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How to Study the Bible on Kindle

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Kindle as a Bible Study Tool

Modern technologies and gadgets are gaining popularity among Christians for enhanced methods of Bible Study. Amazon's Kindle e-reader is among the best ones for that purpose. The e-ink technology makes Kindle easy on the eyes and readable even in the broad daylight. Since the screen is not backlit, the display gives the illusion of reading from paper. No glare like you get from a computer screen, or iPad, or Nook. This e-reader is small, compact, lightweight, and its battery charge lasts for days, which makes Kindle a perfect companion on long trips or anywhere you go. With the adjustable font-size and text-to-speech function, Kindle is a perfect substitute to the cumbersome collection of paperbacks and printed study materials.

Which Kindle to Choose?

With with addition of three new Kindle models, the Kindle Family is growing big on Amazon. Each Kindle model is unique on its own right; each serves a certain purpose and meets certain needs. Some serve best are the Android tablets, while others are best use for reading and studying. Let's take a quick peek at three most popular Kindles in the light of our subject. Which Kindle is the best for the Bible study?

"Why not lighten your load and use a Kindle for Bible studies?

You can take notes, highlight passages, search for words and phrases and interact with scriptural text on a Kindle just as you would with a book or with your Bible."

- Joy Shepherd,
Biblical Learning Blog

Table of Contents

Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire is a new breed of an Android tablet. Being as portable as ever at its 7-inch size and boasting a great web browser and a curated Android app store, Fire is a formidable rival to iPad. It links seamlessly with Amazon's collection of digital music, video, magazine, and book services in one easy-to-use package. All that said, Kindle Fire has some catching up to do as an e-reader. Despite many improvements, Kindle Fire lacks a lot of functionality when compared to Kindles 2, DX, and 3, and even Kindle Touch:

  • It does not include support for the Mobipocket index functionality;
  • It does not support look-up in non-Amazon dictionaries, or chapter navigation in books;
  • Its default font does not include polytonic Greek, which is a must for serious Bible scholars;
  • Its search function is extremely slow to the point of being unusable in Bibles;
  • It does not have the usual Text-to-Speech functionality, no collections, and no physical buttons of any sort (Home, Back, page turn), etc.
  • The lack of a physical keyboard is also a drawback when it comes to search and navigation.

Having said that, Kindle Fire is nonetheless a great study tool, as it allows for useful Bible apps, such as Olive Tree's BibleReader and others.

Kindle Touch

Kindle Touch is a long-awaited e-reader with touch-screen functionality. It certainly has its advantages over other Kindles.

  • The first obvious advantage is, of course, the touch screen, which is more responsive than the physical keyboard on Kindle 3. It's the best typing experience that Amazon has created yet, and if you're a heavy note taker, this will come in handy. Also. the hyperlinks are easier and faster to use than the keyboard;
  • Just like Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Touch has an E-Ink screen, which is gentle on eyes and can be read even in the broad daylight;
  • Kindle Touch is sleeker and lighter than Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Fire. It is arguably the most portable library at your fingertips!

    • At this point, if used for larger books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and Bibles, Kindle Touch's interface is slower than the one on Kindle Keyboard. Hopefully, this will change over time as Amazon will improve the software.

    Another noticeable drawback is that the Back button is not "persistent": for each use of the Back button you need to first tap at the top of the screen, then tap on the back button. If you want to press the Back button twice, the number of taps are 4; and if you need the Back button three times, then be prepared for 6 taps. Between each tap there is a response lag time, which slows down the process significantly.

    Overall, Kindle Touch is a happy medium between the e-reader and and Android tablet, and can successfully serve as a Bible study tool.

Kindle Keyboard

Kindle Keyboard 3G has been a favorite e-reader for serious Bible studies in our family and among many of our friends .

  • The keyboard allows for easy navigation and search functions. One of our favorite Kindle Bibles by OSNOVA comes with a unique DVJ navigation feature that allows us to find any Bible verse in the Bible in mere seconds. While the virtual keyboard on Kindle Touch still allows us to utilize this function, the physical keyboard is much more convenient and fasted to use.
  • The software on Kindle 3 (or Keyboard) supports chapter navigation in books as well as look-up in non-Amazon dictionaries;
  • Although not highly advertised by Amazon, Kindle 3 default fonts support polytonic Greek, which is the original language of the New Testament and must be studied and utilized by any serious student of God's Word;
  • Kindle 3 (Keyboard) boasts a fast search function which was lost in the newer Kindles; this is very helpful for those who use Bible commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and different Bible translations during for their Bible study;

It must be noted, however, that it is somewhat awkward to navigate to any specific hyperlink (unless it is at the top or the bottom of the page) on Kindle Keyboard with its 5-way controller. On the other hand, when you use a hyperlink, you typically want to return to the initial location with the help of the "Back" button. Kindle Keyboard wins this one because it has a physical Back button, which can backtrace as many hyperlinks as needed.

No other e-reader can better navigate through dictionaries, commentaries, encyclopedias, and larger books, like the Kindle Keyboard. With the capacity to hold numerous Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries, theological materials, the writings of prominent Christian authors and other resources all in one place, Kindle is being used in churches, at Bible study groups and during personal devotions.
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Kindle Bibles on Amazon

There are hundreds of electronic Bibles offered on Amazon's Kindle Store - different translations, versions and editions, as well as dramaticaly different prices. Even if you know what translation you want, how do you pick the best one?

Well, since there are as many opinions and needs as there are people, there might not be THE best one for all. However, there are definitely some that have been tried and found more accurate and helpful than others. In the list below you will find the Bibles that stand out of the crowd due to their quality and functionality. Feel free to read the reviews and see whether you agree with our choice.
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Bible Study Materials for Kindle

In addition to Kindle Bibles, there are many different Bible study materials, available for Kindle at Amazon's Kindle Store. These include Bible Commentaries, encyclopedias, Study Bibles, the writings of Christian authors on the subject matter.

Below are listed several publications that would prove very helpful during personal Bible study, sermon preparation and group discussions.
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More Bible Study Materials for Kindle

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Independent Kindle Bible Publishers

Although Amazon is the best and most trusted place to get e-books for Kindle, there are a few INDEPENDENT KINDLE BIBLE PUBLISHERS that are worth a mention.

OSNOVA Kindle Bible publishers have been producing unique Kindle Bible materials since October 2009. Their Bibles for Kindle are characterized by an elegant formatting, accurate text, and a revolutionary navigation method called DVJ (Direct Verse Jump), which allows the reader to find any Bible verse in seconds. Other great features of their Kindle Bibles include the hyperlinked table of contents, a 5-way controller navigation between chapters and books, and in many cases a cross-reference system between the Bible text and build-in Bible study resources or translator's notes (as in case with Osnova Study Bible and The NET Bible). You can learn more about OSNOVA at their blog and browse their e-books at the OSNOVA Kindle store.

Miklal Software Solutions, Inc. has published the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) With The Comprehensive Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Glossary, which is the only available Hebrew Bible for any e-reader. "Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) is a complete Hebrew Bible in an aesthetically pleasing Hebrew script. It contains all of the consonants, vowels, cantillation marks (accents), and other symbols. It follows the text of the Leningrad Codex as digitized by the J. Alan Groves Center for Advanced Biblical Research. This is the same manuscript underlying Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ). In addition, the Kindle version has The Comprehensive Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Glossary, by Humphrey H. Hardy, appended to it." This unique and on of its kind e-book can only be purchased directly from Miklal Software Solution, as Amazon doesn't yet have a way to publish this type of non-English books in its Kindle store. In case you wonder, the book works on Kindle beautifully.

Logos Bible Software and the Society of Biblical Literature has recently published a great resource for every Bible scholar: the SBL Greek New Testament, which is offered on the SBL's page as well as at the OSNOVA store. The SBLGNT is edited by Michael W. Holmes, who utilized a wide range of printed editions, all the major critical apparatuses, and the latest technical resources and manuscript discoveries as he established the text. The result is a critically edited text that differs from the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies text in more than 540 variation units... Students, teachers, pastors, and interested laypersons can use the SBLGNT right now for research, writing, and study - at no cost.

Is It Greek to You?

(or, Why read the Bible in the original language)

You might have noticed that several mentioned Bibles are in the original language, be that Hebrew or Greek. The reason these particular Bibles made it to this lens is their absolute and crucial importance to the effective Bible study! If anyone wanted to really expand and sharpen their knowledge of what is said in the Holy Word of God, the best way to do so is to employ the help of the writings in the original language.

A distinguished Greek scholar A.T. Robertson said in the preface to the third edition of A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, "The Greek New Testament is the New Testament. All else is translation. Jesus speaks to us out of every page of the Greek. To get these words of Jesus it is worthwhile to plow through any grammar and to keep on to the end."

"Learning New Testament Greek affords an opportunity never realized in any English translation. Erasmus wrote in the Preface to his Greek Testament, "These holy pages will summon up the living image of His mind. They will give you Christ Himself, talking, healing, dying, rising, the whole Christ in a Word. They will give Him to you in an intimacy so close that He would be less visible to you if He stood before your eyes." ...Reading the original text is no mere recital of past events. Rather, it is a means to bring us in touch with the power of the text and applying its truths to our lives." - William Ramey, the instructor at NTGreek In Session.
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The Greek New Testaments for Kindle

(and other helpful resources)

The Essential Greek New Testament For the Absolute Beginner
The Essential Greek New Testament For the Absolute Beginner represents a new approach to the study of the Biblical Greek by allowing an absolute Greek beginner to start reading the Greek New Testament from the first day.
The Essential Greek New Testament For the Absolute Beginner represents a new approach to the study of the Biblical Greek by allowing an absolute Greek beginner to start reading the Greek New Testament from the first day. As such, it will establish itself as an indispensable resource for those who would like to get a glimpse of the New Testament in the original. The compilation of resources will also be useful to those who have some knowledge of Biblical Greek.
The Greek New Testament For Beginning Readers, Byzantine Textform (with Direct Verse Jump for the Kindle)
The Greek New Testament For Beginning Readers includes John Jeffrey Dodson's lexical information along with brief definitions of words occurring fewer than fifty times, parsing of verbs occurring fewer than fifty times and various other helps particularly useful for those whose Greek is less than perfect.
The Greek New Testament For Beginning Readers: Byzantine Textform is the only Reader's Edition that is based upon the Byzantine Textform (which agrees some ninety-four percent of the time with other Greek New Testament editions). Many, but not all, words, are linked to the corresponding lexicon entry and grammatical parsing information.
The SBL Greek New Testament - FREE!
The SBL Greek New Testament is a new, critically edited Greek New Testament published jointly by the Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software.
The SBLGNT is edited by Michael W. Holmes, who utilized a wide range of printed editions, all the major critical apparatuses, and the latest technical resources and manuscript discoveries as he established the text. The result is a critically edited text that differs from the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies text in more than 540 variation units. Students, teachers, pastors, and interested laypersons can use the SBLGNT right now for research, writing, and study - at no cost.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded with Strong's Concordance Numbers
The chief work of Joseph Henry Thayer was his translation of Grimm's Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti (1886; revised 1889) as A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Thayer spent 25 years working on his Lexicon, and made thousands of revisions from Grimm's Wilke's Clavis. Thayer's Lexicon has been recognized as one of the best New Testament lexicons of Biblical Greek. This edition provides dictionary definitions and nuances of meaning for each word and provides a hyperlink for each word to the included New Testament and the Strong's number.
The Basics of New Testament Syntax: An Intermediate Greek Grammar eBook by Daniel B. Wallace
A concise, up-to-date guidance for intermediate Greek students.
The Basics of New Testament Syntax provides concise, up-to-date guidance for intermediate Greek students to do accurate exegesis of biblical texts. Abridged from Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, the popular exegetical Greek grammar for studies in Greek by Daniel B. Wallace, The Basics of New Testament Syntax offers a practical grammar for second-year students.
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce (hardcover)
First published in 1993, Basics of Biblical Greek is the most popular introduction to the field, used in universities and seminaries around the world. Over 200,000 students have learned biblical Greek under its guidance.
This significant third edition has been carefully developed in consultation with instructors, students, self-learners, and homeschoolers. Users can now take advantage to the many improvements made at the book's website, www.Teknia.com, where they will find---for free---an online course, walking students through every chapter; vocabulary flashcards; video and audio helps; Greek fonts; quizzes for each chapter; fun songs and games; and much, much more. Now in a larger size, with an attractive 2-color design, the third edition adds an element of fun, with encouragement, songs, and more, which appear in the margins. Chapter 35 has been split into two chapters, 'half-time review' sections have been added to every chapter, and new exegesis sections are now included. These and other improvements serve to enhance the learning experience and will continue BBG's legacy as the premier introduction to biblical Greek.

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References and Links for Further Reading

Bible Reading on the Kindle Revisited
A look at some of the most popular Kindle Bible versions on Amazon.
25 Ways to Use the Kindle for Bible Study
The list of 25 ways to use the Kindle for Bible study by Joy Shepherd.
Hyperlinks on Kindles
Another point of comparison among Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Fire, and Kindle Touch is the use of hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are especially important in Bibles and Bible Study materials for reading a footnote, a cross-reference in the Bible, a dictionary entry, etc.
Biblical Texts for Kindles
Suggestions and links to various Biblical texts for Kindle.
Amazon Kindle Touch 3G: Hands-On Review
The detailed and practical review of Amazon Kindle Touch
Kindle Bible Study on OSNOVA web-store
The collection of Bible Study materials on OSNOVA's web-store.
E-books are a perfect solution for expat bookworms!
Ruth Stutler shares his experience with e-books (mostly, Bible materials). Being an expat, Ruth finds e-books to be the perfect way to have plenty of reading material without the inconvenience of expensive shipping of paperbacks from his homeland to where he lives and serves now.

Share Your Thoughts, Please!

(I love comments! :) )

  • TTMall Mar 1, 2012 @ 4:35 pm | delete
    Great Lens with great resources!
  • akumar46 Feb 12, 2012 @ 9:42 am | delete
    I want to buy kindle for reading eBooks.Thanks for the suggestions which is very helpful for choosing the right one.
  • FunMoneyBusiness Feb 2, 2012 @ 3:02 pm | delete
    I love my Kindle. I enjoyed your lens - congratulations on such well written and informative articles. :)
  • JoshK47 Jan 30, 2012 @ 4:38 pm | delete
    Very comprehensive information here, thanks for sharing! Blessed by a SquidAngel!
  • favored1 Jan 18, 2012 @ 1:22 pm | delete
    It's good to see that they have been able to put these Christian materials on e-divices. It will get the Bible into more hands.
  • Mozaika Jan 19, 2012 @ 6:24 pm | delete
    Yes, favored1, it is one of those blessings of modern times. My hope and prayer is that more people open their hearts and minds to the truths of God's Word.

    Thank you for stopping my my lens!..
  • JoyfulPamela Jan 14, 2012 @ 2:09 pm | delete
    I have been researching because I very much would like a Bible on my Kindle. Thank you so much for your information and advice! =D
  • Mozaika Jan 19, 2012 @ 6:21 pm | delete
    Dear Pamela, thanks for stopping by my lens! I'm glad you found it useful. Do give a try to the Kindle Bibles from OSNOVA - their e-books are very well made, and they have the best customer service I know of.
  • Mordecai Jan 13, 2012 @ 6:36 pm | delete
    I would disagree that the Kindle fire is inferior for study; I would even say for study it may be superior; the android operating system allows Bible study apps like Olive Tree's Biblereader which is one of the best mobile study apps. I do prefer e ink for just reading, but there is no comparison for what can be done when studying for the app.
  • Mozaika Jan 18, 2012 @ 3:59 pm | delete
    Mordecai, thank you for your comment! I have updated this lens, adding the link to the Olive Tree BibleReader for those using Kindle Fire and other Android tablets. Be blessed!
  • LornsA178 Jan 11, 2012 @ 4:52 pm | delete
    Neat lens! Thanks!
  • Mozaika Jan 27, 2012 @ 8:49 pm | delete
    Lorna, thank you! I feel blessed to get to meet you on Squidoo and Twitter.
  • TapIn2U Dec 28, 2011 @ 11:52 am | delete
    I love your lens! Sundae ;-)
  • Mozaika Jan 1, 2012 @ 6:45 pm | delete
    You're so sweet, dear! Thank you!
  • JLHenry Dec 26, 2011 @ 8:06 pm | delete
    Before passing on the Fire, check out the YouVersion Bible app. I use it on my iPod touch, and made sure it was available for the kindle fire before buying one ( which will be happening this weekend). It has numerous bible versions and commentaries you can download, and there are several of the most popular bible study plans available in it. I know it makes my study tiime more productive. I tried getting a bible for my Nook (!st ed), and was very disappointed in the lack of navigation capabilities.
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Mozaika

I am a stay-at-home mom of three wonderful kids, married to my best friend, and a daughter of the King of kings.
A couple of years ago my husband got... more »

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