If you haven’t heard of eBible.com it’s definitely work checking out. I’ve always used BibleGateway.com for any online Bible study and research because its extensive and easy to use, but eBible is different in a very attractive way. Although eBible will have many of the same resources available as BibleGateway, eBible takes a Web 2.0 approach by making scripture interactive in an online community filled with user-generated content. As a comparison, eBible uses scripture the way YouTube uses videos. Users have the ability to tag passages for others to find in searches, which helped me quickly find many verses related to some obscure topics. Users can also bookmark verses with personal notes for both private use and to share with other eBible friends, a great way to form online Bible discussion groups, for example.

The site currently has six English Bible translations (including The Message) and many dictionaries, encyclopedias and commentaries, though only half of the resources are currently free. The others are made available to your account at reasonable prices.

Unfortunately, eBible is still in beta and not open to public registration at this time. However, current users may invite three friends to join the eBible network and, thanks to Mike Jones, I got one! So now I’m passing along my three invitations to the first three who comment here requesting one. Also be sure to check Mike’s pbwiki eBible page for additional invites. Either way, visit eBible.com and look for it to go public in a couple weeks.

Posted on September 6, 2006