Mar 9th

Posted by ElizabethB in Product Reviews

I often find that my time in God’s Word is guided in different ways. At times, I read the Bible with a devotional lens, perhaps finding ways to encourage a friend going through a difficult time or simply learning to know and love God more deeply. There are also times when I read the Bible “thinkingly,” with eyes open to what my study notes, Bible commentaries, and Bible dictionaries might have to teach me. Olive Tree provides Bibles and Bible study materials that help me approach the Bible both thinkingly and devotionally, in order to foster a rich relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the Word.

The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, based on the text of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, blends a devotional and a thinking read of the Old and New Testament and deuterocanonical books. This resource is especially equipped with enhanced features in BibleReader. The split-screen mode allows you to read the study notes, outlines, and book introductions alongside the biblical text.

Introductions at the beginning of each biblical book highlight major themes within that book, the style of the author and his writing, and the historical and biblical context of the book. Detailed verse-by-verse notes follow the introductions and book outlines and contain helpful insights into the biblical text. Students of the Bible will find new depth and insight in this work, whether newcomers to scriptural study or seasoned academics.

Check out the New Interpreter’s Study Bible on OliveTree.com and continue to read the Bible thinkingly as a way to delve more deeply into the depths of God’s Word.

Mar 7th

Posted by CherylynK in Inspiration

“Inspiring people to connect with God and the Bible” is our guiding mission at Olive Tree. Our desire to get people excited about reading and studying their Bible is universal, spanning continents and languages.

Image courtesy of www.bibel.no

We worked closely with the Norwegian Bible Society when they released Bibelen 2011, a new translation based on the original biblical texts and updated to the modern Norwegian language. The release of this Bible translation was monumental for Norway. In anticipation of the Bible’s arrival, lines of people stretched around bookstores and people camped out overnight waiting to get a copy of the first new Norwegian translation in over 30 years. Theology students from Oslo made the national news when they dressed up as Bible characters to celebrate the Bible’s release.

The new Norwegian translation topped Norway’s book charts almost every week in 2011 after its October publication.  Selling nearly 80,000 copies in under three months, Bibelen 2011 far outweighed everyone’s expectations, proving that God’s Word, the Bible, is still powerful and relevant today.

Olive Tree was proud to be among the first to release the new Norwegian Bible, and it is stories like this that make us excited about the BibleReader app and its potential to spread the gospel.

Through our partnership with United Bible Societies, we are developing relationships with Bible Societies in Brazil, Thailand, The Philippines, India and other countries, and hope to offer new translations of the Bible in even more languages. Even places where access to the Bible is limited because of religious persecution can be reached through free Bible software.

Currently we have over 75 titles in foreign languages, including Bibles in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Chinese, French, Afrikaans, Dutch, Tagalog, Swedish, Italian and more, and the list is steadily growing.

To learn more about the great work that the United Bible Societies is doing in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, visit their site Here. To see a listing of the foreign language titles available from Olive Tree, head to the Online Store.

Feb 29th

Posted by ElizabethB in Inspiration

I was reading through Olive Tree’s latest newsletter this morning and was intrigued by Streams in the Desert, a title featured in our Leap Day sale. I wonder who L.B. Cowman is, I thought, and when he lived. Curious, I googled L.B. Cowman and immediately realized my ignorance. L.B. Cowman is Lettie Burd Cowman, a woman who lived from 1870 to 1960!

My search turned up a wealth of information about Lettie Cowman’s life. She and her husband Charles E. Cowman worked as pioneer missionaries in Japan and China from 1901 to 1917. During that time, they led evangelistic campaigns to bring people to Christ, trained indigenous Christian leaders, and opened a Bible School in Tokyo at which Oswald Chambers stayed in 1906 and 1907.

By all accounts, Charles was an inspiring leader and experienced great success on the mission field. But the Cowmans were forced to return to the United States in 1917 because of Charles’ poor health. For the next six years, Charles’ health steadily declined, and Lettie spent the majority of her time tending to her failing husband. Charles died in 1923, leaving Lettie a widow until she died on Easter Sunday in 1960.

Though the title of Lettie’s greatest work might give us a clue to times of hardship in her life, the words of this devotional became even more poignant while reading that Lettie’s life with Christ was marked by active witness, prolonged hardship, and significant leadership in the mission world, both before and after her husband’s death. Lettie’s words of encouragement, words that are both her own and borrowed from other Christian authors, are never trite or untested. Rather, Lettie writes assured words of encouragement because she experienced it firsthand in a life of hills and valleys, of high points and low points.

I pray that you’ll take Lettie Cowman’s example to heart this Leap Day. Hear these words with a glad heart: “In Him are springs, fountains, and streams that will never be cut off or run dry. To those who are anxious comes the gracious promise of our heavenly Father: If He is the Source of our mercies, mercy will never fail us” (January 1 reading). Be assured that God’s mercies are new every morning, even Leap Day mornings!

Check out Olive Tree’s eBook version of Streams in the Desert on OliveTree.com.

Feb 28th

Posted by CherylynK in Customer Feedback

Olive Tree’s mission is to inspire people to connect with God and the Bible and we get excited when we hear that people are using BibleReader to do just that.

John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the founder of Desiring God Ministries.  He is also a fan of Olive Tree’s BibleReader. In a recent blog post, Piper wrote, “Olive Tree BibleReader is my default mobile Bible. I use it for devotions every day, usually from my iPad.” He goes on to talk about some of BibleReader’s features, like split-screen reading, daily reading plans and posting verses to Facebook and Twitter and says BibleReader is “easy enough for an old guy like me.”

Read his full blog post here: “Speaking of Apps: The Voice of God in Our Hands”.

We are so glad to hear that people use our software for their daily devotions. We never tire of learning how BibleReader has impacted our users’ study of the Bible. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and let us know how Olive Tree’s BibleReader app has helped you connect with God and the Bible.

Check out Olive Tree’s collection of resources by John Piper at OliveTree.com.

Feb 23rd

Posted by CherylynK in What's New?

Windows PC users, be sure to download the 5.0.2 update to BibleReader, now available at OliveTree.com/pc. We’ve incorporated many of your suggestions and requests into the latest update. Thanks for all your input and please keep it coming!

Here are some of the features in BibleReader 5.0.2 for PC:

Verses Hyperlink in Notes

While creating notes in BibleReader, each Bible verse you type into the note window will automatically become a usable hyperlink. Hold the “Ctrl” button and click on the hyperlink to open the Bible verse in a pop-up window.

Set Sync for Windows

If you like to have multiple books open at once, this new feature is designed for you. You can pick and choose how your tear-out windows scroll along. In the example below, I have the NIV open in my main window and the ASV and Matthew Henry’s Commentary open in tear-out windows. By clicking on the drop down menu in the tear-outs (“MHC Jn 1:1▼” and “ASV Jn 1:1▼”) I can choose “Window Link Options” and set my commentary and second Bible to follow along with the Bible in my main window, or I can create a new link set. All of the books you set to the “A” link set will follow along with each other as you scroll, the same for all the “B” group and “C” group. The default setting is Follow Main Window, so as you scroll through the book in your main window, the other books will follow along.

Additional Features in this Update

• Text selection while scrolling.
• Bug fixes within the app.

Feb 22nd

Posted by CherylynK in Product Reviews

A few weeks ago we mentioned a new resource coming to Olive Tree, HALOT, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. We are excited to offer HALOT because it is one of the best biblical Hebrew resources available today. To explain why it is such a valuable resource, Matt J., one of our Original Languages Content Formatters, is here to outline the many features in HALOT. Here’s Matt…

The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, commonly known by the acronym HALOT, is widely regarded as the best lexicon currently available for biblical Hebrew. Many of you may wonder how HALOT developed this reputation and what exactly makes it so much better than other Hebrew dictionaries (which often cost substantially less). As is often the case, what sets HALOT apart is the fact that it is organized around a few simple principles and follows them faithfully.

1. All words are arranged alphabetically.

Many older dictionaries (including BDB Hebrew and English Lexicon) have entries arranged by root rather than in strict alphabetical order. If an English dictionary were arranged this way, it would mean that to look up a word like “invaluable”, you would have to look under the entry for the word “value”. Someone who already has a good grasp of the language and understands organization by roots may be able to find the correct entry without too much difficulty, but for beginning and even intermediate level students this is often a daunting task. I remember spending many frustrating hours when I was first learning Hebrew looking up imaginary roots in futile attempts to discover what root a particular form really was derived from. Although there are advantages to arranging words by roots, strict alphabetical arrangement is a better system for ease of finding a particular entry.

2. All irregular forms are referenced.

Those of you who already know Hebrew know how commonly it drops letters in certain stems or forms. Most of these are predictable, but may still be difficult for students to identify. In addition, Hebrew (like all languages) does have many irregular verb and noun forms. Whenever a word has a form that is unusual or might be confusing, HALOT contains a separate reference that will point you to the correct entry. This makes it ideal for even beginning students. Once again, if an English dictionary were arranged like this, you could look up an irregular verb form like “is,” and the dictionary would identify it as the third person singular present tense form of the verb “to be”. Since it gives you the root form, you can then look up the definition.

3. Extensive quotations are provided for each word.

HALOT attempts to provide as much context as possible for the definitions it gives. This is mainly in the form of biblical quotes. In our electronic edition, these quotes have been turned into hyperlinks to the verses referenced. To give you an idea of how useful this feature is, there are over 120,000 scriptural references in HALOT. Each of these can be accessed in BibleReader by tapping or clicking on the link.

4. Extensive etymologies are provided, including cognates from other Semitic languages.

One of the main reasons that HALOT has eclipsed many older dictionaries as the standard reference on biblical Hebrew is its use of the modern discoveries of ancient Near Eastern literature in many languages closely related to Hebrew. The study of cognate words in languages such as Akkadian or Ugaritic has helped clarify many difficult passages in the Hebrew Bible, and HALOT makes full use of these sources.

5. Hebrew words are separated from Aramaic words.

This may seem like an obvious distinction to make, yet many older dictionaries lump them all together. HALOT separates Hebrew and Aramaic into different volumes.

Two additional points that don’t quite fit with the rest of this list should be noted. The first is that HALOT is an exhaustive lexicon of the Hebrew Bible. This means that unlike some other dictionaries (such as the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament), you will find entries for every word occurring in the Old Testament.

The second has to do with the arrangement of entries. One advantage of arrangement by roots is that it allows you easily to see all of the words derived from a particular root. Since the entries in HALOT are organized alphabetically, there are times when these kind of relationships would not be obvious. To overcome this problem, HALOT provides cross references to related forms under each root. In all, there are over 15,000 of these cross-references that have been turned into hyperlinks in our electronic edition.

While each of these points may seem obvious, many other dictionaries do not share these same features. HALOT is the current standard due to its excellent scholarship, accessibility, clarity, and consistency.

Thanks Matt! As an added bonus, this week only HALOT is 25% off the regular price. Be sure to check out this resource at OliveTree.com.

Feb 21st

Posted by CherylynK in Inspiration

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter in which many Christians observe a form of self-denial as a way to identify with Christ’s 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. It’s easy to relegate Lent to a time of “giving something up,” maybe chocolate or Facebook or fast food. While our waistlines might affirm these Lenten fasts, our spiritual nature begs for something more. Throughout Church history, Christians have turned to classic spiritual disciplines during Lent. But human nature can’t seem to make up its mind about the virtues of discipline. Sure discipline is a good thing. I brush my teeth every morning and evening. I drive safely. I read my Bible every day. But let’s face it: Discipline is hard. Why do we need to practice discipline in a season like Lent anyway?

In essence, discipline helps us to be more like Christ. As Jesus himself taught, denying oneself is integral to the Christian life and necessarily tough. Even Jesus’ discipline of obedience to the Father led to Calvary. As Christianity Today’s editorial from March 1960 puts it, Lent is a time in which we “follow the battered path to Calvary” and recognize our need to “yield ourselves afresh to God…” Just like we discipline ourselves in the care of our physical bodies, we must also do the necessary work of discipline in order to be healthy spiritually.

In this Lenten season, we encourage you to spend time with God each day as we approach the heart of the Christian faith in the agony of Good Friday and the glory of Easter. Along with the Bibles and Study Bibles that Olive Tree offers, check out the Lenten devotionals 40 Days with Jesus by Sarah Young and Walk with Jesus: A Journey to the Cross and Beyond by Charles Swindoll at OliveTree.com. We pray that the discipline of reading a devotional and your Bible daily will help you become more Christ like this Lenten season.

Feb 14th

Posted by CherylynK in What's New?

We’ve got exciting news for iPhone, iPad and iPod users. BibleReader 5.1.5 is now available in the App Store with a brand new social sharing feature. From inside your favorite book or Bible, you can post a verse or quote to Facebook and Twitter or copy the text into an email or text message. Simply tap on a verse number and select the “Share” option.

You can also highlight selections of text to post as well. Once you’ve selected your text and tapped on “Share” you can choose to email, text or post your selection to Facebook or Twitter.

You will need to have a Facebook or Twitter account as well as have the Twitter app installed to take advantage of those sharing options. If you do not have the Facebook app you will be redirected to Facebook in Safari. If you are logged in to your account you will be able to preview your post and tap send to tweet the verse or post it to your Facebook wall.

Download the update and check out this cool new feature. Enjoy being able to share your Scripture reading and study with your friends quickly and easily inside of the Olive Tree BibleReader app for iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Feb 13th

Posted by CherylynK in Inspiration

Whatever your plans this week, Valentine’s Day is a wonderful time to celebrate the love you have for your family. It is also the perfect time to commit to growing deeper in your relationships. This Valentine’s Day, consider doing just that with one of the many resources available from Olive Tree. To help you out, we are offering 35% off all of our Marriage & Family eBooks.

While you are reflecting on the love you share with your friends and family, remember the love that God freely gives to you. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”—Ephesians 2:4-5. God’s love is the greatest love of all, a never-ending and all-consuming love. “There is not a drop of love in His heart which is not yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of His love, and you may say of it all, ‘It is mine.’” —Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening.

We want to encourage you not only to spend some time with loved ones this February, but also to spend time reflecting on the love of God. So we are also offering 35% off Devotionals. No matter your place in life, whether you are a new Christian or a retired pastor, starting a relationship or celebrating years of marriage, we have resources that will speak to you. Look through the featured titles below and head to OliveTree.com to browse the sale.

Charles Spurgeon, sometimes called the “prince of preachers” because of the richness of his sermons, ministered to thousands in London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for decades. His popular daily devotional Morning and Evening has been a source of spiritual encouragement to countless believers. Taking subjects directly from the Bible and focusing on Christ’s glory, Spurgeon ushers his readers directly into the Lord’s presence to enjoy the comfort only God can provide.

With devotions that reflect the concerns many couples face today, the Couples’ Devotional Bible Notes is designed to help you build your relationship on the one foundation you can count on: God’s Word. The devotions cover many topics including communication, work, money, setting goals, step-parenting, forgiveness and more. The devotional features 260 week-day devotions and additional weekend devotions that promote application of and interaction with the Bible text.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” — John  13:34

Feb 5th

Posted by CherylynK in What's New?

Hey Mac users, be sure to download the 5.0.3 update to BibleReader, now available in the Mac App Store. We implemented many of your requests in the update, and we think you’ll be as excited as we are about the new features.

Some of the features in BibleReader 5.0.3 for Mac:

Verses Start On New Line

Go to BibleReader: Preferences and select “Verses Start a New Line” to start each verse of the Bible on a new line.

Show/Hide Strong’s Numbers

Display the Strong’s information in your Bible text. You also have the option to hide the Strong’s numbers for uninterrupted reading.

How To Access the New Features

From inside Mac BibleReader 5.0.3, click on the “BibleReader” menu on the top Mac menu bar. Select “Preferences” to see the new feature options.

Simply check or uncheck the box for “Verses Start a New Line” to see the new display for Bibles. Check “Show Strong’s Numbers” to view Strong’s information in your Bible text.

Additional Features in this Update

• Improved window management with tear outs. Click on the “Window” menu to group all of your floating windows into one window.
• Adjust fonts for Greek and Hebrew independently. New “Original Language Fonts” option inside the font menu let you re-size Greek and Hebrew text.