e-Sword - An Awesome Bible Library

Have you ever gone into a pastor's study and been impressed with his large library of impressive books?  The same would apply to lawyers, or doctors, or educators. After you get over the 1st impression, you then begin to think..."I wonder if he has read all those books?"  Probably NOT.  When I look at my own life and ministry, I am guilty of the same thing.  I have lots of impressive books that I have never read.  Of course, some books are only purchased for reference, meaning, you only use them to "look up something".  You don't read them, you read IN them.  Nevertheless, the saying is true, "It is not how many books you own, it is how many books you have read."

I said all as a warning.  When you download and install e-Sword or any other Bible research program, it is very easy to quickly accumulate a large library of impressive stuff.  Accumulating stuff, can quickly take the place of USING the stuff.  With e-Sword, it is easy to download 20 or more versions of the Bible.... but the important thing is "do you read the Bible"?  Do you study the Bible?  e-Sword is meant to be a "tool" not an "ornament".  Buying a whole bunch of impressive automotive tools does not make you a mechanic.  Taking the tools that you have and getting greasy does.

Having said all that, I want to show you how to add stuff to your installation of e-Sword.  I will be using the iPad version as an example but the same applies to all 4 version with minor differences.

On your iPad, startup the e-Sword app.  In the lower right hand corner click on resources.

The resource screen  will appear showing all of the Bibles, and other material that is already installed.  If you click the "i" that is to the right of any resource, a popup box with give you info about that item.  If you click the "?" at the top left, a help screen will appear.  In this lesson, I will deal only with installing Bible versions.  Click on the word "Bibles" in the menu.

A new screen will appear showing all of the Bibles that are available to install.  Most of them are free.  Some must be purchased due to copyright considerations.  We will deal only with the free ones here.  Any Bible in the list that has a check mark next to it is already installed.  Any one that has an icon of a pad lock next to it must be purchased.  Highlight the Bible version that you wish to install and then click on the "download" button in the top menu.  Wait for it to download.  It should then appear in your list of available Bibles.  If you wish to DELETE (uninstall) a Bible, go back to the "Installed" screen, highlight the Bible that you wish to remove and click on DELETE in the upper right corner.

In addition to Bible versions, you can also install Commentaries, Dictionaries, Lexicons, References, and Devotional works.  Follow the same procedure using the top menu.

Remember, take it easy.  It is not how much your have, but how much you use that is important.