If you’re a new language learner, you know that discovering a tool to help you learn more efficiently and practically is a huge deal. Further, when you can combine learning that language with your personal Bible study and meeting preparation, you know you have a winner on your hands. The Equipd Bible app sets its sights on doing just that. The original Equipd app had been removed from the App Store in December of 2014 but this new version has brought back some of its best core features.

Check out the following video in which we’ll walk you through all the features of Equipd Bible. Or continue reading our full review below.

At the heart of any serious student of the Bible’s library is God’s Word itself. That is exactly what Equipd Bible focuses on. It offers an unparalleled ability to view multiple Bible translations on the same screen for comparison. This comes in extremely handy for those learning a new language or are engaged in foreign language service helping teach the Bible to students who speak another tongue. The beautifully designed scripture navigation from the original Equipd app returns to become the main interface view in Equipd Bible. Users can scroll left and right across the top of the screen to pick a Bible book. Then the chapter number will appear in the row below, followed lastly by verse numbers in the bottom row. Alternatively, scriptures can be navigated to by tapping on the Bible book shown at the top middle of the page and drilling down to the desired scripture that way. This Bible picker mode can also be enabled by shaking your device. In either case, navigating to a new verse at the top will open it in each version of the Bible you have displayed.

The main view of Equipd Bible on iPad

Launching Equipd Bible for the first time will automatically import a few Bible versions in ePub format. The default Bibles are the World English Bible, King James Version, Chinese Union Version, and the Japanese Colloquial Version. At this point users begin to notice the difference between this new app and the original. Instead of coming preinstalled with Bibles, Equipd Bible empowers users with a new ability to import any Bible in ePub format. Of course, the first version most of us will want is the New World Translation. To add multiple language versions of the New World Translation into Equipd Bible, users can follow these steps:

• Open jw.org using Safari on your iPhone or iPad
• Navigate to Publications -> Bible
• If you’d like to choose a language other than the one shown, choose the language you’d like from the “Display” drop-down menu. Then tap search.
• Locate the Bible you would like and tap on the page icon below it.
• Choose EPUB and wait for the Bible to download.
• Next choose “Open In…” and select Equipd Bible
• Equipd Bible will now launch and import the Bible ePub.
• Repeat these steps for each version you would like to have available in Equipd Bible.

The above steps are outlined visually in the images below.

Follow these steps to load the New World Translation into Equipd Bible

Once your Bibles are loaded into Equipd, they will be available for managing under the cog wheel in the upper left corner of the screen. This is where users will be able to rename, reorder, or remove their Bibles. For those in the Chinese language field, an additional option to turn on 2-line reading with Pinyin, Zhuyin, and Sidney Lau is available. The app settings are also located under the same cog wheel. These allow you to change the navigation language and set some of the sizing options used throughout the interface.

Equipd Bible offers multiple settings under the cog wheel icon

Once your Bible ePubs are installed, they will show on the main reading screen in the order you set under the cog wheel menu. Above each version are options to search that Bible for a word or phrase,  change the font size, or view the entire chapter in full-screen mode. Bookmarking of favorite scriptures in various topic folders is available at the top right and so is emailing of entire sets of verses. A new feature is note taking. Simply tap on any verse number to add a note to that scripture. Notes can be differentiated with colors and will be available each time you look up that verse. Some of us may have enjoyed listening to the Bible read in Equipd. That feature is still here, but users will have to open the mp3 zip files from jw.org similar to the ePub method described above.

Notes can now be added by tapping on the verse number

I highly recommend spending some time going through all the features of Equipd Bible for iPhone and iPad. You’ll need some time to scour all its settings and abilities. Once you do, I think you’ll find Equipd to be a must-have Bible study and language learning app. Check out the following video in which we’ll walk you through all the features of Equipd Bible. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below.

Equipd BibleiMatt Solutions LimitedProductivity$2.99Download

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