NET Bible (Formerly Lumina)

The NET Bible has become a valuable resource for me in my study of The Word of God—The notes are a tremendous aid! The application, however, I found has just has two pieces of minor improvements that I think could be made: First, when you try to access a study note at the foremost top of the screen/page, sometimes bits the note will be out of view and offscreen. I have to select the verse at a different starting position, to get the verse to be lower down on the screen, so I am able to view the study note in its entirety. Second, it would be nice if the app had a “continuous scroll” feature to change to in the settings. By default, in order to proceed on to the next bit of scripture, you have to “turn the page” like a book. Again, the suggestions are minor and not a dealbreaker for me to use the app! Thank you to everyone who worked on this app to make this content completely free and for the NET translation! It is a major gift!

Without a doubt, this bible is the most complete online version of the NET bible translation . And , here’s why. After visiting the NET official website, you will notice that the complete bible ,with notes, is too large of a file for a Kindle. And, due to the extensive nature of the information in the Bible, it is easy to see why. If you see an online review of the printed NET Study Bible with all the notes,it’s packed. And , they are formatted to view on each page. The text itself is often smaller than the notes on a page. They mimicked that well by making the notes selectable in the background, so to speak. They open up pop up’s that often scroll through its own set of paragraphs and explanations. Very detailed, but might be too busy for some. I’m not a bible scholar , but appreciate that all the printed bible content is right there. And, as notes change by the translation teams, my guess is they will update with their own discussion as to why they were modified. And, it’s free to download and read, and easy to navigate. My suggestion is give it a try!

As a non-Christian I was looking for a bible that contained detailed notes about the history of the bible and that contained a healthy dose of literary criticism. This is certainly it. Very detailed, thoughtful notes on translation issues as well as historical, theological and sociological issues. Even cites the specific mss in question when the authenticity of a certain passage is investigated (though the notes do a good job of explaining the evidence to the point that you don't necessarily need to be familiar with the mss themselves). Four stars, however, because even with the exhaustive attention to detail present here, there is still a rather clear bias towards elements of the historicity of the biblical accounts. But, I guess that would be too much to ask of a team of biblical scholars!