e-Sword 11 Is Now Available!

I have been a long time user of e-Sword (alongside BibleWorks) and cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a free Bible study software program that rivals many that you would have to pay for and is better that most. This program also makes basic word studies a breeze and has been of great use to those in my congregation to whom I have recommended it. In fact, they often tell me that they love the layout and how user-friendly the program is. There is not a very steep learning curve with this program, so most anyone can catch on to it quickly. But with its recent update to version 11, an already great program has gotten even better. For those interested, here is the rest of the list of updates in the latest version:

Sword modules are now HTML-based! This change will allow many new and unique resources to be created for e-Sword. Don't worry, e-Sword will still work with the older RTF-based modules as well. Most of the resources have been updated to this new format, so you may want to download the updated versions of these modules, especially the non-English Bibles as they now contain the actual Unicode characters which makes for better search results. The new module format has also introduced a new Lexicon module type.

There is a new Pericope feature which places section headings throughout the Bible. This feature can be turned on/off by selecting "Options, Display Pericope" from the e-Sword menu.

The Copy Verses feature has been expanded with an option to include the Lexicon definition for Strong's numbers in any Bible with them.

There is a new Morphology popup tooltip for any Bibles that include these grammatical parts of speech codes.

The new Reference Book modules now adapt to the user-defined font settings as the other module types do.

Although a number of modules have been developed for purchase by eStudySource, the list of free modules grows daily. There are quite a few free modules already offered at the e-Sword downloads page, such as John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, the Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, or A.T. Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament. This list has grown steadily over the years. There is also a growing list of free modules available at BibleSupport.com, about which I have previously posted here.

In case you are interested in how I am currently using the program, here is a screenshot of the passage I am studying as I plan to teach through 1 and 2 Thessalonians in the near future:

Click on the screenshot in order to enlarge it, and you can see that I have purchased a few modules but also that I have many modules that I have downloaded for free from BibleSupport.com. The commentary module I have selected in the commentary pane on the right side of the picture is the NICNT module, the commentary is by Gordon Fee.