The SWORD Project is the CrossWire Bible Society's free software project. Its purpose is to create cross-platform

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

tools—covered by the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...

—that allow

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

s and

Bible societies A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credibi ...

to write new

Bible software Biblical software or Bible software is a group of computer applications designed to read, study and in some cases discuss biblical texts and concepts. Biblical software programs are similar to e-book readers in that they include digitally formatted ...

more quickly and easily.

Overview

The core of The SWORD Project is a

cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software r ...

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

written in

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

, providing access, search functions and other utilities to a growing collection of over 200 texts in over 50 languages. Any software based on their

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...

can use this collection. JSword is a separate implementation, written in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, which reproduces most of the API features of the C++ API and supports most SWORD data content. The project is one of the primary implementers of and contributors to the

Open Scripture Information Standard Open Scripture Information Standard (OSIS) is an XML application (or schema), that defines tags for marking up Bibles, theological commentaries, and other related literature. Description The schema is very similar to that of the Text Encoding ...

(OSIS), a standardized

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

language for the encoding of scripture. The software is also capable of utilizing certain resources encoded in using the

Text Encoding Initiative The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a text-centric community of practice in the academic field of digital humanities, operating continuously since the 1980s. The community currently runs a mailing list, meetings and conference series, and main ...

(TEI) format and maintains deprecated support for

Theological Markup Language The Theological Markup Language (ThML) is a "royalty-free" XML-based format created in 1998 by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) to create electronic theological texts. Other formats such as STEP and Logos Library System (LLS) were foun ...

(ThML) and General Bible Format (GBF).

Bible study front-end applications

A variety of front ends based on The SWORD Project are available:

And Bible

And Bible, based on JSword, is an Android application.

Alkitab Bible Study

Alkitab Bible Study, based on JSword, is a multiplatform application with binaries available for Windows, Linux, and OS X. It has been described as "an improved Windows front-end for JSword".

The Bible Tool

The Bible Tool is a web front end to SWORD. One instance of the tool is hosted at CrossWire's own site.

BibleDesktop

BibleDesktop is built on JSword featuring binaries for Windows (98SE and later), OS X, and Linux (and other Unix-like OSes).

BibleTime

BibleTime is a C++ SWORD front end using the Qt GUI toolkit, with binaries for Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, and OS X.

BibleTime Mini

BibleTime Mini is a multiplatform application for Android,

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

, jailbroken iOS,

MeeGo MeeGo is a discontinued Linux distribution hosted by the Linux Foundation, using source code from the operating systems Moblin (produced by Intel) and Maemo (produced by Nokia). Primarily targeted at mobile devices and information appliances in ...

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typic ...

, and

Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...

BPBible

BPBible is a SWORD front end written in Python, which supports Linux and Windows. A notable feature is that a

PortableApps PortableApps.com is a website offering free applications for Windows that have been specially packaged for portability. These portable applications are intended to be used from removable media such as USB flash drives. User data is stored in a s ...

version of BPBible is available.

Eloquent

''Eloquent'' (formerly ''MacSword'') is a free open-source application for research and study of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, developed specifically for Macintosh computers running

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

. It is a native

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

app built in

Objective-C Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXTS ...

. Eloquent allows users to read and browse different

bible translations The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...

in many languages, devotionals, commentaries, dictionaries and lexicons. It also supports searching and advanced features such as

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

enabling users to access the Bible within other application programs. Eloquent is one of

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

's top 10 Bible programs. Version 2.3.5 of Eloquent continues with the Snow Leopard development. However, starting with the version 2.4.0, Eloquent has started with the OS X Lion testing, implementing features that are specific only to the Lion operating system.

Ezra Bible App

Ezra Bible App is an open source bible study tool focussing on topical study based on keywords/tags. It is based on

Electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...

and works on Windows, Linux, macOS and Android.

FireBible

FireBible is a

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and ...

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

that works on Windows, Linux, and OS X.

PocketSword

PocketSword is an iOS front end supporting iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch available in Apple's

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...

.
PocketSword

STEPBible

STEPBible (STEP - Scripture Tools for Every Person) is an initiative by Tyndale House (Cambridge), Tyndale House, Cambridge to build an online Bible study tool based on The SWORD Project. The first public release (Beta launch) of the software as an online platform was on 25 July 2013. The desktop version runs in any browser on the desktop computer. Additionally, the STEPBible app can be installed on an iOS device such as phones or tablets running iOS, or Android, and on a Chrome book.

The SWORD Project for Windows

The SWORD Project for Windows (known internally as BibleCS) is a Windows application built in

C++Builder C++Builder is a rapid application development (RAD) environment, originally developed by Borland and owned by Embarcadero Technologies (a subsidiary of Idera Software, Idera), for writing programs in the C++ programming language currently targeti ...

Xiphos

Xiphos (formerly GnomeSword) is a C++ SWORD front end using

GTK+ GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprie ...

, with binaries available for Linux, UNIX, and Windows (2000 and later). It has been described as "a top-of-the-line Bible study program."

xulsword

xulsword is a

XUL XUL ( ), which stands for XML User Interface Language, is a user interface markup language developed by Mozilla. XUL is an XML dialect for writing graphical user interfaces, enabling developers to write user interface elements in a manner simila ...

-based front end for Windows and Linux. Portable versions of the application, intended to be run from a USB stick, are also available.

Others

Additional front ends to SWORD exist to support a number of legacy and niche platforms, including: * diatheke
diatheke ( Command-line interface, CLI & CGI) * SwordReader SwordReader (

) * Rapier
Rapier (

Maemo Maemo is a software platform originally developed by Nokia, now developed by the community, for smartphones and Internet tablets. The platform comprises both the Maemo operating system and SDK. Maemo played a key role in Nokia's strategy to com ...

)

Reviews

*It is one of

's top 10 bible programs. *Bible Software Review
''Review of MacSword version 1.2,''
June 13, 2005. *Foster Tribe SwordBible Revie

November 25, 2008 *Michael Hansen
''Studying the Bible for Free,''
Stimulus, Volume 12 Number 3, August 2004, page 33 - 38

References

External links

The SWORD Project

JSword
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sword Project Electronic Bibles Electronic publishing Text Encoding Initiative Online Scripture Search Engine