APsit190

But Josh, I've SEEN modules uploaded that look just like that!  Are you saying there is a quality standard here???  lol

Hi Brad,
Absolutely and and totally! Fact is, bro, as a High Quality module creator, you get your names up in lights. In other words, you get mentioned and being recognized as one who creates quality modules/resources for e-Sword. That makes your work as something that ought to be downloaded.

I praise God for blokes like you, Josh, and others (names escape my mind) who've created quality modules have actually lifted the bar of what is acceptable and required for modules. the days of "mass production and push it through" type resource creation are over, and I tend to think those that are of poor quality will no longer be accepted. But that's a guess.

Blessings,

I was looking on e-Sword.net. I noticed the history was updated (maybe a few months ago?). I don't look that often.

Last year (2011), e-Sword was downloaded 5 million times. So, 5 million divided by 365 days = 13,598.63 downloads per day!

That's a lot of downloads! I've often theorized that e-Sword has more users than all other free Bible software combined. And I think these numbers prove it!

Josh

Hi Josh,
One thing these numbers tend to really show (as well as yours) is that what God calls into being, it happens. That said, I honestly don't know why e-Sword seems to be the most popular freeware Bible program, especially when there are others that are in many ways described as better, and yet forges ahead of them. The only thing I can theorize about it, is e-Swords simplicity of design and ease of use that actually wins the day.

My belief (and that is all I can really base it on) is that the vast majority of users are not technical users, and just basically want something that suites their needs, and e-Sword seems to fulfill that, as where The Word and others are OTT for them.

I know for me, that e-Sword suites me right down to the ground, and I actually like using it because its just so simple and easy to use. The reality for me, is that I hate learning curves in software, and if there is too much of one, then I'll ditch it and try to find something that doesn't have that. Call me lazy, and I'll just give you the cheesiest grin I can muster.

I don't know what Rick Meyers was thinking when he first developed e-Sword, but whatever it was, it must've been pretty cool, because to come up with something like this, he really hit the right button.

I hate to blow your trumpet too, mate, but when you came up with the idea for this site, I don't think you would have imagined in your wildest dreams that this would have take off like wild fire as it has done. And so in the same vain I don't think Rick Meyers would have imagined that e-Sword would have taken off in the way it did when he first created it.

You know, I sorta get a bit emotional here, because the reality of it is that God is totally in it.

Well you know the rest of me sentiments, and I don't need to carry on.

Again, Josh (and you too Rick) thanks a great big heap for the work you have done. Bless you guys right out of your socks for what you have done.

And just to be a tad emotional:

for you Rick Meyers

and for you Josh Bond.

And now I can go back to being normal. >>> <<< that is if you can call that being normal.

Blessings,

Sorry, I'm just ranting and rambling today for some reason...perhaps it is the medicine I'm on for this infection.  Yeah, we'll blame that.  

Hey Brad, its always the meds, bro. You should see what the ones I take do to me.

Now I reckon that's gotta be pretty bad, mate. And sometimes it even gets worse than that. I dare not try to show you what its like. LOL

Blessings,

sorry Cobb I'm stealing your thread for a question

Josh

say you take a Greek lexicon and key it to Strongs numbering and replace Hebrew text with the Strongs numbers

substantial research goes into the keying process and Hebrew text replacement

would that qualify for a copyright

Hi Dave,
Essentially I think what Josh is talking about is where an edition has gone into the Public Domain, that by just making a few changes here and there in the text itself whether by changing the  typesetting, the layout and generally by doing some housework on the original work does not qualify for it for copyright status.

A good example of something that was in the Public Domain and has reverted to Copyright is Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. This was reverted to Copyright because Thomas Nelson Publishers sought permission from the W.E. Vine Estate to update it by including works by Merrill F. Unger, William White, Jr. And as a result of that the Copyright was restored by the GATT Treaty to W.E. Vine Copyright Ltd which Thomas Nelson Publishers probably bought and own.

As to the amount of work by Unger and White that has been added into Vine's Dictionary actually matters squat. Its the fact that "new" work from someone else has been added which makes the difference.

I have both a hard and electronic (e-Sword) copies of Vine's, and in the e-Sword edition, its noted to whom the authors are in the Information dialog. Its worth the read.

I hope this information is helpful and gives a clearer understanding.

Blessings,

Note to Josh,

Is there E-sword for mac os 10.4 Tiger, Powerbook G4? Can I put another OS (free, or I have a Windows XP disc) on thats better?

Now, this is another one that can be regarded as one of those FAQs. Also the ones querying Linux can also be added to the FAQ. These seem to be regular type questions always being asked and answered.

Blessings,

Thank you for Gnomon, its such a blessing! But how are big commentaries made so fast?? There has to be more than just pasting material for each verse?

Hi Alardiado,
Actually, there really is no "fast" or quick way to make big commentaries. However there are some ways that a somewhat quicker than others, but if one wants to put out a quality resource irrespective of what it is, actually takes a considerable amount of time.

When Josh did Lange's Commentary, it took him quite a few months because of the difficulties he encountered with it, and so he had a few problems which he had to solve. Moreover, a great deal of thought went into the layout of the Commentary and etc.

The quicker way is to use a program called Tool Tip Tool NT, affectionately known as "T4." The much slower way is using a Database program called SQLite, SQLite Browser, and/or SQLite Manager. These work directly in the database files that e-Sword uses, as where T4 exports/converts the module to a Database file. With T4 you can also import/convert a SQLite Database file to an rtf file. What the actual process of conversions take place, I don't know.

I mainly work from SQLite, as that is my choice, because I can immediately see the results in e-Sword. This is my own particular weird way of doing the work, and unless one is a glutton for punishment, I don't recommend this method. It is hard work, slow, and often boring work doing it this way. But hey, I'm totally masochistic.

Blessings,

I just realized that SBLGNT and GNT, which display properly, do not have parsings or Strong's numbers, just plain text. Also the GNT-V displays correctly where there are no notes in the text. There are some exceptions, but this is a general observation.

It might be worth your while to take Screenshots of those Greek and Hebrew Bibles you're having difficulties with and upload and add them in your post so that we are able to see what you're experiencing. Like the old saying goes, "A picture is better than a thousand words," or something like that. Also take a screenshot of your Font settings, upload and add it to your post, as there we might be able to see if an actual problem exists.

I know that this may be a real pain in going to this kind of extent, but at least once we have a picture of what is happening, then we might be able to give you better help.

Blessings,

All,
When Rick Meyers created e-Sword version 10, he added in two new major features which we can enjoy. One of these new features added to this current series is the AudioSermon component.



This component is connected to AudioSermon.com's sermon database in which it gives the user access to listen to any sermon he wishes to. To be able to use it one has to be online in order to connect to the audio file in the database. This tool is fully synchronized with e-Sword's Bible View, and whatever chapter and verse you click on, will show up in AudioSermon. Also, in the Bible Menu, when you click on the Look up Scripture Reference menu item, e-Sword's Bible Lookup Scripture Reference dialog will popup. This means that one can go to any part of Bible, select a book, chapter and verse in AudioSermon, and find a sermon one is looking for.

In general, the sermons listed are pretty good, and are very well presented. I tend to think that this is an excellent additional resource for one's Bible Study. What is also great about this, is that one can get the latest teaching on a topic because this tool connects directly to AudioSermon.com's server database, and then accesses all the sermon files on the database, including the latest ones.

I've listened to a few of the sermons from it, and found that the exegeses presented is very good. Great expository teaching, and very uplifting and encouraging where one's faith can be built and made stronger.

If you never used this additional resource, I do recommend it to you.

Blessings,

For those of you who are not aware, the e-Sword User's Guide is the official documentation for all help in the use of the program. This documentation comes as part of the e-Sword installation, and can be accessed from the Help Menu.

This documentation is updated with just about every new version of e-Sword, especially where new and/or updated features have been added. Josh Bond has taken meticulous care to present a manual/guide that is easy to read and understand. He has even gone to the extent of covering issues and problems encountered by many users, and has offered some great answers to these problems.

This guide is actually your first port of call for any help regarding difficulties you may encounter, and I recommend you actually use it and refer to it regularly.

Blessings,

Josh, and everyone else,
I have to admit that this site has to be one of the best out regarding e-Sword resources and modules. And I tend to think its not just so much just about sharing resources and modules, but rather of sharing something of the love of God with each other and to see one another grow and prosper in Christ.

You know, Josh, I don't know what you were thinking when you decided to start this website up, but one thing I can be certain of God's hand is definitely in it, and He certainly has blessed it.

I look at what you have done, and I see the kind of recognition this site and your work has achieved as a result of it. I'm thinking of the e-Sword User Guide as perhaps the crowning glory of recognition by Rick Meyers in making it the official e-Sword documentation.

When I look back at what was before BibleSupport, and the frustrations that was around that, and see what has happened here, and is happening here, I know this much, that God's hand is truly in it. When you said, "Some today are ashamed to quote the verses above. They bow to their god of tolerance," shows how God blesses those who keep true to him, and place him above anything and anyone else, and shows your obedience to God. And if anything this has done, is God honoring you by the way he has blessed this site.

Josh, I really praise God for you, brother, for the work the work you have done here. And on a personal note, I'm glad you have created this site because its a joy and a pleasure to log in see what is actually happening here.

So, in Conclusion to all of this, only remains this:

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday BibleSupport,

Happy birthday to you.

Blessings,

Hi Brink,
Some information that also might come in handy for you:

• The letter "G" = Greek
• The letter "H" = Hebrew

You can have a 123, without the the G or H prefix and you won't get a thing. Place a G123 you get the Strong's numbered tooltip for G123. Have a H123, and you get the Hebrew one.

Strong's numbers automatically work in all editors with all Dictionary which uses that system. Of the Strong numbered Dictionary, you have choose anyone of them to be displayed in the tooltip. You can select a different Dictionary to display Hebrew definition from the one that displays the Greek definition.

I have the BDB Dictionary to display the Hebrew definitions in the tooltip, and for Greek definitions I have Thayer's displayed in the tooltip.

I hope this bit of extra information will be helpful to you in your the way you may want to choose your Dictionaries to be displayed in the tooltips.

Blessings,

e-Sword Version 10.1.0


Hi All,
I thought I'd share my e-Sword story in the hope others would like to share their story and experiences with it. I've been thinking for some time about this, but never had gotten around to it.

Before I connected to the internet I never knew there were such things as "Free" Bible software. The only ones I knew about were those that you could buy from a Christian bookstore as a boxed edition, and it came with a bundle of stuff, and those programs were quite expensive. From memory, there were about only two Bible Programs out; The one from Logos and the other from Bible Works I think (it had a ship's steering thingy as a logo on the box).

In late 2004 I bought a new computer as a result of the other packing up on me, and decided to connect to the internet. One of the first things I did was do a Google search on, (Yep you've got it right) "Free Bible Software" and "Freeware Bible Software." The first one I found was Theophilus, and downloaded it, and had it for about a couple of month. The only problem with it was the clutter and not much free stuff I could get with it. All I got that was free was the KJV Bible and Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary, and if I wanted anything more, I had to pay for it.

So, after about a couple of months decided to give it another go on seeing if I could find another free Bible program which was somewhat a bit better than Theophilus. So about February 2005 I did another search on Google, and put in some other search string which I can't remember what it was, and I saw e-Sword come up. So I went to the website, had a look and read the information. I had a look at the screenshots of the program, and I was impressed by what I saw, and so I downloaded it.

I then had at the other pages where they had all the free modules and nearly fell off my seat at what was available there. I could not believe the amount of stuff that was there for the taking. Everything there was free. Totally unreal. I thought all my Christmases and Birthdays had come at once. So, of coarse I did what was natural, and just about downloaded everything I could get. There were works there I never heard of before, or never knew that they were available.

After having everything I wanted, I installed them after installing e-Sword, and ran e-Sword for the first time. When I saw how it looked, and then explored the program more thoroughly, especially the way it could be configured, I found that it was a breeze to use. It was the most simplest piece of software I've ever come across. I had a look at the help file, and wondered why it was there considering that the program was extremely simple and straight forward to use.

As my exploration of e-Sword continued, I was surprised by how everything in it connected to each other. Bible and Dictionary tooltips, the ability to to copy and paste in (which was then just) the topic and study note editors.

A little later I found the Yahoo e-Sword groups, and of how some of them had third party resources for e-Sword, and so I downloaded them. I also joined the main e-Sword User Group, and was surprised at the help that was available there for new users, like myself.

I've been using e-Sword for over 7 years, and in that time my Bible knowledge has increased, and my life is much stronger as a result of it, mostly because of being able to have those resources which has helped me in my walk in Christ in order to know him better.

I've also looked at other free Bible programs, and looked at what they had to offer, and I have to admit I was dismayed by them for the lack of Bible study material. Moreover, of what e-Sword had for free, I found on other sites with the same titles, charging for them. Of those other Bible programs I looked at, they were far more better looking than e-Sword, and also in many respects could do more than what e-Sword could do, but they were a lot more complicated to use, and so they had a steep learning curve. And that cemented in me to stay with e-Sword.

As a result of sticking with e-Sword, and despite the fall shorts of the program, I knew that in reality there was nothing better that could beat it. I realize that seems to be a contradiction, but its true in that e-Sword is an extremely simple program to use, and gives the user all that he/she needs to do hes her Bible study.

For me (and I can only speak for myself) this program has to be the best that there is, and I really believe there is nothing that can beat it in terms of ease of use, and simplicity of design. e-Sword is a true WYSIWYG program, completely uncluttered with a clean and straight forward interface which makes it a real breeze to use.

Over the years I've used this program the design of the interface hasn't changed all that much. This current version still has the same look from when I downloaded the first version (which was about 5.8 I think). The only thing that really has changed is just the way one can drag and drop, place into tabbed position, hide, and float the various views. Minor changes to search dialogs have been made, but apart from that, the look and feel of e-Sword has always been the same.

So, to Rick Meyers, thanks a heap mate, for an incredible and wonderful Bible study tool of which give me great joy and pleasure to use. You, as a result of having developed this program and making it available to me along side with millions of others, are a true and wonderful blessing. God love you for it.

Blessings,

With the way Rick Meyers has made major improvements with e-Sword, he made a major changes to the Dictionary and Commentary  Windows, and Dictionary and Commentary modules. The changes he made for the Commentary and Dictionary resources and windows is giving them the capability to handle and view graphics (images/pictures).

When we saw the changes he made to the editors, and also adding in the Reference Library viewer, I guess some would have thought the had stopped with all of these huge upgrades, but that was not the case. These capabilities which Rick Meyers put into e-Sword, has brought the program up to a level where one can read these resources in the same way one reads from a hardcopy. And that makes it a far more enjoyable experience for the User.

I remember during the period of the 7x and 8x versions of e-Sword (and possibly going back as far as the 5x versions), of users wanting to have graphics added into dictionaries and commentaries. Now having these additions, made available, far more information can be added to these modules including graphical graphs containing statistical data (information) can be shown.

With the addition of being able to view these images, both Dictionary and Commentary modules can have more complex information added to it. One such 3rd Party dictionary module comes to mind that would really benefit, is the Ancient Hebrew Bible Lexington, which currently has separate pdf files containing images of ancient Hebrew text, including images of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Currently there are two premium modules available for e-Sword which includes images, and they are:

• Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary from eStudySource
• Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary also from eStudySource.

I tend to think will be more to come, and this makes it all the more exciting for us.

Another thing to watch out for is Brent Hildebrand's  T4, as I believe he's going to add the capability for being able to place in images for Dictionary and Commentary modules (if he hasn't already done so). And if that is the case, I can see Josh and other resource developers drooling at the mouth

For us e-Sword users, there are exciting times ahead as Rick Meyers continues his improvements to this program. I believe there are going to be updated and new additions and capabilities made to program without taking away the simplicity and ease of use which we enjoy.

Blessings,

Hi Brian,
Although Josh seems to have solved the problem for you, the actual problem you're having with uploading hasn't been resolved, and I'm of the mind that this is important so that any future uploads you may make, you don't strike those difficulties again.

So, here are a couple of things that might help you to resolve this problem. Both are somewhat dependent on what brand of web browser you are using, i.e., Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, or some other.

First is to check if you have the latest version of Adobe Flash. The default uploader used on this site requires Adobe Flash. This program usually works with all types of web browsers, and so its important to ensure you are up-to-date on the latest version of that program.

Secondly, check if your web browser has been updated. Sometimes your web browser has been automatically updated, but your Adobe Flash is lagging behind and hasn't been updated. If that is the case, again, you will need to update your Adobe Flash.

Now, if neither of these is your problem, then the issue may be at Josh's end, and here he may have to look into it. However, I don't think that really is the case, and all it could really be is just you may having to update your Adobe Flash.

I hope this really helps you.

Blessings,

HI Josh,
I've noticed that you've changed the likes of a post to where someone can either vote it up or down, and I just curious to know why you've done that.

Usually I vote a Like mostly because its accurate and gives me the information I want, or that what is said has hit the nail on the head. If I find its inaccurate, then I comment on the inaccuracy. With that said, why do we need to have to vote on something down?

Your thoughts.

Blessings,