1. From your Kindle Fire home screen tap on “Apps”
2. Tap on “Store” on the top right corner of the Apps window
3. Tap on the top input bar “Search Appstore” and then type in “Olive Tree”

4. Tap on the FREE Olive Tree Bible Study app
5. Tap on the Download button
6. Once the download begins you should see a progress bar
7. After the download is complete, you can tap the ‘Open’ button or go to your apps screen and tap on the Bible Study icon to open the Olive Tree app

For instructions to download titles which are registered to your Olive Tree account, click here.

Not seeing your Notes or Highlights in the text?
There is a setting on some platforms which affects whether or not highlights and notes are displayed in the text.  In order to hide or display highlights in the text please follow these steps:

Open the Olive Tree app

With Scripture on the screen, select the ‘Settings’ icon (A*)

Select ‘Advanced Settings’

Select ‘Other Settings’

Selecting ‘Hide Annotations’ places a check mark, enabling this feature

Unchecking this selection will Show Annotations in the text

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I currently lead a Bible study at my church and being an Olive Tree employee, I naturally want to utilize our software to meet the needs of our group as well as my own needs in preparing for our study. Like most of us, I am pretty busy and need to make the most of my time spent on preparing for our meeting. In this post, I’ll walk through the steps I take each week to prepare for the Bible study I lead. Olive Tree’s software makes each step easy.

I use the Android application primarily, since I have both an Android phone and tablet. However, I also use the Windows and Mac applications when available. The screenshots come from my Android phone.

Each week, we go through a chapter or two from a book of the Bible. We are currently studying Acts. We created a Facebook group for our small group so that members can post events, prayer requests, and the like to other members in the group. The first thing I do to prepare for our discussion is to post the week’s passage on our small group’s Facebook page. This is easy with the Android Bible Study App. I simply select the verse number of the current passage and select share. Once I’ve shared, members can read the verses on Olive Tree’s website by clicking the link in the post. I can also choose to add comments to the message if I like:

Now, all group members can see the week’s passage from the Olive Tree website.

My work at Olive Tree includes converting the text of original works so that Olive Tree’s application can display it, so I am blessed with a familiarity of the books we offer. Of these, there are several that I use repeatedly to prepare for the study.

1. Archaeological Study Bible: This resource provides a wealth of knowledge about the cultural background of the Bible. I often use it as a starting point to understand basic concepts about the week’s passage. For our current book (Acts), the maps and images give me something visual to present to the group on my Android tablet.

2. English Standard Version: A great free translation available with the Olive Tree application.

3. NIV Study Bible: Since most of the members in our group use the NIV, I usually consult the Study Bible for insight on why the passage was translated the way it was. The notes highlight specific words used in the NIV translation and why they are significant to the passage.

4. NASB Strong’s: I find myself using this Strong’s Bible most often. A Strong’s Bible is especially useful during group study when someone has a question about a word in the passage.

One of the benefits of having Olive Tree on several platforms is that I can access my study materials anywhere. If I have some free time and my laptop is available, I can use the Mac or Windows app. If I’m away from my computer, I can access the app on my Android phone or tablet.

The ability to sync my notes and highlights makes the app even better. I facilitate the group exclusively from the notes I make in my Olive Tree app. I’m often on the go and can’t sit down at my laptop to study very often. So, it is great to have Olive Tree on my Android phone. I can study a passage and make notes on my phone, then sync those notes to my tablet, which I use at the study.

Those are a few of the ways I use The Bible Study App to prepare for and engage my small group.
How do you use Bible software to prepare for your personal or group study?

A friend of mine overheard her daughter and my daughter talking one afternoon, saying what each of their moms were good at. My friend’s daughter said her mom was good at crafts, scrapbooking, cute hair styles, and picking out clothes. My daughter said her mom was good at “packing things into small spaces” (which turns out to mean backpacking and camping), identifying birds, and general outdoorsy stuff. So I told my friend, “Great! Between the two of us we’re the perfect mom!” Except maybe for cooking. Apparently neither of us shine in that area.

My friend and I are very different in our gifts and interests, so each of our daughters are having a very different experience of “Mom.” In some ways, it’s almost like a marriage vow: for better or worse, in sickness and health, tired or well-rested, crafty or not-crafty, good cook or mediocre, my kids have me for their mom. They won’t get everything, but they’ll get me.  And I think that is truly what they need: a connection with another person who loves them for who they are, for who God made them to be. God’s own nature is relational: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And so it is no surprise that some of our most basic needs are relational also: to be truly known, to be loved, to be accepted, flaws and all.

My favorite Mother’s Day present is a variation of this: breakfast in bed made up of soggy cereal, either burnt or barely toasted toast with globs of butter, and something random like dried cranberries or popcorn. I don’t see the food by itself: I see the love that made it and the relationship that has grown, and is growing, between two kids and their Mom.

To add a highlight:

Tap on the verse number where you would like to add a highlight.

A toolbar will pop up, with several options. Select the “Highlight” option. You can now select the number of verses to highlight. Tap the right facing arrow to select multiple verses.

Once you have selected the verse range to highlight, tap “Select [number] Verse(s).”

The highlight editor will pop up which allows you to title the highlight, change the highlight color and edit tags for the highlight.

Make the changes to the highlight you would like, and tap “Save” to finish adding your highlight.

To add a note:

Tap on the verse number where you would like to create a note. A toolbar will pop up, with several options. Select the “Note” option.

The note editor will pop up which allows you to title the note, add text to the note and edit tags for the note. Tap on the “Edit” button to add text to your note. Tap “Done” when you are finished editing the note. A note icon should appear in the Bible text next to the verse you selected to create a note.

Your Very Own Research Assistant
Think of the Resource Guide as your own personal research assistant. If you were reading about Paul’s first missionary journey in Acts 13, your research assistant has a map of Paul’s journey, cross references to passages in Paul’s letters written to the churches he founded, charts that give an overview of Paul’s life, and all sorts of other resources. You didn’t have to do anything, in fact, you didn’t even have to ask. All of the work was already done by your personal research assistant, the Resource Guide.

Completely Customizable
The configuration of the Resource Guide is also customizable. To access the options for customizing the Resource Guide tap on the double arrow button (double gear for Android) in the upper right corner. You will then see the various options for customizing the different sections in the Resource Guide.

What types of resources work with the Resource Guide?
The Resource Guide is ‘verse driven’ which means that the Bible passage that is open in the main window directs references in the Resource Guide. Not every resource is verse driven but some examples of verse driven resources are:

• Articles on people, places, and other topics
• Study Bible notes
• Commentaries
• Outlines
• Introductions to books of the Bible
• Cross references
• Maps

For more information about the Resource Guide or other App features check out our Help Center.

To open the resource guide:
Tap on the gray double bar that appears at the far right or bottom of the screen. When it turns blue you can drag the split window open.

Once you’ve pulled the split window open, tap on your phone’s settings button to bring up the menu

From the drop down, tap on ‘Resource Guide’
When you select Resource Guide for the first time, it will ask you to download the database, tap on the message to start downloading the Resource Guide.

After the download completes, the Resource Guide will open. The Resource Guide displays information from your library related to the current passage you are reading. You can see commentaries, maps, charts and more. To change the setting for the Resource Guide to open in the split window, open the ‘Advanced Settings’ and check the box for displaying the Resource Guide in the split window.

Dictionary Look up
As you read along in your Bible or other resource, you can highlight a word and select “Look Up” from the menu of options. Immediately The Bible Study App searches your library for resources related to your selected word.

Click on the Olive Tree Concordance from the list of articles to see the entry for the selected word. Similar to a traditional concordance, the Olive Tree concordance gives you a listing of all the other places in the Bible where that word is used. The Bible Study App goes beyond the traditional concordance by creating hyperlinks for all the verse references, so as you click on one, a pop up window will take you to the Bible text, making a word study quick and easy.

Strong’s Numbering
You may have noticed that there is a number listed next to each verse reference in the concordance. This is the Strong’s number for your selected word. Strong’s numbers represent the word in the original language that was translated into your English word.

For example, when you look up “mercy,” you will get a different Strong’s number for the Hebrew words raḥam and ḥânan which are both translated as mercy in English, but have different meanings in Hebrew. When you tap or click on the Strong’s number h7356, the search will bring up all of the verse references in the Bible that contain the Hebrew word raḥam.

Strong’s Dictionary
In addition to the Strong’s Numbers, you will also receive access to the Strong’s Dictionary when you purchase the Olive Tree concordances. Next to each Strong’s Number in the concordance is a hyperlink to the “Dictionary.” When you tap or click on “Dictionary” a pop up will provide the original language definition. For example, when selecting “Dictionary” for h7356 (raḥam) the entry is:
h7356. רַחַם raḥam;  from 7355; compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden: — bowels, compassion, damsel, tender love, (great, tender) mercy, pity, womb.
AV (44)- mercy 30, compassion 4, womb 4, bowels 2, pity 2, damsel 1, tender love 1; n m

The dictionary information tells me that raḥam comes from the Hebrew root word with the Strong’s number h7355. I can find the dictionary information for the root word if I click or tap on h7355. The dictionary entry also gives a definition for raḥam and lists the occurrences of the word and how it is translated. There are 44 instances of the Hebrew word in the Bible, 30 of which are translated as “mercy,” four are translated “compassion,” and so on.

As you can see, the Olive Tree Concordances are much more than a list of cross references for each word in the Bible. With dictionary information tied to the original language, these resources are valuable tools for Bible study.  Each concordance comes with a copy of the Bible in the selected translation.

Head to our online store to check out these new offerings from Olive Tree!

• Olive Tree KJV Concordance

• Olive Tree ESV Concordance with ESV

• Olive Tree NKJV Concordance with NKJV

By Olive Tree Staff: Matt Jonas

Olive Tree recently released the NA28 for the Bible Study App and some of you may be wondering “why all the fuss”?  I wrote a blog post covering some of the major differences between the NA28 and the previous edition.  However, there was one very specific change that I didn’t mention in that article that is of great significance to me and all other Bible-believing Christians.  It is a change in Jude 5 that has great implications for the current discussion regarding the “historical Jesus” and the early church’s views on the divinity of Christ.

The Greek text of Jude 5 in the NA27 reads as follows:
“ Ὑπομνῆσαι δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι, εἰδότας [ὑμᾶς] πάντα ὅτι [ὁ] κύριος ἅπαξ λαὸν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου σώσας τὸ δεύτερον τοὺς μὴ πιστεύσαντας ἀπώλεσεν,”

Here’s how the NRSV translates this verse into English:

“Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

The NA28, however, has  Ἰησοῦς (Jesus) in place of κύριος (Lord).  Here’s the same passage from the NA28:

“ Ὑπομνῆσαι δὲ ὑμᾶς βούλομαι, εἰδότας [ὑμᾶς] ἅπαξ πάντα ὅτι  Ἰησοῦς λαὸν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου σώσας τὸ δεύτερον τοὺς μὴ πιστεύσαντας ἀπώλεσεν,”

Interestingly, the ESV already translated the passage this way on the basis of the better manuscript evidence for the reading used by the NA28.  I believe this is the only place where the ESV translators departed from the main text of the NA27 and used a “variant” reading instead.  It is a little ironic, in my opinion, that the “variant” reading they chose is now in the main text of the NA28.

Here’s how the ESV translates Jude 5:
“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

In the book of Exodus, it was the Lord (YHWH) who led the Israelites out of Egypt.  If Jude is claiming that it was Jesus who led the Israelites out of captivity, then he is apparently identifying Jesus with the Lord.

It is interesting to note that this change was made because it is the” best attested reading” for this passage.  Bruce Metzger even said as much in his Textual Commentary, but regardless, the editors of the NA27 still chose the reading “Lord” rather than “Jesus”.

Here are Metzger’s own words:

“Critical principles seem to require the adoption of Ἰησοῦς, which admittedly is the best attested reading among Greek and versional witnesses…” (Metzger, 657).

At the beginning of the same note, Metzger explained the reading used in the main text of the NA27 in this way:

“Despite the weighty attestation supporting  Ἰησοῦς … a majority of the Committee was of the opinion that this reading was difficult to the point of impossibility, and explained its origin in terms of transcriptional oversight…”(Metzger, 657).

The NA28 has reversed this decision, going with the “best attested reading” even though it might be theologically objectionable to those who wish to claim that Christ’s divinity was not a belief held by the early church and was instead a later invention.

This view even became a part of our popular culture recently due to Dan Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code.”  Among other things, the novel claims that Emperor Constantine I suppressed Gnosticism and promoted the deity of Christ for political reasons.  Brown’s view is presented as fiction (which it clearly is due to the numerous historical inaccuracies), but there have been other more scholarly attempts to support similar claims.

Thomas Jefferson famously cut-and-pasted pieces from his collection of Bibles to create “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazereth,” better known as the Jefferson Bible.  In this harmony of the gospels, he complete eliminated all references to Christ’s divinity and his miracles (including, of course, his resurrection).

More recently, the Jesus Seminar did something similar, voting on whether they believed that the words attributed to Jesus by the Gospels were authentic.  Not surprisingly, passages in which Jesus claims divinity (such as John 14), didn’t make the cut.

In his recent book Misquoting Jesus, Bart Ehrman even claims that early Christian scribes altered the text of the New Testament to support their views, such as the deity of Christ.  Ironically, Jude 5 (in the NA27) may be an example of the opposite phenomenon, in which modern “scribes” altered the text in a way that deemphasized this doctrine.  It’s refreshing to see that the editors of the NA28 have corrected this bias and have ruled simply in favor of the textual evidence, even though the resulting reading may be troubling to some.

Hopefully, the choice to include this reading marks the beginning of a trend against the bias that I mentioned above.  In his talk on the NA28 at the 2012 SBL national conference in Chicago, Klaus Wachtel noted that the NA27 showed bias against the Byzantine tradition. He also claimed that NA28 by contrast recognizes the reliability of the mainstream tradition.  This respect for the mainstream tradition is evident in how the editors of the NA28 chose to handle Jude 5.  The textual evidence has always been on the side of the reading that was chosen, and yet previous editions used a less well attested variant instead because of the theological implications.  How the NA28 handles Jude 5 may not “disprove” the claims of Dan Brown, or Thomas Jefferson, the Jesus Seminar, or Bart Ehrman, but  it is still a step in the right direction.