By: S.L.A © 2016 DawahMaterials.com

There are numerous websites online to read the Bible; however, there are some websites that stand out from the rest, because they provide helpful tools that you can use to get a better understanding of a verse, as well as reference tools you can use when giving dawah.

Why these particular websites?

Exposing variations and corruptions

When giving dawah, and referencing Bible scriptures, it is helpful to read what various different versions have for a particular verse, because not all the Bibles are the same.   While one Bible may have a verse, another may not have that same verse, and if they do, there is oftentimes a very different verse existing that doesn’t even come close to matching what another Bible says for it. Therefore, this comes in handy when you are trying to prove alterations, corruptions, and even various wordings.

To know what Bible scholar commentaries state about it

Many Christians will take verses of their Bible, and twist it, to mean what they ‘want it to mean’, instead of what it is actually truly about. Therefore; it is preferable to read from the commentaries to know the context and other related information pertaining to it.

They have unique tools, not found on other sites

I’ve listed my top 4 favorite websites below, because they provide the various Bible versions and translations with the ability to read parallel versions of the same verse at the same time, and to be able to read Biblical scholar’s commentary about verses one by one, similar to how we have tafsir for Qur’an.   They also have cross-referencing tools, and topical searches, and many other helpful tools which are not found on other websites.

A brief description of the features of each website, and what they provide, as well as how to use them are provided below.

May Allah make your dawah efforts easy, and beneficial. Ameen.

BibleGateway.com

Biblegateway is recommended because it allows you to select from a long list of various versions as well as translations available, in many languages. Select from the drop down menu on the top left to select your version as seen below.

Once you have chosen a version and verse, you can either click the icon circled in green to select multiple versions to view a verse side by side, so that you can compare a verse from as many translations as you wish at the same time on the same screen. Under the “Study This” menu to the right, you can select “Commentaries”, or “Dictionaries”, and more, related to that verse.

After clicking the “parallel versions” Icon circled in green above, you can repeat it to add more and mover versions to your screen. See the example provided below, which is showing 4 different versions parallel.

Also next to the search box, after selecting a verse, and version, and then selecting “Commentaries”, you can view the various commentary collections they have available to read from. They have many free ones listed last, the first ones you have to purchase or subscribe to.

BibleHub.com

BibleHub is another useful website because it has features that exist in a simple menu found at the top.

The orange selection below allows you to easily select Bible versions, as well as which commentary you would like to see listed on the same page with a verse you have chosen.

The green selection below lists helpful tools to display, as well as the icons in red.

The icons in red above are enlarged below with a chart below it, which explains what each Icon does.

The “Topic” section in the green selection in the image above for the menus, is an interesting option. If you select it for a verse, it will display the following features related to it:

The “Interlinear” section is another interesting option because it will provide a word-for-word breakdown for each word in the verse. The “Lexicon” provides similar, so check both.

See the example below for the “interlinear” option:

See the example below for the “Lexicon” option:

OpenBible.info

This site is excellent for searching for verses by topic. You first click on “Topical Bible” in the menu at the top indicated by the red arrow as shown below. It will then show the image below, where you have two options: 1- Select by letter to see listed topics, or 2 – type a keyword.

If you click a letter shown in the above image, it will list the topics for that letter. This example is for the letter “P”.

Bible.Knowing-Jesus.com

This website is very similar to the one above. Click the green menu item selected for “Topics” in their menu to get to the page that is shown below. On that page, you can enter a keyword, or search by alphabet.

If you select the green menu for “Themes”, you will see a submenu listed for things, which you can click and have more options provided to you as seen below. The red selection boxes are the sub-categories you can select, and in this example, we selected “Liberality > Instances of > Solomon” indicated by the blue arrow, and the information for that sub-section is provided below it.