The ESV iPhone app - Should you check it out?

A Great Mobile Bible

At my church, we believe in Biblical Authority. In fact, it is one of our core values. We would love nothing more than to see every attender faithfully digging into their Bible and reading and studying God's Word on their own!
So, I like to pass on information about Bible tools that can help you spend time in His Word.
Crossway just put out an ESV app for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. If you want to know more, visit mobile.esv.org.

Key Features

• "Highlight" or "Favorite" a verse - There are two ways to mark verses for quick reference later. You can "highlight" them or make them a "favorite". Highlighting does just what it sounds like. You see a yellow highlight on the verse as you are reading the text. You can also see a list of just your highlighted verses. Favorite-ing does not cause the verse to stand out in the text, but does put in in the list of your favorites. Highlighting is good for marking verses that stand out to you as you read, and favorite-ing is good for marking verses for later reference (perhaps something you want to memorize or study).
• Notes - You can create personalized notes for any passage of scripture. Great for taking notes during a sermon, for journaling during your personal quiet time, for for remember thoughts as you study a book or topic.
• History - keeps a history (like your browser) of the passages you have been reading. This is great for back tracking a verse or passages that you didn't get a chance to favorite, highlight, or create a note about.
• Search - This is expected in any digital Bible. Search for key words or phrases.
• Share - this mobile Bible app allows you to easily post a verse to Twitter or email it to someone.

Other thoughts...

I have installed and used the youversion Bible app on my iPod Touch, and enjoy many of its abilities.  How does the mobile ESV app compare?

• Single verses multiple translations - Youversion gives you access to multiple translations and ESV is simply the English Standard Version.
• Online community - Youversion offers an extensive online community (youversion.com) for sharing "contributions" and hosting "live" events.  The ESV does not include the online community.
• Offline access - Both offer offline access, but Youversion only allows you to download a few versions to your device for free.  Youversion was built with the online community in mind.  If you have the iPhone you have a constant internet connection, but if you have an iPod Touch (like me), then Youversion features are limited when not in a wifi area. ESV is built for offline viewing.
• Notes/Contributions - This is where I believe ESV surpasses the Youversion app.  The ESV allows you to attach notes to individual verses, to highlight them for later (highlighting stays on the verse when you navigate away), and to create a list of favorites (bookmarks, if you will).  Not only that, but tapping a verse also shows you a list of cross references.  Youversion does not allow permanent highlighting, personal notes (contributions) cannot be created on the iPhone/iPod Touch (only at youversion.com), and it does not have the crossreferences.

Conclusion...

Install both, they are FREE!

Youversion is superior for checking multiple translations and for interacting with an online community (much of which has to be done through a browser rather than the app).  It is great for seeing what other translations and other people are saying about a passage.

ESV is superior for taking personal notes (stuff you wouldn't necessarily care to share with the online community) & highlighting text inline for later reference.  I could see using the ESV app for a journaling during a personal quiet time, personal study in those moments you are otherwise idle (waiting in lines, or for appointments), and for note taking during sermons/lessons.

About the ESV
From the website: "The English Standard Version (ESV) Bible is an essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and depth of meaning. The Bible says every word is “breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). For this reason, the ESV seeks to translate the original Greek and Hebrew words with the greatest possible accuracy and precision."

Jason Cooper (@cooperjason)

Cooper-ation Ministry Resourcing

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Here are some screen shots....showing highlighting, notes, and sharing capabilities.

See the full gallery on posterous

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Spotted, speckled, and dark colored...Gen 30

In my reading, I have been working through Genesis. And Genesis in many ways is a difficult book. Not because I struggle to believe it, but because we see things in the lives of some of the patriarchs that are so different from our own culture that we are not sure how to handle them.

For example, I my previous entry (Fetching Rebekah…) we have the swearing of an oath by the putting of a hand on the inner thigh….how strange. And in Genesis 30, we have Jacob increasing his flock by what appears to be, at the very least, deceptive.

Jacob comes to an agreement with Laban that he will get all the spotted and speckled goats and sheep. But in the making of the deal he says “my honesty will testify for me in the future” (30:33). However, the story suggests that he takes intentional measures to insure that he comes out ahead in the deal by manipulating the breeding process in his favor. This seems less than “honest.” Yet, Jacob receives God’s blessing. So, were Jacob’s actions questionable? Or are they simply recorded as fact and not evaluated in the text? Good questions to ask in heaven.

Jason Cooper

Fetching Rebekah...Gen 24

Today I read in Genesis 24 which is the story of Abraham sending off one of his servants to his homeland in order to find a wife for Isaac. Abraham did not want his son marrying one of the “local” women, the Canaanites.

The servant, who is not named, takes the job very seriously and prays that God will answer Abraham’s prayer for a wife for his son.

There is one thing in this passage that is interesting to me.

In verse 2 Abraham has the servant swear an oath by having him place his (the servant’s) hand under his (Abraham’s) thigh. This, of course, seems very odd today. A quick look at a commentary tells us that it was common to include some kind of gesture or object when swearing an oath (like swearing on the Bible). And in this case, the thigh likely refers to the inner thigh, thus symbolically swearing to find a wife for Isaac in order to carry on the family line…still pretty strange by today’s standards, but common in that culture.

Jason Cooper

"Your only son" - Gen 22:2 & 12

Genesis 22 records the testing of Abraham. You know the story…God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. And this after God miraculously opened Sarah’s womb when she was very old. Also after God had repeatedly promised Abraham a son and descendents. Also after Abraham’s son through Hagar had been sent away. Abraham had to have had some doubts…but the text does not suggest that he did. In fact, verse 8 suggests that he knew God would be faithful if he was faithful, and provide an alternative sacrifice.

What interested me as I read this passage this time through was the repeating of the phrase “your son, your only son” (v. 2, 12). A Christian can not help but think of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”

Now, I don’t know that this is much more than a coincidence that these phrases are similar in these passages, but it is amazing how God’s story of redemption contains, at the very least, so many parallels. To think that Abraham’s promised son, the one who would bring blessing to all nations, would have to die…that would have been difficult to understand. Yet, the “blessed” one that came from this very family line would have to do just that to bring the blessing anticipated…anticipated even clear back in Genesis.

Jason Cooper

Who is Responsible...Gen 16:1-5

Genesis 16:1-5

I have been reading in Genesis and as I read I often notice things I wasn’t aware of before, or that I had forgotten.

I find it interesting that in this passage of Genesis Sarai says what appears to be an odd thing.

This is the story of about how God had promised Abram offspring, but Sarai had been barren her whole life and now she was old, as was Abram. So, she told Abram to take her maidservant and sleep with her and provide a family through her.

Abram did exactly what his wife asked of him, and Hagar became pregnant.

Then in verse 5 Sarai, sensing Hagar’s attitude, becomes upset with the whole arrangement (an arrangement she made) and says to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering…” (v. 5, NIV).

Now I realize there are cultural practices involved here that are so far from our experience that it makes this passage a little hard to understand. But what I was pretty sure I understood was that this was Sarai’s idea. How is it that she now blames Abram???

That is one thing about historical narratives like this…it isn’t always clear if a behavior was right or wrong. We don’t always know what “should” have happened. We don’t always know if what we are reading would have been “normal”. What we do know from these kind of passages is that God works despite our efforts (intentionally or unintentionally) to get in the way.

So, was Sarai being unfair in blaming Abram??? I don’t know. Was what Abram agreed to a moral failure on his part? Possibly. But one thing is clear…God’s plan proceeds.

Jason Cooper