A Helpful Bible Study Tool

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Dr. Headly

I first heard about YouVersion through another blogger several weeks ago. (I think it was Josh). If you have not heard of it, YouVersion is an online Bible Study tool. More than just a site where you can read Scripture in several translations, it seeks to build a community around your personal Bible study. We just wrapped up our first leg of our Journey With Jesus challenge (click this link to find out more) and I thought that now would be a great time to explore it more in-depth. Here is what I found.

  • There are currently 13 English and 3 Spanish translations available to be read. You can search for whole chapters of specific verses.
  • You can journal your thoughts on the passage, and even tag specific words or segments to function like a bookmark, or a concordance listing.
  • You can highlight passages that you desire to come back to and read later.
  • You can see tags, stars, highlights and more from other YouVersion users.
  • You can upload video and images.
  • You can get links to passages to embed elsewhere on the web.

There is still work to be done before it is streamlined, but it is off to a very strong start. I recommend checking it out, and passing it on to your teens to use. I am a big fan of Biblegateway, but am seriously considering switching to YouVersion as my primary online study resource, and encouraging our tens to get involved as well. (Though nothing beats a physical Bible, a journal and a pen and a solid commentary in my opinion, this is a great help to strengthen your study).

Click on the images to enlarge and check out the screen shots from YouVersion:

Filed under: H20, Ministry, Ministry Resourcing, Random, Technology, The Web, Theology, Youth Ministry | Tagged: , , , , ,

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4 Responses

  2. Dr. Headly, on July 16th, 2008 at 8:19 am Said:

    would i be correct in assuming that you are saying no one can take this as a serious Bible TOOL? i am thinking your L did not register.

    granted, there is not much that is scholarly included at this point (which I would like to see included in the future), but there are well-respected translations, and it encourages Believers to interact with each other in and around Scripture. Plus it allows the readers to journal through a passage and pose thoughts and questions to those who might be more knowledgeable than they are.

    helpful tool? yes. only tool one should use? certainly not.

    Reply
  3. thenoncomformer, on July 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 am Said:

    >> you left a couple of comments on my blog last week
    Just one.. No one can take this as a serious Bible too..

    it was too cumbersome to try to use.. i use my simple Bible program on my computer and it works great

    and there is no substitute for a personal quite time with God.

    and I prefer the KJV

    http://pbulow.tripod.com/wait.html

    Reply
  4. Dr. Headly, on July 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 pm Said:

    thanks for clarifying your comment. i was wondering what angle you were coming from as to why you felt YouVersion is not useful.

    and i do agree there is no substitute for personal quet time with God.

    Reply

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