.
- Features - opens a page with training videos covering several features in Logos.
- Technical Support - helps you find various technical support options.
- Community - opens the great Logos community forums page. They've promised a new forum interface coming soon.
- Help Manual - opens the Help Manual built into Logos.
New Logos Resource Toolbar
Logos now offers a helpful new toolbar called the Resource Toolbar. This toolbar reorganizes the buttons to make the program more efficient; however, changes take time to get used to. Let's look at this new Resource Toolbar.
The new Resource Toolbar now has a set of tabs across the top of the Bible window. You can toggle it on or off by clicking on the names of each tab on the toolbar.
- The Back Button takes you back to your browsing history, like you'd find in a web browser.
- In the Book Dropdown Box, click the down arrow button with your book cover. You will see a list of your Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries, or other books similar to the one currently displayed.
- An Entry Box lets you type in a Bible passage or other entry, which will take you to the passage or article you entered.
- Home - shows the primary tools in a toolbar below the Resource Toolbar as follows:
- Contents
- Favorites
- History
- Chapter with Up and Down Arrows
- Link set - this used to be in a different location, so note that you now connect books to the Bible translation you want to drive the others. For example, set your commentary to follow your Bible when you move from passage to passage.
- Insights - a new feature that shows your top related books and passages connected to the passage open in a Bible translation.
- Search - opens a search box. Notice the three links at the right end. YOu can click these to narrow your search results or change where Logos will look for results.
- Notes - includes options to show or hide notes in text, add notes or highlights, and filter your notes. It also has arrows to jump to previous or next notes.
- Formatting - change the formatting of the text in the open book.
- Factbook Tags - shows what words in your text have Factbook entries. Click the drop-down to change what tags show or don't show.
- Markers - Logos includes icons that show it has more information on things like Addresses, Speakers, Timeline Events, and Media
- Emphasize - emphasizes corresponding words when you hover over them or click on them by highlighting a word used multiple times.
- Reformat - change the look of text in a book.
- Reading Plans - shows markers for the beginning and ending points of any reading plans active for a passage or book.
- Passage Lists - shows passages found in any passage lists you've created.
- Visual Filters - shows any visual filters you created.
- View - change the look of the book display.
- Add parallel text—you can add columns of text as seen above or rows of texts, depending on which button you select in the pop-up window.
- Interlinear - turn on the Interlinear using this button. You can customize which information shows up in the Interlinear.
- View Continued...
- Paged view - shows you either a paged view with columns like you might find in a printed bible with multiple columns of text or show a single column that scrolls. YOu can also change how many columns of text show up.
- Location bar - turn on and off the Location bar that shows where you are in the current book or Bible, like "Hebrews > Chapter 4" seen in the above screenshot.
- Tools - shows tabs for tools used to interact with the text.
- Compare - opens text comparison.
- Translate - opens the AI Translation tool.
- Summarize - opens the AI Summarize tool, which summarizes the current article in the open book.
- Read aloud - reads the current text using the computer-generated voice of the OS.
- Start reading plan - opens a new reading plan for the current book or Bible.
- Printer/Export - opens the Print/Export Dialogue box.
- Share - offers various methods of sharing what you're reading.
- Copy - select some text and click this button to copy it, or use CTRL+C on Windows or CMD+C on Mac
- Copy special - shows some of the options you would find in the Copy Bible Verse tool.
- Copy link - creates a link you can use in notes or online which will open Logso to the present location of the book or Bible displayed.
- Create slides - opens the Media generation tool which lets you create visual copies of text for us in Proclaim, PowerPoint, Keynote, or other apps.
- Send to - sends the current selection to a Clipping, a Passage List, a Canvas, or Proclaim.
- Print/Export - opens the Print/Export dialog box.
You'll see a blue New button, which opens a Logos Community post. This will likely go away eventually. Also, at the far right end, you'll see a button that looks like an up or down arrow in a circle. This toggles the Resource Toolbar on or off. Finally, there's the menu button (it looks like three dots stacked vertically). Here, you'll see controls that work with the current book window.
- Find in this panel - type something, and you'll see corresponding highlights showing the text in the open book.
- Send hyperlinks here - when you click a Bible reference link in another open book window, the links are sent to this window.
- Open in a floating window and Open all in a floating window - opens the current book in a separate window or floating window or all the books in that tab in floating windows.
- Duplicate this tab - open another copy of the current book in the first tab in a second tab, just like it.
- Reopen the closed tab - if you recently closed a tab, it opens again.
- Close this tab, other tabs, or all tabs - self-explanatory.
5 Best Audio Bible Apps for iPhone or Android in 2024
We have the 5 best audio Bible Apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and, in some cases, desktop and web. See if your favorite app shows up.
While I personally love reading my Bible, I know many people prefer listening to the Word. Most people consumed the original books of the Bible audibly instead of visually in a book or scroll. If you're looking for the best audio Bible app for your iPhone (or even Android!), this list is for you. We'll dive into the top 5 options, each with its unique features to enhance your Bible listening experience.
Dwell: Audio Bible - Best Audio Bible Apps for Dedicated Bible Listeners Willing to Pay for a Subscription
The Dwell: Audio Bible app runs on iPhone and iPad. Users can install it on a Mac thanks to Apple's M processors. Finally, it also works on Android.
When you open the app, you see a screen with four tabs across the bottom and the Settings icon in the upper right. This screen appears after you go through the first setup screen the first time you run the app.
Home shows you various listening options. There's an Explore tab to find something to listen to. The Bible tab lets you listen based on predefined listening plans or by book of the Bible split into two screens for the Old and New Testament. Finally, you can search the Bible, which will help you listen to a specific passage. You see the Me tab with Favorite verses, Downloads, Playlists, Plans, and your Listening Queue.
Try out Dwell app for free, but you'll need to buy a subscription to use the full feature set. It costs $39.99 a year or $7.99 a month. That's steep, but if you really love listening to the Bible, try it out and subscribe for a month. The $40/year will seem worth it if you find it useful. Otherwise, try one of the options below.
Bible from YouVersion - Best Free Audio Bible Apps
Most Bible listeners will enjoy free over $40 or $8. The most popular Bible app on mobile is YouVersion. The app does more than play audio of your favorite Bible. You can get it on iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and your computer through the browser.
The app includes audio Bibles, videos related to Scripture, and almost every translation you might want to read and download. You will also see many reading plans to choose from.
The Bible app includes social media components that let you follow the activities of other Bible readers and share yours.
Listen to a Bible by downloading one that includes audio. For example, I downloaded the NKJV, and it shows an audio icon next to the name in the translation chooser drop-down list. Open it, and the screen shows the text and a Play button. Go to your desired passage and click or tap the play icon.
You can't beat free; the other features make it a great option. The voices sound pretty good, but Dwell sounds better. The Store tab lets you buy books Bibles and books with audio.
Logos Bible Study - Best Audio Bible Apps for Cross Platform that Lets You Grow
Many people already own a Logos library, so don't overlook their listening features. We don't have time to explore everything the Logos Bible Study app can do, but the Audio features will help you enjoy an audio Bible inside your favorite Bible study app.
Some of the audio uses the built-in iOS voices, which sound pretty robotic. However, if you go to the Menu button in the lower right corner and choose Audio, you can find plenty of Audio Books, including some Bibles.
To listen to basic audio, open a Bible and tap on the Audio button in the Bible's toolbar (second from right). It opens the audio control screen at the bottom of the app.
If you want to listen to a better-quality Audio Bible, open one. Search the Library search box for "Audio," and you'll see many audiobooks. Everyone will own the Lexham English Bible Audio New Testament, but your library might include others.
The Logos Bible Study app doesn't cost anything. The most essential features and library also cost nothing. However, you'll want to buy a library to make the most out of it. As of this day, Logos has a great sale on Logos 10, which they call their Farewell Tour because Logos 11 will ship soon. Buy a library or upgrade package (affiliate link) now and save a lot of money. You can get the CSB Audio Bible if you buy one of the smaller packages. Everyone receives the LEB and ESV Audio Bibles.
Bible.IS for Free Apps Focused on Audio
Few people know about the excellent Bible.IS app. It's free and focuses on audio and text Bibles. There's an online version, the Android and iOS apps. You can listen to a few English translations like NKJV, NLT, ESV, and CEV. The app also offers 3 video versions (ESV, KJV, and NIV).
When we rounded up the 4 best Android Audio Bible Apps, Bible.IS won the award for our Winner: Best Audio Bible Apps for Android. After a few years, I think Dwell and YouVersion would win that award—Dwell for audio quality and YouVersion for the overall quality of the app's features and usefulness for more than audio.
Olive Tree Bible Study for High-Quality Audio Bibles
Olive Tree produced the best mobile Bible Study app for many years. Recently, others overcame their feature deficit and the quality of the user interface design. However, it's still a good tool for more than Audio Bibles.
The Audio Bible feature built into Olive Tree Bible Study works well. We included it in our roundup of Android apps a few years ago. You can read, study, and research your passage. However, to listen, open an Audiobook from the app's library, which appears on the main screen's toolbar next to the menu button on the left. There's a tab for Cloud and Device, which shows the books in your library that you downloaded (Device) or haven't yet downloaded (Cloud). The books with audio include a headphone icon on the bottom of the book cover in your library. Tap to open the book.
Many will have the KJV Complete Audio Bible Dramatized in their library. Click to open it and tap on the play button at the bottom of the screen. Navigate to your chosen passage by clicking the dark green button at the top of the window. A Book Chapter Verse chooser will pop up.
To get more books, tap on the Recommended tab in your library. It shows the Olive Tree Store where you can find more books, which may or may not include audio. It's easier to find them on their website.
6 Reasons to Switch from Accordance to Logos Bible Software
A lot of people who use Bible software want to know if there's a good reason to switch from Accordance to Logos Bible Software. we've got 6 reasons to switch.
With the upcoming release of a new version of Logos Bible Software, many Bible software users might want to switch from Accordance to Logos. Why would someone go through the hassle of making the switch from Accordance to Logos Bible Software even though it means buying much of the same content you already own in the other program? Switching also involves learning a new user interface and finding new sources of learning or support for the new Logos.
Here are 6 reasons to switch from Accordance to Logos Bible Software.
Get Logos 10 With Biggest Discounts Ever Offered
In August, Logos will offer the most significant discounts on Logos 10. They called it their "Farewell Tour 2024 because Logos 11 will hit their store soon.
Click the image above, which will take you to my affiliate link to get...
- Full Feature Upgrades at up to 65% Off if you own Logos 10.
- Get a new Logos 10 base package and save up to 50% off for those upgrading from an earlier version.
- For first time buyers of Logos 10, get 5 free books.
Learn about the new era of Logos that will come with Logos 11.
Robust Sync Elements in Logos Bible Software Way Ahead of Accordance
This might seem like a strange place to begin, but it's one of the features promised when Accordance 14 came out a long time ago, and they still don't have it.
Syncing does more than keep your content, settings, and user-created content in more places. Change settings on your desktop, and it will sync to your laptop. Add notes on a verse with your phone while listening to your pastor, and they'll end up on your desktop. If you're studying on a friend's or family's computer, you can hit the Logos Web App, and your work will sync to other devices.
Syncing makes Logos great, but it also helps back up your work. If your computer dies, you can work on an iPad or a Samsung Android tablet. Then, once you get a new computer, install Logos, and your work will be ready to use after it finishes downloading and indexing your library.
Great Features that Make Logos Easier to Use for Bible Study
I could write a post on this topic alone. We may discuss it later, but here's a bullet list of why these features make Logos Bible Software a superior option.
- Advanced Search Features—Logos struggled with basic search, so many of us searched Google instead. That's changed with versions 10 and 11, which promised to improve it with built-in AI features. You won't get these in Accordance. See the link to learn more about how Advanced Search in Logos simplifies your research.
- Use of Louw-Nida Numbers—Louw-Nida Numbers offers access to the lexicon that many students love. The book description on Logos.com says, "This lexicon differs from other lexicons in that it does not arrange words alphabetically and does not give one listing of a word with all of that word's meanings after it. Instead, it breaks words down by their various shades of meaning." (See Above)
- Unicode Fonts - Biblical languages work better when they use Unicode fonts. You can type in Greek or Hebrew; they will look more readable.
- Print Library ISBN Scanner—Logos will let you scan your physical library books and show you search results from those books in your library if they offer them as Logos books. You can see where the search hit shows up in your book. You can take it off the shelf and read it or buy it from Logos. We learned about this new feature in our article on what's new in Logos Mobile 10. (See Below)
- Search books you don't even own - When you search your library, Logos also offers links to books you don't own. Some might not like this, calling it spam. But, if you need some information in a book you don't own, you can quickly buy it, download it, and incorporate it into your research.
Switch from Accordance to Logos Because of the Logos Mobile App's Full Set of Features
For years, I complained about Accordance's weaknesses on Android and iOS. Sadly, it never got better. Now, you can't even download the Android app from the Google Play Store. You must get it from the Amazon App Store for Android or Accordance's website. Even that link tells you it's on the Google Play Store, but if you click their link, you'll get an error saying the link isn't available.
Many Accordance users report issues with syncing content directly via their terrible sync feature or Dropbox. To sync with your computer installation of Accordance, you have to set both the app and the desktop program to sync over local Wi-Fi.
You can also connect both apps to your Dropbox, requiring you to rely on a third party. People complain that Dropbox sync often corrupts notes files.
Compare that to the iOS and Android versions of Logos. They include a large percentage of the desktop features. Syncing works quickly and automatically in the background soon after you open any version of Logos while connected to the Internet.
Accordance includes less than a third of the desktop program's features. That's a generous percentage.
iOS includes a little more than Android, but not much. Both are essentially book reader apps with unreliable note-taking and highlighting features. You can do some Bible study.
Logos includes many great language study tools, commentary searching, and much more.
Quick and Useful Updates
Logos updates their app often and usually with more stability than less. Accordance updates slowly, and the mobile seldom gets updates. Logos mobile on iOS went from version 30 to version to version 35 (all minor updates) in 8 months. That's a massive benefit if you use a feature that doesn't work. Logos will take your bug report and create a ticket, and their developers will work on it quickly. If they can fix it easily, it often gets fixed in a week or a month. Occasionally, it takes a little longer.
Accordance received only four updates on iOS in the last two years. All of them were minor bug fixes. As we said, you can't even get it on Google Play Store. The latest version (2.2.3) came out in Summer 2021. Not even one minor bug fix has come out since.
Significant updates on Logos for Desktop come out about once every two years. Accordance went from 13 to 14 two years ago. However, Logos aggressively updates their Desktop app with minor releases that add new features. They come out often monthly. Accordance for desktop doesn't update nearly as quickly.
The update to version 14 promised many great features. Two years later, we still do not see many of these, like an online version and syncing over the internet without needing Dropbox.
Best Online Bible App Bar None
We've looked at online Bible study apps in the past. We posted that here in 2020, and it needs an update. However, the best still comes from Logos.
The Logos Web App includes many features available in the Logos Bible Study App for your desktop or laptop. It's as good as or better than the mobile version.
The user-interface looks different on the web, but once you open your books and get to work it behaves much like the desktop. You have word study tools like the Exegetical Guide, reverse interlinear features, great searching features, and other guides (Bible Word Study, Sermon Starter, Passage Guide).
The Factbook offers a lot of the features from the Desktop as well.
Sadly, Accordance users don't have an online version. There's a promise that it will come soon, but I doubt it will. When it does, it won't likely offer more than basic book reading and searching tools. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
New AI Features in Logos Bible Software
I'm working on an article for ChurchTechToday.com regarding their new AI tools, and I'll link to it here.
The new features include Insights. Open a book, and you'll see a button on the book's toolbar labeled Insights. This button gives you cards showing information from Related books, Related passages, and Cross References.
A nice addition to the Search tool lets users search with natural language. Open Search and set it to Smart using the drop-down list button at the top right. Then, enter a natural language search. I entered "Where did Jesus first talk about discipleship?" and it returned hits from several spots in multiple translations since I had it set to search my Top Bibles.
The Synopsis tool in the resulting search will give you an overview of your search results.
I then switched my search to Downloaded Books, which yielded results for many book types. Again, the Synopsis tools summarized the results. You will see a number referencing the sources of the synopsis summary.
Those are just a few of the new AI-empowered features in Logos. I don't think Accordance has AI tools on its radar since it's still working to release the promised features from version 14. The company has a tiny programming team, so I understand why it's taking a long time, but I fear it will get left behind.
How to Run the Logos Web App Like a Desktop Program
You can run the Logos Web App like a desktop program using a cool little known Safari feature or a simple Chrome Extenstion.
Would you like to open the Logos Web App for Logos Bible Software with a single action like you would with the desktop version of Logos? Instead of opening your browser and browsing the Logos Web App website for online Bible study, use a cool Safari feature you probably didn't know existed or an excellent Chrome Extension that works on both Mac and Windows. There's also a feature in the Windows Edge browser that installs a web page like an app. You can use them to install the Logos Web App to work like a Desktop Program instead of a bookmark or favorite.
Why Use the Logos Web App Instead of the Desktop Program?
Why do some people prefer the Logos Web App for great Bible study on a website instead of Logos Bible Software's desktop program?
- Logos Web App Runs Faster, Usually: If you use Logos while connected to a fast Internet connection, you can probably get things done faster on the web app than the desktop program.
- Logos Desktop App Can Consume a Lot of Space: If I install the desktop program, my Logos library consumes nearly 70 GB of space, while the Web App uses much less.
- Users Find the Web App's User Interface Simpler: Many people prefer the user interface on the website. It seems less complicated than the desktop program. It's also not as feature-filled.
- Run Logos on Linux or ChromeOS: Logos doesn't make native versions that run on Linux or ChromeOS. You can run the Android app on some ChromeOS computers, but you may want the Logos Web App version since it looks and works more like the desktop.
How to Create a Safari Web App That Behaves Like a Computer Program
This only works in Safari on a Mac, which I use 99% of the time. Below, we'll show you how to do it in Chrome so you can do this on your Windows computer.
Go to the Logos Web App page. You'll find it at app.logos.com. You can also try out the beta version by using the address beta.app.logos.com. Click on the File menu in Safari and choose Add to Dock towards the bottom of the menu. This adds the icon on the right below to your Dock.
You'll now see an icon in the Dock on your Mac that looks like the Logos logo with white trim around a slightly smaller logo instead of the larger logo with no white trim (see comparison image above).
Click on the Web App Icon to open the Logos Web App in Safari. It opens the page in a simplified Safari window. The Safari User Interface includes the Safari URL bar, bookmarks bar, and tabs. You won't see them in the Web App Mode created by adding the page to your dock. This makes the Web App look better than it does in Safari.
How to Add a Chrome Web App for Logos Using a Chrome Extension
After installing the Extension on Chrome, click the Extensions button on the toolbar. Click the Pin icon next to the extension to make it always visible on the toolbar unless you want to hide it and only access it when you need it.
Head over to the Logos Web App, either the stable release or beta version, and then click on the Install as App button you just placed on the toolbar. If you skipped that step because you don't want it visible on the toolbar, click the Extensions button to show the list of extensions installed in Chrome. Click Install as App to add the Logos Web App to your Chrome Web Apps folder. The app will also ask if you want to add it to your Windows Taskbar. I chose to add it.
Where to Find Chrome Web Apps on Windows or Mac
You'll find the Chrome Web Apps folder in Finder in your Home folder (the one with your login name for macOS). Open Finder and go to your Home folder. You'll see the Applications folder. Click on it, and you'll see a Chrome Apps folder. The Logos Web App icon sits in this folder. The link automatically placed in your Dock points to this folder. Here's the folder's location on Mac.
/Users/kevin/Applications/Chrome Apps
On Windows, the Chrome Web Apps folder will show up in your Windows User folder at the following location:
C:\Users[Username]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Web Applications
Open the folder that has a long name with random characters. There, you'll find your Web Apps on Windows.
On Mac, you can drag these to the Dock or Desktop or, if you prefer, into your Applications folder. On Windows, you can drag the icon to the Desktop or Taskbar.
Install a Web App Using Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge will also install a web page as an app. To do so, head to the Logos Web App (stable or beta version) and click on the three dots icon at the right end of your Edge toolbar. Find the Apps item in the menu that pops up. Then, choose Install Logos Bible Study to install the Logos Web App using Edge.
Notice there's also an option to View apps on that Apps menu flyout. You can find all web pages that you installed as Web Apps. A window opens that lets you customize the Web Apps. Click Open next to the Web App, and it will open. With the Web App open in a simplified Edge window, click the three horizontal dots icon, and you'll find the customization there, too.
You can pin the app to your taskbar, the Start menu, or the Desktop. You can also restart the Web App when you log into Windows.
Tools for Sermon Development in Logos Bible Software - Part 1 Explanation
Every good message includes 4 essential tools for Sermon Development. We look at Explanation and using Logos 10 to find out what a passage or topic means so we can explain it to our audience.
Every sermon should include four essential tools of Sermon Development. We looked at these in the last post here on this site as we study how to develop a sermon. Now, let’s look at how to use Logos Bible Software to explain a text. We’ll look at illustration, proof, and application in three other parts of this series on how to develop a sermon outline that we can transform into a great message.
If you read our previous post that defined each of the four essential aspects of Sermon Development, you know that one helps achieve the other three. An influential preacher uses many illustrations to explain his sermon's ideas. Illustrations show what we mean so the hearer can understand the passage.
Jesus Used Illustrations to Explain His Teaching
Read scripture, and you'll see Jesus used illustrations called Natural Analogies in his parables. He explained the concept of faith using the example of the Temple Mount and mustard seeds, two things his listeners would know about. You either have faith, or you don’t.
20- So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21- However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:20-21, NKJV
Jesus explained the concept of faith using the Natural Analogy of a mustard seed. We might want to make this point in a sermon on this passage.
Today, we talk about degrees of faith, from weak to strong. However, Jesus taught that faith is binary. You either have it or you don't. You believe, or you don't. A mustard seed is the smallest seed that people commonly saw in Jesus' day. He might have even had one to show the audience.
A Modern Example of an Illustration Used to Explain Faith in Sermon Development
Since people today don't often plant mustard seeds, we might use a different Natural Analogy that we commonly experience, like a slight switch.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov
The average homeowner controls her overhead lights with a binary light switch with only off and on positions. It’s unlike a dimmer switch, which turns a light on in degrees of light. You can slide the switch up to ten percent for a romantic evening, halfway for average use, or 100 percent when you’re looking for a lost earring.
Jesus didn’t have two kinds of light switches. He didn’t have any light switches. Instead, he used a mustard seed. You either have faith, or you don't. You can't get less than that tiny seed's worth of faith. If you have it, then you can do something extreme, like commanding the Temple Mount to hurl itself into the nearby Dead Sea. That would seem insane to those listening to him and modern audiences if the temple still existed. But he said, if you have as much as a mustard seed of faith, you could command such a thing, and the Temple Mount would obey. This assumes you're acting in God's will; He'd need to want the temple mount thrown into the sea by an ordinary person's command.
The mustard seed illustration explained Jesus’ teaching about the binary nature of faith. He used a real-world or natural analogy to accomplish this.
Exegetical Guide in Logos Bible Software for Sermon Development
When I first discovered Logos in version 3 almost 20 years ago, the Guides sold me on the value of the software. Enter your passage, and Logos finds all the tools or books in your library that refer to a passage or topic. You can do this with the Exegetical Guide and discover many language study tools to help you understand the passage. Then, you’re ready to explain these Biblical ideas to your audience.
To open the Exegetical Guide, use either the right-click menu or the Guides button on the toolbar when selecting your passage. See the screenshot below.
You'll see a list of the different sections in the Exegetical Guide. These include tools for language study.
The WORD BY WORD Section of the Exegetical Outline
I focus on using the WORD BY WORD section. It shows your passage in both Greek or Hebrew on the left and English on the right (see below). Click a word to jump to that word's entry in the section. Each word's section shows the Greek or Hebrew lemma, an icon that, when clicked, will pronounce the word, a transliteration, and a simple translation.
The second line shows the parsing info. On the third line, you get the Sense info, a kind of translation that shows how the text uses the word in context. After the Sense, you get a list of your lexicons, which displays a short translation. Click on any of the blue links to get more information.
For example, in our passage on Matthew 17:20-21, we see the word for seed in the WORD BY WORD section. You can click the blue link to open NTGED if you own it and read more about the word translated seed in The New Testament Greek English Dictionary from Gilbrant, Thoralf. 1991. The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary comes as part of The Complete Biblical Library. There you find under "New Testament Usage" the following:
In all of its New Testament occurrences kokkos is used figuratively. Even with faith the size of a small mustard seed, one can live a miraculous life.
Gilbrant, Thoralf. 1991. “Κόκκος.” In The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary. The Complete Biblical Library. WORDsearch.
The above might help you as you study and try to explain the idea of a mustard seed representing such an infinitesimal amount of faith to explain that you either have faith or don't have faith. If you have it, you can move mountains, like the Temple Mount, which eventually happened in 70 AD after Jesus made the temple sacrifice moot.
If you don't own the NTGED or the Complete Biblical Library, head over to Logos to get it (Affiliate Link).
Passage Guide in Logos Bible Software for Sermon Development
Like the Exegetical Guide, the Passage Guide starts by asking you to enter your passage. The Guide will then show you different kinds of content when compared to the Exegetical Guide. It focuses less on language study and more on references like Commentaries and other tools like Biblical People, Places, and Things or Sermons and Illustrations. Let’s take a look.
Follow the same procedure as opening the Exegetical Guide. Select the passage, right-click it, and choose the Reference on the left list of the popup and the Passage Guide on the right list. The Guide will open and search all of your books in the Passage Guide categories for the selected Reference.
Alternatively, open the Passage Guide from the Guides button on the toolbar of Logos 10 using the same steps above when opening the Exegetical Guide.
Using Search Results to Explain an Idea in Logos 10
Let's use our Matthew 17:20 example from above. With the Passage Guide open as instructed in the previous section, begin opening tools by clicking on them in the Guide. I prioritized the New American Commentary so the Matthew volume sits atop the list of commentaries near the top of the Passage Guide.
When you read the section on verses 19-20 you'll see the author of the commentary writes:
“Nothing will be impossible for you” must thus be interpreted as nothing Jesus has given you the authority to do, such as this exorcism.22 Obviously, many other things are impossible for believers—based on the limitations of their humanity and of God’s will. As v. 22 immediately makes plain, even Jesus’ own miracle-working abilities did not permit him to escape the cross despite repeated temptation to do precisely that.
Blomberg, Craig. 1992. Matthew. Vol. 22. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
This helps us explain that faith is not like a blank check. We can use the ideas presented in the commentaries and then give an illustration of a blank check to help our listeners understand that godly, Biblical faith is not an unlimited promise to let us do anything we please outside God's plan.
You'll find other excellent lists of resources in the Passage Guide. Look at the Cross References section, which refers to Luke 17:6, the parable of the Mustard Seed, modified by Jesus to refer to the miraculous ability to transplant a mulberry tree. The Passage Guide also includes links to the Factbook. So you could head down to the Biblical Things section of our Passage Guide. There, you'll find links to images from the Factbook.
You will also find these sections in other Guides like the Sermon Starter Guide and Topic Guide.
Power Lookup to Learn What a Passage Means for Explanation in Sermon Development
Users often forget the Power Lookup tool, but it works like a kind of Guide to search for content on a selected text or word. Right-click on the Passage and either choose the Selection or Reference on the left side of the popup. Scroll down to the Lookup section on the right side of the popup. You'll find Power Lookup.
The Power Lookup window opens in a small section along the right side of the Logos screen. It includes links to and short previews of things like...
- Footnotes
- Bible passages
- Commentaries
- Language tools
The Power Lookup panel links to the Bible you have active and moves when you move to a new passage. This helps when studying longer passages.
Note that all links to Logos resources are Logos Affiliate Links. I will receive a small percentage of the price if you purchase them using my links.
New Logos Insights Sidebar with AI for Logos Pro Users
Logos released a new feature as part of the Logos Pro subscription service that uses AI to help you see information related to your passage. Here's how to use the new Logos Insights Toolbar in Logos Pro.
Everyone wants AI in their service, applications, mobile apps, and websites. Logos jumped on the bandwagon recently with new features, including the new Logos Insights Sidebar. Think of the Insights Sidebar as a simpler guide that shows you 3 things:
- Top books.
- AI translation of the text.
- AI-powered summary of the currently displayed content.
To get the new Logos Insights Sidebar, users must subscribe to Logos Pro, the new subscription service that gives users early access to new features. It costs $9.99/month and replaces Faithlife Connect, which did the same thing. Along with the Logos Insights Sidebar, you'll get the following:
- Smart Search with AI - You don't need complicated syntax search commands.
- AI Summaries of Content in Books - Tell Logos to summarize a Bible chapter, a book section, or other library content.
- Sermon Assistant - Find sermon illustrations or quotes using AI in Sermon Builder, a sermon editor in Logos 10.
In addition to the new Insights Sidebar and the three features listed above, you'll also get access to hundreds of books.
How to Use the New Logos Insights Sidebar on Desktop
Open a Bible or other book to use the new Logos Insights Sidebar. You'll see a button on the right end of the toolbar in that book's window (see screenshot below).
You'll see a new window that opens to the right of the book's window. It has three buttons on the toolbar.
- Translation - Translates the content in the book window from one language to another using AI Translation.
- Summarize - Gives the user a summary of the Bible chapter or the book article.
- Insights - This shows you three things: Related Books, a Commentary, and Related Passages.
The third button is new. Logos describes it as a simplified Passage Guide. You don't always need all of the features in the default Passage Guide. The Logos Insights Toolbar will give you just a few references to help you understand your passage. You can click on More>> to read the whole article.
Logos chooses what to show based on your prioritization. You'll get your highest prioritized study Bible or commentary. It also shows your top cross-reference tool.
The third section of the Insights Panel shows cross-references, such as the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. You'll get a quick cross-reference for the current verse. Click the book title at the bottom of the box to open it and show the full entry for that passage.
How to use the New Logos Insights Toolbar on the Web App
When you use the Logos Web app, there's no window to open. Instead, you'll see the three tabs on the main Bible toolbar. You still get the Translate, Summarize, and Insights buttons on the right side of the toolbar. After you click on the button, the Web app opens the new window.
The Logos Insights Toolbar button opens the same content in the new window, related books and related passages. It works the same as the Desktop version described above.
How to Choose Different References in the Logos Insights on Desktop and Web App
On your desktop, you can change the book in the related books section of Insights. Click on the down arrow next to the book title, and a list of books you can use instead will appear (see above). It looks different in the Web app (see below).
On the Web app, click on Change, and the drop-down menu shows books you can open to replace what's shown in the Insights window.
New Deals in Logos for April 2024
Logos users get steep discounts on upgrade packages with up to 25% off. For example, buy the Logos 10 Silver package and get 15% off. Get 20% off Gold or Platinum and 25% off Diamond or Portfolio. Use the affiliate link to get the deals, and make sure you see PARTNERDISCOUNT10 in the coupon code box.
If you'd like the Baptist upgrade packages, you can also save 15-20 percent.
4 Exciting Tools in Logos Bible Software to Find Great Sermon Illustrations
We teach you how to use 4 exciting tools in Logos 10 to discover great sermon illustrations. They will help you paint pictures with words.
Logos Bible Software includes many valuable tools to help preachers find sermon illustrations as they write sermon outlines. Good sermon development always includes sermon illustrations, which the preacher can use to explain the text, prove its truthfulness, and then apply the text to the lives of their audience. So, we'll look at 4 useful tools in Logos to help you find good sermon illustrations.
For those who don't already own Logos 10, head over to my affiliate link and order one of the great packages, which include the tools you read about below. I recommend getting Logos Gold or higher to get the most bang for your buck.
4 Tools in Logos Bible Software to Help Find Great Sermon Illustrations
Let's look at the list of XX tools you can use in Logos Bible Software to find great sermon illustrations, and then we'll examine each one more fully.
Click the list item above to jump directly to the section that focuses on that tool, or just read about them in order below.
1. Factbook Collects Many Tools in One
Users can open many of the tools in the list above directly, but the Factbook will put them in one window with links to open them to your topic, passage, idea, person, place, or thing. That's the benefit of Factbook; it puts everything in one place. So, let's look at what tools you'll find.
In our previous posts on the 4 Essential Tools for Sermon Development, we looked at the passage about faith. Jesus uses the illustration of a mustard seed to show the binary nature of faith. You either have faith, or you don't. That's the point of the tiny seed used in Jesus' illustration. Modern science can measure the volume of a mustard seed, but most in 1st-century Israel would conceive of measuring a mustard seed's volume.
We open the Factbook from the Logos 10 toolbar (see above). Then, type an idea you want to illustrate in the search box. Hit enter, and the Factbook shows all it can find in the Factbook search tools. Some of the things you'll find in the Factbook include...
- Key Article - Each Factbook idea comes with a Key Article, often from a Bible Dictionary. Faith's Key Article is the entry for Faith from the Lexham Bible Dictionary.
- Further Reading - You'll see articles about your topic from other books or resources. For example, "Faith" shows the Lexham Theological Wordbook article.
- Media - the Factbook finds media related to your search, like videos or graphics.
- Key Passages - think of a cross-reference tool finding all the instances of your topic in the Bible with Key Passages and then a See Also section with other passages. They all appear as links you can hover over or click to open.
- Biblical Senses - if you search for a word with an original language like faith and the Greek word pistils (transliteration of the Greek term sometimes translated faith) that is translated as your word, then the Factbook lists Biblical Senses, which show the kind of word and the basic usage in Scripture.
- Dictionaries - articles from your dictionaries covering your topic or word.
- Journals - a search of your journals related to the topic or word.
- Sermons - sermons about your topic that may include great Sermon Illustrations.
- Preaching Resources - mostly sermon illustration databases.
- Biblical Events - you can discover places related to your passage or subject. This might not help us with faith.
- Biblical Books - maybe you're studying a book and want information about the book, the author, and the book's audience.
- Theological Topic - find information in your library about a topic like faith.
- Greek and Hebrew Words - some original language terms come with "word pictures," which help us understand a topic or an idea because the word etymology illustrates the concept concretely.
- Other Books from Your Library - a broad search for your word in your library.
- Factbook Tags - other books with Factbook tags related to your topic.
- Logos Store Links - links to buy books related to your search.
- Other Tools and Links - links to run one of the Guides on your topic or word.
The results listed in a Factbook search differ depending on what you search for.
How to Make Use of the Factbook Results
Some of the above will offer more fruitful results when looking for Sermon Illustrations. For example, Preaching Resources seems like a great way to find illustrations. However, Sermon Illustration Databases often include stale or boring illustrations that modern listeners can't relate to.
I took an illustration from these collections and researched online to learn more. For example, a search for faith shows an entry in the book 1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching. We read about a man named Stewart Alsop who had leukemia. If you search for him and his book mentioned in the illustration database, you can find and read it. You can also read the Wikipedia page about him. Search Google or select the title and author name in the article, right-click, and choose Selection on the left part of the menu and Wikipedia on the right. As a result, this might give you better context about him and help you craft a more effective illustration of the concept of faith.
Other tools in the list above contain great information that you can use to explain your idea and illustrate it to appeal to the mind and the imagination. You'll even find media to display if you use a multimedia system in your worship or teaching environment. Key Passages will take you to cross references where you can let the Bible illustrate your concept. Share an example of faith from the life of someone like Abraham, who, in Genesis 12, was called to leave his home and wasn't told where he was going.
You'll find more images and videos with different searches. Faith is more of a concept than a person, place, or thing. If I'm preaching from the story of Moses in the book of Exodus, I can find media showing plagues, maps of Egypt, or the Israelites' exit. Make sure you also look for Factbook icons in the text of your Bible passage. The above screenshot shows three icons related to Pharaoh and two for the Egyptians.
2. Use Logos Guides to find Great Sermon Illustrations
The Factbook shows a lot of cool content. However, the Logos Guides give us similar results. Find content related to a passage, a topic, a specific word, counseling issues, or theological topics. Logos includes the following Guides...
- Exegetical Guide - for language study of a passage.
- Passage Guide - seeks a wide range of content based on a passage.
- Topical Guide - search your library for a Topic.
- Sermon Starter Guide - takes the Guide concept and finds content to help you prepare a sermon.
- Bible Word Study Guide - like the Exegetical Guide, but focuses on one Biblical word.
- Counseling Guide - focuses on counseling issues.
The Passage Guide, Topical Guide, and Sermon Starter Guide offer the best hope for finding great sermon illustrations. You can open these Guides from the Guides button on the toolbar. The most recently used items will appear at the top, but all of them will appear in the menu's Guides section. Also, each guide will let you search for one part of that guide. Scroll down to the Guide name in the menu and click it to show the sections of the Guides. Click on one, like the
To find some of the Guides, open to your passage and right-click on it. Click on Reference in the left part of the menu and then click on the Guide in the right. You'll see Passage Guide near the top, but if you scroll down on the right, you'll also see things like Sermon Illustrations and a few more Guides further down the list.
Using the right-click method, you can also search for a word or phrase in a passage. Instead of clicking Reference in the right-click menu, choose Selection. You'll find Guides on the right side of the menu. If you search a word you'll find the Bible Word Study Guide at the top and other Guides as you scroll down.
You'll find a wealth of potential Sermon Illustrations in the resulting search.
3. Sermon Builder and New AI Sermon Assistant
The Sermon Builder came with Sermon Illustration tools for a while. Logos added a new feature that uses artificial intelligence to overcome sermon writer's block. This new AI-powered tool requires a subscription to Logos Pro, which costs $9.95 and gives early access to new features like this new Sermon Assistant. See their official description of the Sermon Assistant in the Logos Community Forums.
Open a sermon you're already editing. Click on the Sermon Assistant button in the box's toolbar on the right of your sermon text. Next, choose Illustrations under Sermon and type an idea into the Idea box. You can also copy from the sermon and paste it here. Click Generate, and you'll see the resulting Sermon Illustration ideas. (see screenshot above).
If you like the illustration shown in the search results, hit the Insert or the Copy button. Insert places where your insertion point sits in the sermon text. Copy places it on the clipboard, letting you move the insertion point and paste it manually.
Next to the Sermon Assistant button, you'll see a Quotation icon. Click it to open the Popular Quotes tool, which works like the Sermon Assistant. It finds quotes from your library related to what you type into the box on that screen.
4. Don't Overlook Your Interactive Media and Your Library of Books
The above tools will help you find sermon illustrations, but some people overlook their books and features in Logos. For example, I'm going to do a demonstration of the Passover Seder for two churches in my Association of churches. I own the Rose Guide to the Feasts, Festivals and Fasts of the Bible. Under the Passover section, an excellent graphic shows the Seder Plate with descriptions of each item. This visual illustration will help me teach this feast.
To find these illustrations, search in one of the Guides as described above or open one of your dictionaries, a lexicon, or study Bibles, which often include charts, graphs, maps, or images.
Here's a list of books or features that include images useful to illustrate ideas or sermon points:
- Dictionary
- Encyclopedia
- Study Bibles
- Sermon Collections
- Media Collections
- Handbooks
- Atlas
- Illustration Books
- Bible Backgrounds (IVP, Zondervan, etc)
How Do You Find Great Sermon Illustrations?
How do you use Logos to find Sermon Illustrations? Please comment below to help out the community. I'll edit this article and cite you. If you know of a good YouTube video covering this how-to, share the link, and I'll take a look and update the article with the best videos, too.
How Make Logos Work Like Wordsearch ZipScript
What is ZipScript and why do Wordsearch users love it so much that they're begging Logos and Faithlife to recreate it in Logos?
When Faithlife, the makers of Logos Bible Software, bought Wordsearch, they shut down the program making ZipScript, a favorite feature, unavailable to people who can no longer install Wordsearch. Since you can't install Wordsearch anymore, you'll lose access when you get a new computer or must erase and reinstall your Windows operating system. But we want to help you get similar functionality out of Logos.
What is ZipScript, and Why Do Wordsearch Users Love It?
The ZipScript utility ran separately from Wordsearch Bible Software. Wordsearch installed ZipScript, and let users open the utility and enter a Bible passage. The quick little system tray app would let you copy and paste the verse anywhere without opening Wordsearch.
Users could copy and paste Wordsearch Bibles to computer programs like Word documents, presentation apps, or notes. It didn't take up a lot of system resources and gave users access to a tool to copy and paste Bible passages almost anywhere.
Bible students loved ZipScript because it was small, efficient, and useful. Logos ships with a similar feature but is not as small and efficient as ZipScript. You can't run it separately from Logos as you could with ZipScript.
Why Won't Faithlife Likely Make a ZipScript for Logos?
When Faithlife first bought Wordsearch, I wrote an article about how to make Logos work like Wordsearch. I briefly mentioned ZipScript and Copy Bible Verses.
The Logos Community Forums contain multiple posts from Wordsearch users who came to Logos when Faithlife bought the company. That's probably the primary reason Faithlife bought Wordsearch, for the customer database and publisher content. But they didn't want the software technology like ZipScript.
Logos has a feature called Copy Bible Verses or CBV that duplicates some of the ZipScript features and adds a few that ZipScript didn't have. With fewer programmers, thanks to layoffs last fall, they don't have the human resources to do everything they might like to do or everything their customers want them to do.
Logos has CBV and won't likely add ZipScript to the toolbox. That means it is time for ZipScript lovers to either hold onto their computers with Wordsearch installed for the rest of their time as digital Bible students or learn to use Copy Bible Verses to gain similar functionality.
See My YouTube Demo of the Copy Bible Verses Tool
How to Open the Copy Bible Verses Tool in Logos
Open the Copy Bible Verses feature in Logos from the Tools button on the toolbar. Scroll down to the Passage section and click on the Copy Bible Verses item on the list.
You can also search by typing in the top box under the tools menu. The Copy Bible Verses item shows up. Click to open it.
If you like to open things from the Logos main toolbar's command box, type Copy Bible Verses and click on Show Copy Bible Verses, which will pop up in a list after you type "copy bible." You'll get a new window that, by default, fills the right side, taking up about a quarter of the window, as seen below.
How to Make CBV Follow Your Chosen Bible to Copy Bible Verses Quickly
You'll see the Copy Bible Verses window, usually on the right side of the Logos. You can type in the box to go directly to a Bible reference. I recommend linking the Copy Bible Verse and your Bible, so the CBV will follow whatever verse you see in the Bible.
Click on the menu button on the Bible (the three vertical dots on the right side of the Bible window's toolbar - see #1 above) and select a letter in the Link Set: section, like letter A. Do the same in the CBV window with the same letter you chose in the Bible window. Then when you move from one passage to another, the CBV window will follow the Bible window.
Linking the two windows will also let users select a passage in their Bible, and the CBV will set the passage as the content it will copy.
Copying Bible Verses for Pasting Into Various Apps or With Different Formatting
Copy Bible Verses does something ZipScript didn't do. You can copy text with special formatting. Logos ships with a set of formats already. You can create your own as well.
To change the formatting, select the drop-down link in the CBV window. You see this just below the text entry box where you would type your Bible reference. Click it, and the menu of formats shows up. If you don't want to use the included formats, you can create your own by clicking Create a new style, as seen at the bottom of the pop-up box. We'll cover more down below.
Choose from your installed Bible translations using the translation drop-down list (see the image above). You'll see your prioritized Bibles first and then others listed below. Select one to copy from that translation, regardless of the Bible you opened in Logos.
The Copy Bible Verses window will let you choose where to copy the verses on your computer. For example, you can have it copy a verse to Microsoft Word at the current spot in an open Word document. If the program's not open, it will open it and paste the passage into a blank file. You must first select the program from a drop-down list to do that. You also will choose Copy and Paste instead of Copy. If you click Copy, it will only place it on the system clipboard.
Copy and Paste puts the text in your program quickly. You don't have to switch to the other program and paste. The CBV does it all for you quickly. You may need to permit Logos to do this the first time you use it.
Format Options in Copy Bible Verses
When you open the formatting menu (the first link at the top of the CBV box), you'll see a grid of boxes that show what each formatting option will look like when you choose it. You'll see a little pencil icon next to the name if you create your own styles.
Look at the image above. You'll notice that the style next to number one shows no pencil icon. That style comes with Logos. However, the Bible Quote style has the pencil icons. I created that style because I didn't like the included styles and wanted a style to use in other programs to set it apart from regular text.
Above, you'll see the default format options. Create your own by clicking the Create a new style link at the bottom of this popup box. To show the above menu, click the link at the top of the CBV box. You'll see it above where it says "Copy Word Quote" where "Word Quote" is the custom format I use to copy to Word when writing my sermon or Bible study notes.
How to Create Custom Copy Formats in CBV
Many people use the built-in CBV Formats. I created my own because I wanted Bible quotes to show up with custom formatting in Microsoft Word. I don't use the Sermon Builder in Logos because Word fits a workflow I've used for over a decade while preaching from my iPad.
In Microsoft Word, I created a paragraph style that shows my Bible quotes in a larger font than regular text. Its a bold and bright maroon color makes it easier to read while preaching or teaching.
To create a custom format, choose to the Create a new style option in the formats dialog box. A new window pops up with some text that looks like code. Logos includes some info about what you'll see. Read it inside Logos by clicking here. You'll need Logos installed to open that link.
Create new formatting options by right-clicking on an existing style similar to what you want your format to look like. Then edit it using the codes listed in the help file linked above. Or you can see this help page on the Logos site.
What's new in Accordance 14?
What's new in Accordance 14 Bible software. We go over what those new features are and how to use them with video.
The Accordance 14 update came out with interesting new features and a troubling lack of quality control. Even though Accordance 14 came to users' computers last fall, I held off writing this until it became stable. While it's still not great, it's better on Mac, so let's look at what's new in Accordance 14 Bible software. Check out the sections below for each major new feature and the video demonstrating the Accordance 14 update on macOS. It looks and works the same on Windows with minor exceptions.
Below you can watch the demo video made by Accordance.
Open Accordance 14 Dynamic Word Study
Accordance 14 adds a new word study tool that you can use to study English, Greek, or Hebrew words. Bible students can understand the word and learn how to teach, preach, or apply it personally.
The most used way of opening these word studies comes from the context menu. Select a word in your Bible and right-click on it. Then look for the Research section of the right-click menu. Under that, you'll see Word Study. Select it to show the fly-out menu. You'll see options for Word or Key Number.
Each option shows content about the Word you're studying. Choose Word, and it will search the English term. Choose Key Number, and it will search using Hebrew or Greek Key Numbers as the foundation. A Word-based Word Study shows details about that word, like...
- Word Count - how many times it shows up in the Bible.
- Definition - shows the word in your highest-ranked dictionary.
- Text Compare - shows the difference between translations in English.
- Visual Details - pie or bar graphs on what Hebrew or Greek words were translated into English words.
- Dictionaries - shows your top five Bible dictionaries for that word.
The choice opens a new window with a Word Study tab open
Users open an Accordance 14 Word Study using the File menu. Click on File and New Tab. Then look for the Research section. Under it, you'll see Word Study with a fly-out menu offering three options for English, Greek, or Hebrew word studies. Choose one by clicking it. This opens a new tab ready to perform word studies based on the open Bible.
If you haven't opened a Bible yet, Accordance 14 will connect the new tab to your top-ranked Bible with language study tagging. You can also open the new tab using the New Tab button on your toolbar. Find the Research section, and click Word Study just below the section title. Choose one of the three language options to open a new Word Study tab.
How to Use Accordance 14 Dynamic Word Study
With the Word Study tab open, type in a word. You can type English words, and the results showing up after you hit enter come from that word in the translation selected in the drop-down menu in the upper left of the Word Study Tab.
Change your translation by clicking on the drop-down and selecting a new translation. This changes the results in the tab.
You'll see a few sections in this tab based on what kind of word you searched for. For example, an English search gives you...
- Word Info - content from your top English Bible dictionary.
- Text Compare - shows a list of the instances of your English word in the top translation. Click the plus icon to add other translations based on your text ranking in the Library.
- Word Graphs - includes Pie, Bar, and Frequency Graphs based on usage in your top Text. Add texts to see more graphs.
- Dictionaries - a list of your Bible dictionaries with that word in them.
Custom Phrasing
With the new Custom Phrasing feature, users can create diagrams of the text to show the text in a visual way. This shows the relationship between parts of the text to other parts.
Go into a Bible text in any language and use the setting drop-down box in the upper right corner of the pane.
Select Phrasing, and a new menu flies out to the right. The options include...
- Phrasing Break [Shift + Enter] adds a new line to a verse so you can show a phrase below another in a single verse.
- Phrasing Indent [Shift+Tab]moves the margin on the left of English texts over one tab at a time to place that phrase below a specific word above it.
- Phrasing Delete [Shift+Backspace] removes the tabs created with Phrasing Indent or Break.
- Hide Phrasing [No KB Shortcut] temporarily returns the look to the prior state. After doing this, go to the menu and click on Show Phrasing to bring it back.
- Lock Phrasing [No KB Shortcut] keeps the changes in place.
Why would a user want to create Custom Phrasing? This shows how various parts of the text relate to other parts of an idea. I use them to show things like major ideas and subpoints. You can also create visual lists in a text, like Galatians 5:22-23 which tells us about the "fruit of the Spirit."
Learn the keyboard shortcuts listed above to create these diagrams. It will speed up creating these Custom Phrasing outlines.
Easy Answers
Some books include things like questions with space to answer. In paper form, users could write in the space provided. Think about a workbook for your Hebrew class in Bible college or seminary class.
Digital versions of these books may still show discussion questions at the end of a section or in a workbook, but they're not easy to work with. You can add notes. But now Easy Answers helps for books that take advantage of the feature.
Easy Answers promises to make this possible in Accordance 14. You'll have to own a book that supports the feature. So look for this in future updates to books. I don't own any I know of, so I can't recommend or show you this feature. You'll have to search your library or the Accordance store for books with Easy Answers support. I know that Christian Worker's Commentary has this feature. See the screenshot above.
I will warn you that this feature is buggy on Mac. I experienced a few crashes while using it. It seems that when you open a Bible by clicking a link in the commentary, that it crashes once you click in the text box to add your answer.
Accordance 14 Offers New Citation Formats
Accordance added a few new official citation formats. You could always use Turabian, SBL, and Simple citations. But now you can use APA, Chicago Manual of Style, and MLA.
To change the default format, go into your preferences or settings. On a Mac, use the Accordance menu in the upper left of the menu bar. Then choose Preferences. You can also use the keyboard shortcut COMMAND + , (the Command key and the comma).
The above sets the default form of citation. Select something you want to copy with your preferred citation format. Right-click the selection and choose Copy As in the pop-up menu. Then choose Citation in the new flout menu. You could also use the keyboard shortcut COMMAND + CONTROL + C on a Mac.
Unicode Text in User-Created Tools
Tools created by the user can now use Unicode Text. Why is this important? Users creating tools in languages like Asian or other non-Latin languages.
Quick-Click Verse Picker - AKA Book/Chapter/Verse Chooser
Click on the new Quick-Click Verse Picker tool in the upper left corner of the Bible window in Accordance 14. Then a drop-down shows up with abbreviated Bible book names. Pick your book, then the chapter, and the verse. It opens the Bible to that reference. See the above animated GIF.
User Created Dictionaries & Commentaries
Accordance 14 offers new options for user-created tools. As a result, you can now create custom dictionaries, lexicons, and commentaries.
To create these, open the File menu, choose User Files, and then New User Tool.... Creating these tools is similar to creating General tools in previous versions.
Recommendations on Buying and Using Accordance 14
Should you go and upgrade to Accordance 14? Because it's not that expensive, I'd recommend you do so. At this point, version 14 has a lot of bugs that the company needs to fix. The Windows version has many more than the Mac version. Also, the iOS and Android verses are woefully behind the competition. If you buy the upgrade, you might want to keep 13 around by entering your Applications folder in macOS and renaming Accordance to Accordance 13. Then you can install Accordance 14. Look at our post on downgrading from 14 if you already installed it.
What's New in Logos 10 Web App with Video
Now that Logos 10 is here, check out this demo of the Logos 10 Web App. We go over the major new features in the Logos online Bible study site.
When Faithlife released Logos 10, they also updated the Logos 10 Mobile app and the Logos 10 Web app. We've got the major new features of the Logos 10 Web App, with screenshots and a video showing how to use each feature.
If you want to upgrade to Logos 10, consider using my affiliate link to get a discount and help me pay for this site and the video I made about the update.
Why would you want to use a web app instead of software?
- Chromebook users can install the Android app, but it's not as good as the iOS app and not even close to the desktop app. The web app does a good job of presenting users with some good Bible study tools.
- People sometimes use a computer they don't own and can't install the software. Travel to a friend's house or borrow your spouse's system and log onto the Web App and you can access all your books and many of the advanced Bible study tools of the mobile and desktop apps.
- Small SSDs in systems like the Microsoft Surface Go or other older systems can run the Web App and still use your huge Logos library.
- A web browser and the Logos 10 Web App run faster than Logos 10 on the desktop. You might want to read some text or quickly run a simple search.
The new Logos 10 Web App offers a slightly changed user interface. You also get a few other features that we'll demonstrate in the video below and in each section after that below.
Video Demonstrating the Logos 10 Web App New Features
Logos 10 Web App Simpler Search
Logos 10 simplified search and ported that feature to the Logos 10 Web App. The new Simpler Search cuts down on some of the arcane syntax users needed in previous versions. The example they give is as follows:
For example, <Person Moses> WITHIN {Speaker <Person Jesus>} becomes person:Moses IN speaker:Jesus, to find all the times Jesus talks about Moses.
You no longer need brackets or curly braces to search in Logos. They say it’s more like a Google search. That’s a good thing because searching in Logos made things too complicated. Many of us just opened a browser and searched Google for simple searches trying to find a specific passage.
For the Logos 10 Web App, you can use their auto-complete to add search terms for special syntax. You can still use the old terms if you struggle to remember the changed syntax. Logos will translate it into a new way of searching.
To use the feature, click the Search button and then type in your search into the search box, as seen above.
Logos 10 Web App Sermon Import
The Logos Web App now lets users add their sermons thanks to the Sermon Importing feature. Add sermons you wrote in other software like Word or Google Docs. Then automatically create slides to export to Proclaim, PowerPoint, or Keynote. The Web App offers other options as well.
You can import existing sermons into Logos to take advantage of Preaching Mode, automatic slide creation, Sermon Manager planning, and wider integration into Logos.
Open the Sermon Manager from the tools menu. Then click on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the Sermon Manager and click on Import to add your sermon files. A dialog box opens up. Click on Choose files. Select one or more documents to import.
Logos 10 Web App processes the files adding tags for things like Bible passages. You can edit each file with the information you might find in the Sermon manager's Sermon Info sidebar on the right after selecting a file.
Popular Quotes in Logos 10 Web App
Using Sermon Builder, you can search for quotations to help illustrate ideas in your message. Open the Web App, go to the Tools menu (the 9 dots in 3 rows), and open Sermon Builder.
You'll see a single quotation mark in the upper right corner of the Sermon Builder. Click on it to open the Popular Quotes feature. You'll now see an entry box that you can use to search for passages, text, or topics. The tool searches the quotations dataset and finds applicable quotes.
Find your quote and drag it to the sermon editor. The Web App will create a slide to export to Proclaim, Keynote, PowerPoint, or other useful destinations. If I used it, I could export it to the worship presentation tool made by Faithlife called Proclaim.
Only customers who bought the Silver package or above of Logos 10 will see this feature in the Logos Web App.
Advanced Timeline in Logos 10 Web App
Logos updated the Timeline feature in the Logos 10 Web App and gave it a new name: Advanced Timeline. Open it from the Tools button on the toolbar (9 dots in three rows next to the search box on the main toolbar). You'll see Advanced Timeline in the drop-down box.
You'll need the Bronze package of Logos 10 or higher to access the new Advanced Timeline.
Church History Themes
The new Church History Themes feature brings a "combination of a new dataset and resource" to the Logos 10 Web App, which will help users better understand theology in the historical setting.
Logos added many pages to the Church History Themes section of the Factbook. These themes show the historical movements inside the history of the church. The entry in the Logos communities says...
Every Theme begins with a summary and lists Key Developments. It goes on to identify key People, Events, Places, Concepts, and Documents, which link out to other Factbook pages for further detail.
Here's how to use it. Open the Web App and then click on the Factbook icon, which looks like a book with a checkmark next to the search icon on the toolbar. In the Factbook, click on the drop-down list and choose Church History Themes.
You'll see a list of items in the left column of the Factbook. Choose one to study that item. The main window to the right shows content from the Factbook and your library regarding the item you selected.
How to Open Church History Themes from Advanced Timeline
Users can also open the Church History Themes feature from the Logos Web App Advanced Timeline. Click the Tools button on the toolbar. Then choose Advanced Timeline to open it.
Now click on the Facets button in the upper left of the Advanced Timeline Window. You may need to open the Subject Area section. Click on Church History to see the Church History Themes in the timeline.
How to Open Church History Themes from Library
You can also open the Church History Themes content from your Library of Resources. Click on the Library button on the main toolbar. Then search for either...
- Essential Lexham Dictionary of Church History
- Church History Themes
You can open one or both of these books to read and find content.
Auto Translation in Logos 10 Web App
Users can open a resource or book, and on the right side of the window, there's a new feature to translate the book or resource from the currently published language to another language.
See the screenshot above. Click the button second from the right in the resource's window. This opens the Auto Translation Tool. Choose the language you want to translate from the drop-down box that lists the languages. The Web App instantly translates the open book into the new language.
Logos New Year's Sale Saves Up to 55 Percent
Logos has a great deal on a bunch of resources as part of their Logos New Year's Sale. Find out what's included and how to save.
Logos began a Logos New Year's Sale this week, with 2023 starting Sunday. This sale can help you save up to 55%. Let's take a look and save some money using my affiliate link.
As people think about a new year, they often turn to Bible study as one "resolution" or goal they set for the new year. You can find some good strategies for successfully starting and continuing a personal Bible reading plan here on my site. So, let's take a look at the deals in this Logos New Year's Sale.
New Year's Sale on Logos Bible Study Tools
If you want to read your Bible daily in 2023, look at some of these deals. People who want to read their Bible every day and grow in their study skills can grab some Greek or Hebrew resources. The sale includes...
- Mobile Ed courses like the first one on their page cover the Wisdom of John in Mobile Ed: NT 221.
- Other courses on Discipleship, a commentary on Romans, and one on Christian Life from a Kingdom Perspective
- Audiobooks using the new audiobook feature in Logos 10 and Logos 10 Mobile.
- Biblical Studies tools on theology, the book of Matthew, and the History of Biblical Interpretation.
- Plenty of other tools for studying church history, theology, and more.
Some of the resources I'm looking at getting include...
- Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life: From the Cross, for the World
- How to Know God Exists: Solid Reasons to Believe in God, Discover Truth, and Find Meaning in Your Life
- Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today
If you head over to the site, you'll see a lot of audiobooks. I love the new audiobook reader in Logos 10. It's a great way to enjoy our library while on the go or as you do something else that doesn't require much mental attention, like cleaning, walking, driving, or other things.
Logos 10 Packages Plus 5 Free Books
Logos extended their Logos 10 Packages sale. Buy a new package either as a brand new customer or as someone upgrading your previous version of Logos, and you'll get the discount and five free books if you use my affiliate link.
New customers get $15 off on a package while existing upgrades will enjoy 30% off. Most companies do this the other way around to entice new customers. They offer their general color-coded packages (silver, bronze, gold, etc.) and their denomination packages for Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and others. People in the Academic world or advanced Bible study enthusiasts can choose from the Academic packages. You can find a package if you're a preacher or counselor. Customers who want only the feature upgrades and no new books can also get those at a discount.
This Month's Free Book Plus Deals on Other Low-Cost Books
Every month Logos offers a free book. Choose After God's Own Heart: The Gospel According to David this January 2023. Get this and the other discounted books on their site using my affiliate link. The other books and their prices are as follows:
- God with Us: The Meaning of the Cross and Resurrection—Then and Now - 99 cents
- According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible - $1.99
- Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, And Theological Commentary - $2.99
- A Still and Quiet Mind: Twelve Strategies for Changing Unwanted Thoughts - $3.99
- A Theology of James: Wisdom for God’s People (Explorations in Biblical Theology) - $4.99
- The Message of Salvation: By God’s Grace, for God’s Glory - $5.99
- The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship, Revised and Expanded - $6.99
- Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel: Prophet, Priest, Sage and People - $7.99
- Matthew, 2 vols. (Reformed Expository Commentary | REC) - $8.99
- Exploring the New Testament (2 vols.) - $9.99
- The Whole Counsel of God, Volume 1: God’s Mighty Acts in the Old Testament - $10.99
- A History of Evangelicalism Series Collection (5 vols.) - $15.99
You can also pre-order the volume of The Book of Ezra and Nehemiah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament or NICOT) for $48.99.
Best Bible Reading Plan for 2023
Its time to commit to a Bible reading plan, so we've got some advice to stay committed and keep reading through the new year.
Every year it seems that Christians resolve to read their Bible more. Seasoned Bible Reading Plan veterans know what to do and how to do it but may lack the willpower or passion for keeping with it all year. However, novices could use some advice on the best Bible reading plans for the new year. So, here's our best advice for how to read the Bible on a regular schedule in 2023.
1. Pick a Good Translation for Your Bible Reading Plan
What's the best Bible translation for your Bible reading plan in 2023? That's a loaded question.
Many people already have a favorite translation that they understand and enjoy reading. Some read the Bible in a community and share a single translation with friends, family, or your church family. In those cases, stick with what you like and know. For other people, consider the following...
- Pick a translation that you know you can understand and will keep reading. The more modern translation usually offer the best results.
- Unless you're comfortable with the KJV, consider a more modern translation. They use contemporary language instead of terms that have changed since the translators of the KJV completed their work.
- Don't use a paraphrase despite how easy they are to read. They're not as accurate, and you'll need something more accurate as your Bible study grows more in-depth.
What are the Best Translations in 2023?
So what translations should the new Bible reader consider? Let me share one important trait of modern translations. We judged them from the most literal to the least. That doesn't mean that a translation that's not as literal will be worse than a more literal translation. Translators often choose to go with a less literal translation because it confuses modern readers or makes it harder to read in a flow.
The Greek and Hebrew writers didn't put words in a rigid word order like we do in English. They often emphasize the most important word by placing it at the beginning of a sentence. But our modern English rules say that's not the right way to do things. Here's an example:
The man drove that car right off the cliff.
What's the most important word? The writer of the sentence may want to emphasize the danger put, so "cliff" is the most important word. She might want us to focus on "car" instead. Either way Greek writer might write it as follows:
The cliff the man drove the car right off.
That's awkward in English but makes perfect sense to an ancient Greek reader, except for not knowing what a car is.
My Recommendations for the Best Translations for Your Bible Reading Plan
I use the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). It's a revision of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). The team that translated sought to make it accurate, consistent with conservative, Evangelical theology, but equivalent to modern English so that readers in 2023 and beyond could easily understand it.
In 2022 the Legacy Standard Bible came out. The LSB fits in the family of the New American Standard Bible, which I grew up reading and studying thanks to my home church pastor. He preferred its accuracy and literal translation emphasis. It's not as flowery as more modern translations but fits great in a serious Bible student's toolbox. The NASB first hit the Christian world in 1977 and received an update in 1995 and in 2020. Unfortunately, from 1995 to 2020, it changed in a way that made people think the translators were less interested in literal translation and more in modern terminology. I don't know if that's true, but I prefer the LSB because the team that produced it continued the firm emphasis on making as literal an English translation as possible in 2022.
Other great options include...
- NKJV - The New King James Version isn't as modern, but it's still very good and comforts people who grew up reading the KJV.
- ESV - The English Standard Version comes from the line of the first American English translation, the ASV. It later received an update and the name RSV. The ESV translators worked to stay in that line and produced an excellent translation.
2. Don't Start at the Beginning
Readers start most books on page one, but the Bible's a unique kind of book. So, don't start on page one if you want to get through it.
When I counsel new believers, I suggest they start reading the book of John. It's simpler to read than Genesis. You don't deal with complicated and strange passages like the legal code in Leviticus or genealogies in Genesis 5 and 10. Finally, the stories about Jesus are more familiar than the Old Testament stories.
Combat the boredom of reading these difficult passages in the first five books of the Bible by using a different reading plan than going verse by verse, as many new Bible readers often choose. See the next section below for the best Bible reading plan recipes to help you succeed.
3. Follow a Recipe for Success in Your Bible Reading Plan
When we call a Bible reading plan a recipe, we mean what passages or what genre of passages you should read in each reading session. Your Bible or Bible app can help you find a good Bible reading plan that helps readers succeed in getting through the entire Bible and keep reading without giving up after a few days, weeks, or months.
Does your Study Bible include a Bible reading plan? The Bible app also includes hundreds of Bible reading plans. Those plans range in scope, including a topical plan that offers a week of reading plans and devotions to go with the daily topics. Alternatively, you can choose a plan that reads the entire New Testament in 30 days. Most of us will choose something between these two extremes.
See the hue scope of reading plans at the Bible app's site. You'll also find these in the Bible app on your phone or tablet. Other apps offer Bible reading plans, including the Logos Bible app on mobile or desktop.
Open the Library in Logos on a desktop. Type in your translation in the search box that pops up. Then click on the three dots at the right of the translation entry in the Library list. Choose Start reading plan from the drop-down list.
Other apps with reading plans include Olive Tree, Accordance, and more. You'll get the best digital Bible reading plans from the Bible app or Logos.
4. Set a System to Remind You to Read
A digital Bible reading plan helps keep you reading because you can set a reminder on your phone, tablet, or computer. We don't have time to explain how to set these reminders in each app, so check with your chosen Bible app to learn how to set them.
Even if you don't plan to use a digital Bible reading plan, you can still use your phone's reminders or To-Do app to remind you to read the Bible daily. In iOS, you have Reminders, and on Android phones, you can find a number of options.
At the very least, write a note and keep it somewhere you won't miss it. Keep a Bible on your nightstand or near your morning breakfast spot in the kitchen or dining room. Make it conspicuous so you won't forget.
5. Share What You Learn With Others
The four previous strategies will help with your Bible reading plan. This fifth strategy helps the most. Find a friend who will keep you accountable. This person can help with more than your Bible reading plan. They can keep you accountable for your moral choices, personal discipline, and relationship behavior. Who should you choose? You might have a name in mind without much thought. Let me suggest a few things to help you select the right person.
- Same Gender - don't enter into this spiritually intimate relationship with a member of the opposite gender. A man picking a woman or a woman choosing a man can cause problems, especially if you're in a committed relationship (marriage, engaged, or long-term committed romantic relationship).
- Trustworthy - the worst thing you can do is admit your failures to someone who will gossip about your private sins. You can get hurt, embarrassed, or if you know they're not reliable, then you could lose trust and not openly admit your failures.
- Reliable - you can trust some people to keep your secrets, but they don't respect your time. You end up without an accountability partner because they won't keep the schedule you made.
Answer Below in the Comments
What do you recommend regarding daily Bible reading plans? Which plans work best for you? What apps or websites help? Who do you have to help you stay true to your commitment to reading the Bible regularly?
12 Days of Logos Christmas Deals Available Now
The annual 12 Days of Logos Christmas sale is now live with some Logos deals on great packages. Here's what they're offering and how to get them now.
The annual 12 Days of Logos Christmas sale is live with some Logos 10 deals on great packages. Here's what they're offering and how to get them now. They aren't exclusive to Logos 10. Many of these 12 Days of Logos will work if you're still on older versions of Logos.
These deals are available from December 12 at 10:00 a.m. PST/1:00 p.m. EST until 12 days later, which brings us to Christmas Eve. You might be able to get them after Christmas, but don't count on it.
12 Days of Logos Christmas Deals
Head over to the Logos store website to find these deals. Full disclosure: the link is an affiliate link which gives me a small commission. I'd appreciate you helping me out by clicking the link. It helps me pay for this site and my YouTube channel.
- Logos 9 Master Library Expansion, XL - 73.2% off, $1,499.99 sale price
- Lexham Press 2022 Collection (54 vols.) - 40% off, $599.99 sale price
- B&H Academic Biblical and Theological Studies Collection (162 vols.) - 70% off, $756.89 sale price
- New Testament Technical Commentary Collection (53 vols.) - 65% off, $629.99 sale price
- Bible Speaks Today: Commentaries and Themes (76 vols.) - 60% off, $331.19 sale price
- Crossway Studies in Biblical, Doctrinal, and Systematic Theology (76 vols.) - 65% off, $482.99 sale price
- Reformed New Testament Expository and Homiletical Commentaries (71 vols.) - 60% off, $399.99 sale price
- Pillar New Testament Commentary | PNTC (15 vols.) - 52.7% off, $199.99 sale price
- Zondervan Academic Research Library (52 vols.) - 63.6% off, $349.99 sale price
- Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament | PAI (18 vols.) - 50.1% off, $268.99 sale price
- The Oxford Handbooks Religion Collection (26 vols.) - 65.7% off, $599.99 sale price
- Lexham Press Church Fathers Bundle (11 vols.) - 40% off, $104.99 sale price
Days of Logos Deals Logos 9 Master Library Expansion XL
The first deal for the Logos 9 Master Library Expansion XL gives you a ton of books that normally cost around $5,600. You'll pay only $1,500. You'll get a little of everything like...
- Classic Commentaries series
- High Definition Commentaries, which have great information and visual explanations
- Lexham Geographic Commentary, which addresses geographic considerations in interpretations
- Lexham Research Commentary, which collects some scholarship on the book of the Bible to save you time finding it yourself
- Pocket Dictionary series
- Extensive collection of Old and New Testament studies books
- Bible Surveys and Intros of books of the Bible to help you with a book study or sermon series
Some of the other great resources you'll find in the Logos 9 Master Library Expansion XL sale include four great courses, which would cost you $2,200 alone. You'll get a course on each of the following:
- Mobile Ed: NT101 Introducing New Testament: Its Structure and Story (6-hour course)
- Mobile Ed: NT305 New Testament Theology (12-hour course)
- Mobile Ed: OT101 Introducing Old Testament: Its Structure and Story (6-hour course)
- Mobile Ed: OT300 Old Testament Theology (16-hour course)
As a pastor, I appreciate the preaching tools in this Expansion pack. You'll get some preaching and sermon resources, like Stott's The Preacher's Notebook, my friend Alan Carr's The Sermon Notebook, and sermon collections from Spurgeon.
This gives us only a few of the huge collection of resources. They'd cost you over $26,000 if you bought them from Logos individually.
Lexham Press 2022 Collection with 54 Volumes
You could pay $1,000 for the Lexham Press 2022 Collection, or you could buy it in the 12 Days of Logos sale and pay only $600, saving 40%. If you do, you'll get...
- Commentaries on the NT from the Talmud and Midrash vol 1&2
- Reading the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets
- Faith in the New Testament: A Study in Biblical Theology
- The Word from the Beginning: The Person and Work of Jesus in the Gospel of John
- Endure: Building Faith for the Long Run
- Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church
- Finding Hope in a Dark Place: Facing Loneliness, Depression, and Anxiety with the Power of Grace
- Finding Hope in a Dark Place: Facing Loneliness, Depression, and Anxiety with the Power of Grace
- Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church
- Unexpected Jesus: How the Resurrected Christ Finds Us, Meets Us, Heals Us
- What Grace Is: Meditations on the Mercy of Our God
- Christ and Calamity: Grace and Gratitude in the Darkest Valley (audio)
- Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church (audio)
- Jesus and Gender: Living as Sisters and Brothers in Christ (audio)
- Illustrating Well: Preaching Sermons that Connect
- All Thy Lights Combine: Figural Reading in the Anglican Tradition
- Ruth: A Guide to Reading Biblical Hebrew
- A Bond between Souls: Friendship in the Letters of Augustine
- Christ, the Way: Augustine’s Theology of Wisdom
- How the Church Fathers Read the Bible: A Short Introduction
- Reformed Dogmatics in Dialogue: The Theology of Karl Barth and Jonathan Edwards
- Suffering, Not Power: Atonement in the Middle Ages
- The Quest to Save the Old Testament: Mathematics, Hieroglyphics, and Providence in Enlightenment England
- The Theological Correspondence of John Frame: Volume 2
- Formation for Mission: Discipleship and Identity for Emerging Adults
- Great Is Thy Faithfulness: The Trinity Story *
- On Earth as in Heaven: Theopolis Fundamentals
- Pastoral Ethics: Moral Formation as Life in the Trinity
- Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division
- 50 Ethical Questions: Biblical Wisdom for Confusing Times
- The Gates of Hell: An Untold Story of Faith and Perseverance in the Early Soviet Union
- After the Revolution: Sex and the Single Evangelical
- Amidst Us Our Belovèd Stands: Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition
- Jesus and Gender: Living as Sisters and Brothers in Christ
- Justification by the Word: Restoring Sola Fide
- Theology of Mission: A Concise Biblical Theology
- Virtuous Persuasion: A Theology of Christian Mission
- Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology
- Stewards of the Earth: Christianity and Creation Care
- The Klaas Schilder Reader: The Essential Theological Writing
- Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology in Middle-Earth
This collection gives you a lot of resources for less than the Expansion pack above. Check out the books included, and you may find them worth the price.
Other Awesome Tools
You see the list at the beginning of this post. The books or collections I'm most interested in picking up or have and use are the B&H Academic Biblical and Theological Studies Collection, Crossway Studies in Biblical, Doctrinal, and Systematic Theology, and the Zondervan Academic Research Library. With these, you'd save 70%, 65%, and 63%, respectively.
Take a look and be sure to comment below...
- Tell us which one you want most and why.
- Share your experience if you already own any of the above resources.
See More In-Depth Over on Theotek Facebook Page
If you want to see a more in-depth overview of what's in the sale, head over to my Theotek Facebook Page. There I did a live video showing what's in the sale.
How to Downgrade from Accordance 14 to Accordance 13
People don't like Accordance 14 because it's buggy and many new features don't work. So here's how to downgrade to Accordance 13 from 14.
Accordance 14 came out a few weeks ago, but many report significant problems with the update. That's why people want to downgrade from Accordance 14 to Accordance 13.
Fortunately, downgrading safely is easy. Here's how to downgrade from Accordance 14 to Accordance 13.
How to Downgrade to Accordance 13 from Version 14
- Right-click the file in the Applications folder on your Mac. Sorry, this only works on a Mac.
- Choose Rename. If you have Accordance 14 installed, then rename it to Accordance 14. It will, by default, be named Accordance.
- Now hit Enter on your keyboard or click anywhere outside the pop-up menu. You've now renamed the app to Accordance 14.
- Install Accordance 13 by downloading it from the Accordance website. Double-click the downloaded file, which is most likely saved in your Downloads folder.
- Drag the file to the Applications folder. This will appear in a window that opens when you double-click the downloaded file. See below.
If you want to clarify that this newly installed copy is version 13, you may want to follow the above steps to rename the new app Accordance 13. Then double-click it or open it from Launchpad.
This should keep all of your customizations and settings in place. You won't need to download the library files again.
How to Backup Accordance Settings
Some people in the Accordance user forums report that this method messed up their library organization and settings. To ensure you can get yours back, backup the right files to quickly restore them if installing Accordance 13 alongside 14 messes up your installation.
Open Finder and go to your Home folder. It will probably have your name on it. Then click on the Go button on the Menu bar while you hold down the OPTION key on your keyboard. This shows Library as a destination. Click on Library and then release the OPTION key.
Click on Application Support and then Accordance in your Library folder. You could just copy all the folders in this Accordance folder to a temporary place, like your Desktop.
After downloading Accordance 13 from the Accordance website, open the file, and the DMG will pop up with two icons. One for Accordance 13 and one for your Applications folder. Drag the Accordance file into the Applications folder. I'd suggest renaming Accordance to Accordance 13, so you can differentiate between versions 14 and 13. Now open it.
Everything should be as it was when you finished customizing things like your library and display theme. If your Library is not in the custom order, you place it in, then restore your files from the backup. You don't really need to restore all of them. Only the Text Library.apref file and the Tool Library.apref file need to be copied back to the proper spot.
Close Accordance, open two Finder windows with the backup folder in one, and open the other to Library, Application Support, Accordance, and Accordance Preferences. Drag the Text Library.apref and the Tool Library.apref from the backup folder to the Library folder.
Logos 10 Mobile App: What's New?
Here are the top new features of the Logos 10 Mobile app with a demo video and instructions on how to use them.
Faithlife, the makers of Logos Bible Software, updated their suite of Bible study apps and desktop/laptop programs, releasing Logos 10 Mobile for iPad, iPhone, and Android. Most new features work best on the iPad, but many also work on iPhone and Android. We've got a demo of all the most significant upgrades with instructions on how to use these new features.
Logos 10 Mobile App Adds New Selection Menu
When you want to select a verse or some text to highlight it, add a note, or look up information, the Logos 10 Mobile App improves the selection menu.
If you tap on a verse, a popup menu shows up with a few things in it. Depending on your selection, you'll see highlighters, buttons to interact with the verse, some information from your user notes, the Factbook, or other content. This works in non Bibles too.
The highlights come from the most recent first and then the top highlights in your highlighters tool.
The buttons that you can use to interact with a Bible verse include the following:
- Copy the verse
- Share the passage
- Add a Note
- Search
- Compare in multiple translations
- Perform a Passage Guide on the passage
- Perform an Exegetical Guide on the passage
- Mark the passage as a Favorite
- Translate the text using the new Logos 10 Translation tool
- Clip the selected content
- Create a Visual Copy, which makes the selection into an image to share on social media, save, or use in your presentation.
Below the buttons, you will see cards for items found in the selected text. These take you to the Factbook or Bible dictionaries. It might show an entry from a Lexicon. What it shows depends on what it finds in the selected text.
Slide left or right on the cards to see more of them. Use the menu button in the upper right corner of each card (it looks like three vertical dots) to do more with the content in the cards.
Press and hold on a single word and bring up a different kind of menu that shows info about that one word. You'll see Word Info that comes from tags on the word. For example, it will show an entry from your top Greek or Hebrew lexicon. You can open it by tapping on the More button.
You'll also see an entry from an English dictionary or Bible dictionary.
Print Library Tool
Now in Logos 10 you can search your Print Library. However, you'll have to first add books to the Print Library using the Logos 10 Mobile App.
Tap on the More button, which looks like three horizontal lines in the lower right corner of the screen. If it's not showing up, tap on the book's title that's open on the screen. In the top Library section of the menu, tap on the Print Library ISBN Scanner entry. This opens the camera. You might have to give the app permission first.
You can only add books to the Print Library if Logos also has the book in its digital library store. That's because they have to have the text of the book in their library to search for text in the book. Any book that you have with an ISBN bar code or QR code will work.
Now, when you search for words or phrases, they will return entries in the Print Library. You can't read the whole book in Logos, but the Logos 10 Mobile App will tell you where you can find it in your print copy of the book.
Read Aloud in Logos 10 Mobile App
If you like audiobooks, then you'll love the improvements to the Read Aloud feature in the Logos 10 Mobile app. It's easy to find in the open book's top toolbar. It looks like a sound icon. Tap it, and it brings up the reading feature at the bottom of the screen.
In the Read Aloud feature, listeners can pause and play the audio. They can also skip back a verse or a whole book of the Bible. Skip forward a verse or a book too. There's a speed option to read the book or Bible faster. I like to listen at 1.5 times to many books.
If the book comes with an audiobook version, a download button appears next to the X in the Read Aloud feature box.
Most phones let users add different voices to read books that don't come with an audiobook version. Open your phone's Settings app. In iOS, go to Accessibility and then tap on Spoken Content. That opens the screen where you can choose Voices to select your voice.
iOS lists voices by language first and then name. I tapped on English at the top and chose Samantha. The phone gives the user two options. One is regular Samantha and the other reads "enhanced". I picked the enhanced version and downloaded her voice.
Go back to Logos, choose a book that doesn't already have an audiobook associated with it, and follow the instructions at the beginning of this section to listen to the book using the iOS voice we chose in settings.
The Android version of the Logos 10 Mobile App plays audio almost identically, except for changing the voices.
Sermon Manager Update
The update to the Sermon Manager in the Logos 10 Mobile App allows users to edit and read sermons created, either in the app or on the desktop. Open the Sermon Manager from the More button, which looks like three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other in the lower right corner of the toolbar.
You'll find the Sermon Manager in the Tools section of the menu. Tap on it to open it.
You will see all the important features of the Sermon Manager on your iPad. This only works on iPad.
You can also open the Sermon Manager from the tabs button. Hit a plus button to open from the Tools section of the new tab feature.
Canvas Tool on iPad
A canvas shows information in a visual way. The iPad and desktop app tools include many drawing tools, diagramming tools, and text formatting. Add images, icons, and shapes. Do this all to show information in a visual way for presentations or documents. You could create them for your own benefit.
To open or create a Canvas, go to the More button (three horizontal lines in the lower right) and tap on it. Head to the Documents section. Tap on the Canvas item, and you'll see a list of any Canvases already in your library. Tap one to open it. Work with the canvas, and then you can work with the Canvas.
You can also create a new one from the Tabs screen. Tap the plus icon and go to the Documents tab (right button on the Tabs toolbar). Now tap on the plus icon at the top of the box, which shows a list of the kinds of documents you can add. Tap on Canvas to make a new one.
The Canvas feature is available only on iPad, and only in Bronze packages, and above.
Draw On Screen Feature on iPad
Teaching using Logos as a visual aid got easier with the update to Logos 10 Mobile thanks to my favorite new feature, the Draw On Screen feature on the iPad only. You can now draw on your screen and save that as a screenshot in notes or share it elsewhere.
Open the More button (three horizontal lines in the lower right) and choose Draw On Screen from the Tools section. This brings up the Apple annotation feature, which lets you draw using your Apple Pencil, a third-party stylus, or your fingers.
Drawings can use a pen, highlighter, pencil, eraser, selection tool, and ruler to make straight lines.
When you're finished drawing on the screen, share the drawing or exit without saving it. You can share the image in a few ways.
- Copy Image - copy it for pasting in a document or note.
- Save to Photos - save it in the iOS Photos app.
- Save as Note - saves the drawing as an unattached note, which you can then manually attach to a verse or paragraph.
- Share - use the iOS Share Sheet feature to send it to a Facebook post, a file on the iPad, Instagram, or other services you use.
Enhanced Panel Linking
You've been able to link books before so that your commentary would move along with your Bible as you swiped to advance to the next passage. Now, you can tweak these settings a little so that the Bible drives the link relationship.
Open a book and then slip the screen into at least two books. When you do, a new book will fill the second half. Then, if you like, then add other books. You'll see a box with the word None in it and a pair of linked chain links. Tap it to bring up the Enhanced Panel Linking feature. Tap the A to link to the other book. Then tap on Follow Only so that this book won't make the other book move, but the other book will move this one.
For example, I have the NASB and Faithlife Study Bible open above. If I choose Follow Only, then as I swipe up and down on the NASB or left and right in widescreen mode, the FSB will follow it so that the verse in the Bible matches the verse in the study Bible. However, if I choose Set all panels to match, then any book will force the others to follow it. Moving to a new chapter in the FSB will move to that channel in all linked Bibles.
You can also set this from the main book menu in the upper right corner of each book panel, which looks like three vertically stacked dots.
New Logos 10 Mobile App User Interface with More Tiles
The user interface on Logos 10 Mobile gets a much-needed feature update. You can now open as many as six books on your iPad. However, this doesn't work on the phone since it would be impractical to open that many on a small screen.
To open a layout with more tiles, tap on the Layouts icon in the bottom toolbar on the right. You'll see a little popup with options for...
- 1 book
- 2 books side-by-side
- 2 books, top and bottom
- 3 books with one on the left and two splitting the right side column
- 3 books with one on the right and two splitting the left side column
- 3 books arranged in verbal columns
- 4 books splitting the screen into four equal quadrants
- 4 books with 2 each in the vertical columns on the left and middle and two splitting the third column
To add two more books, open the layout in the top right of the popup. Then, from the toolbar at the top, tap on the 3 dots which opens the options menu. Choose Split this tile.
Deal on New Logos Books
If you want to get the new Logos 10 upgrade, then head over to my affiliate page to get a nice discount on Logos and some free books. This way you can use the Logos 10 Mobile app
Logos Black Friday Deals on Books on Software
You can save a nice stack of cash by taking advantage Logos Black Friday Deals this month. We've got what's on offer and how much they cost.
I hate Black Friday, but these days few have to wait in line a store to get deals. In fact you don't even have to wait till Black Friday anymore if you shop on line at places like Logos Bible Software. They've already got Logos Black Friday deals going. Here's what you can get and save money on this month on books and the upgrade to Logos 10, which I shared with you in my overview of the new version.
Logos Black Friday Deals on Zondervan Courses and Mobile Education
These deals go from November 8th to 15th. You can save up to 85% on these courses. For example, save on courses to learn Biblical Greek or Hebrew. You can go for something as simple as a quick course on how to learn the alphabet for either $15.52 (Greek) or $21.36 (Hebrew). Then study the languages for $189.99 for Greek and Hebrew. Find them on my Affiliate page.
You can find other courses on Theology, Church History, Counseling, and Preaching. One thing I like to do is preach through books of the Bible. So, I get a course on a book of the Bible and study it as I prepare to preach through the book.
Other Deals Coming the Rest of the Month
Other deals are coming in the Logos Black Friday Deals include things like Commentary Mini-Bundles and Publisher Spotlight deals.
In addition, you can still get a nice discount on Logos 10. If you're new to Logos, you'll get 15% off. Prior customers get 30% off. And everyone will get 5 free books when they buy Logos 10 and a package deal, like the denomination collections, collections for preacher or counselors, or the basic color-themed collections, like Gold, Silver, etc.
You can use my affiliate link to get the 5 free books in this deal.
Every month Logos also offers free books and heavily discounted books. You can find the list of November's free and discounted titles here. Here's whats on offer this month...
- Luke (The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 26 | TPC) - Free
- Jon Courson's Application Commentary: New Testament - Free
- Thru the Bible Vol. 56: The Epistles (1 John) - 99 cents
- Did You Know? More Than 6,000 Bible Questions and Answers - 99 cents
- MacArthur's Quick Reference Guide to the Bible - $1.99
- Visual Survey of the Bible - $1.99
- God in the Manger - $2.99
- All the Parables of the Bible - $2.99
- KJV Bible Commentary - $3.99
- Proverbs (The Preacher's Commentary, Volume 15 | TPC) - $3.99
- 1 Peter (NIV Application Commentary | NIVAC) - $4.99
- Sermon on the Mount (Story of God Bible Commentary | SGBC) - $4.99
- 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Story of God Bible Commentary | SGBC)
- New International Bible Dictionary
- Ecclesiastes (Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 23a | WBC)
- Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible
- Joel: A Discourse Analysis of the Hebrew Bible (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament)
- Believer’s Bible Commentary
- Mark (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament | ZECNT)
- Acts (NIV Application Commentary | NIVAC)
- John, 2nd ed. (Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 36 | WBC)
- Thinking through Paul: An Introduction to His Life, Letters, and Theology
In addition, Logos offers a pre-order for $34.99, It's the Leviticus: A Discourse Analysis of the Hebrew Bible from Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament (AKA: ZECOT)