It is irrefutable that we are in a new digital age. The fact that you’re reading this right now — probably on a smartphone — is evidence enough of that. The digital age has brought many evil things, but I am thankful for the good that it brings as well.

Because of internet technology, there are dozens of Bible websites that I can use to pull up any verse, any word, in an instant. Because of the software revolution, I have two separate, full-fledged Bible software programs on my computer that I can use to reference dozens of commentaries and resources in no time at all. Because of the smartphone revolution, in just a few taps or clicks, I can get the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek of any Bible word on my smartphone. Tyndale and Luther would have fasted for weeks and gouged out their right eyes to have such tools at their disposal.

But Tyndale and Luther aren’t my focus of this post. In this post, I want to highlight a tool that might seem humble compared to the Bible software or the typical Bible app, and yet still plays a critical part of my Bible study workflow.

It has no resources, no syncing, no references, no reading plans. It has no blog, no FAQs, no statement of faith, no user accounts, and no app [yet]. But best of all, it has no distractions. Let me introduce you to Literal Word.

Literal Word is a simple, streamlined online Bible with useful search capabilities. As the About page says, “Literal Word exists to promote the Word of God and not much else. No ads. No frames. No logging in. No distractions. Simply the Word.”

“Literal Word exists to promote the Word of God and not much else. No ads. No frames. No logging in. No distractions. Simply the Word.”

The website was created by a few members of my church and my church’s church plant. It was released in 2011; I’ve been an ‘early adopter’ and have never gone back to any other Bible website.

It’s hard for me to pick what I like more about it:

The commitment to Scripture and Scripture alone
Free
No ads, and there never will be
Fast
Simple

But, if I was forced to talk about something, I would talk about the search feature.

The Search

The search mechanism is blazing fast and nicely categorizes the search results to help me find what I’m looking for.

For example, let’s say I’m searching for that verse that talks about the Holy Spirit descending as a dove upon Jesus at His baptism. I know that the word “spirit” is in the verse somewhere, but I’m not sure about what other words are there.

So, I fire up Literal Word and search “spirit”. The site returns 558 verses, and categories those verses according to the genre of the book/letter.

I know that the verse is in the Gospels and Acts, so I click on that filter, which shows me the books that are part of that category: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts.

I’m not sure what Gospel the verse is in, so I just click on Matthew, which leaves me with just 19 results. That’s a lot easier than 558! I can now read these verses and find the one I’m looking for. A few moments later, lo and behold, I find it in the fourth result — Matthew 3:16.

I’ve found my verse, and I’m happy. But now, I want to remind myself what the context of this verse is. [After all, a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.] To see the context, I can simply click on the verse link, which takes me to Matthew 3, while still highlighting Matthew 3:16.

Boom. That’s what I call efficient Bible study.

Try It Out!

As I said before, Literal Word is free and open for anyone to use. It has both NASB and ESV, two of the best English translations currently in existence. Try it out!

For more details and tips on how to use Literal Word, please see the About Literal Word page.