Olive Tree Bible Software creates

Biblical software Biblical software or Bible software is a group of computer applications designed to read, study and in some cases discuss biblical texts and concepts. Biblical software programs are similar to e-book readers in that they include digitally formatted ...

and

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...

s, and is an electronic publisher of

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

versions, study tools, Bible study tools, and Christian eBooks for mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. The firm is headquartered in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

and is a member of the

Evangelical Christian Publishers Association The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christianity, Christian content worldwide. ECPA has operated sinc ...

(ECPA). Olive Tree currently supports

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operati ...

, iPhone,

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

, and personal computer devices.

History

In 1984, Drew Haninger began development via a student project on a

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochr ...

personal computer. During the 1980s and 1990s, engineering was focused on a multilingual word processor and programs for searching the

. In August 1998, the first BibleReader(TM) was released for

Palm OS Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...

. In 1999, the BibleReader for

Pocket PC A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs. The name was introduced by Microsoft in 200 ...

, running the

Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...

operating system, was released. The company continued to grow and, in 2000 assumed the name Olive Tree Bible Software. As the mobile device market continued to expand, the BibleReader was released for

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

( iPhone,

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...

)

Smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s, and

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian ...

operating systems. , Olive Tree had over 20 employees. In November 2011, Olive Tree announced the release of BibleReader for Mac. In December 2011, the Windows PC version was released. On 5 May 2014,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

announced it had acquired Olive Tree, with Drew Haninger moving to an advisory role. On 11 September 2020, Gospel Technologies, owned by Olive Tree's Vice President of Operations Steven Cummings, acquired Olive Tree from HarperCollins.

Bible+

Olive Tree is best known for its Bible+ application (formerly called BibleReader), a software tool designed for reading and searching electronic books. Recent enhancements include bookmarks, personal notes, highlighting, and auto-scrolling. Font sizes, colors, and the application display can be customized. Bible+ uses a markup language called Olive Tree Markup Language (OTML).

Bible resources

Olive Tree Bible Software provides a broad catalogue of over 1000 Bible resources, including audio Bibles, Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, ebooks, multimedia, and Strong's numbering system. Some of the most notable resources include the

Amplified Bible ''The Amplified Bible'' (AMP) is an English language translation of the Bible produced jointly by Zondervan and The Lockman Foundation. The first edition as a complete volume was published in 1965. “Amplifications” are words or phrases in ...

(AMP),

Authorized King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

(KJV),

Darby Bible The Darby Bible (DBY, formal title ''The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Original Languages by J. N. Darby'') refers to the Bible as translated from Hebrew and Greek by John Nelson Darby. History and principles Darby published a ...

(DBY),

English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critic ...

(ESV), The

ESV Study Bible The ''ESV Study Bible'' (abbreviated as ESVSB) is a study Bible published by Crossway. It features the text of the English Standard Version, along with study notes from a perspective of "classic evangelical orthodoxy, in the historic stream of the ...

(ESVSB),

Holman Christian Standard Bible The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) is a modern English Bible translation from Holman Bible Publishers. The New Testament was published in 1999, followed by the full Bible in March 2004. Beginnings The roots of the HCSB can be traced t ...

(HCSB),

New American Standard Bible The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is an English translation of the Bible. Published by the Lockman Foundation, the complete NASB was released in 1971. The NASB relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew and Gr ...

(NASB),

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest a ...

(NIV), New King James Version (NKJV),

New Living Translation The New Living Translation (NLT) is an English translation of the Bible. The origin of the NLT came from a project aiming to revise ''The Living Bible'' (TLB). This effort eventually led to the creation of the NLT—a new translation separate ...

(NLT),

NLT Study Bible The New Living Translation (NLT) is an English translation of the Bible. The origin of the NLT came from a project aiming to revise ''The Living Bible'' (TLB). This effort eventually led to the creation of the NLT—a new translation separate ...

, and

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.

(NRSV).

Languages

Bibles are also available in various languages, including English, French, German, and Spanish. Ancient language resources include: the

Novum Testamentum Graece (''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its m ...

(NA27) Greek New Testament with morphological information and UBS dictionary; the

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH4, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in ...

, the Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament/Hebrew Bible with the Groves-Wheeler Westminster Hebrew Morphology and an abridged BDB dictionary; the

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israe ...

(non-biblical) texts with morphological information, lexical glosses, and an abridged BDB dictionary; and the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

with morphological information and the LEH dictionary.

Publishers

Olive Tree has continued to work with several Christian publishers, such as

AMG International AMG International is a Christian ministry based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The acronym AMG stands for "Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel." It was founded in 1942 in New York City as the American Committee for the Evangelization of the Greeks b ...

Baker Publishing Group Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, Michigan and has six subdivisions: namely Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Ch ...

Eerdmans William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is a religious publishing house based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1911 by Dutch American William B. Eerdmans (November 4, 1882 – April 1966) and still independently owned with William's daught ...

Good News Publishers Crossway (previously known by its parent ministry Good News Publishers) is a not-for-profit evangelical Christian publishing ministry headquartered in Wheaton, Illinois. Clyde and Muriel Dennis founded Good News Publishers in 1938, working out o ...

Moody Publishers Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college founded in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, US by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have ...

, Thomas Nelson, and

Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Pu ...

Authors

Olive Tree offers resources by several recent authors, including Gary Chapman,

Mark Dever Mark E. Dever (born August 28, 1960) is a theologian and the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the president of 9Marks (formerly known as the Center for Church Reform), a Christian ministry he co-founded "i ...

Wayne Grudem Wayne A. Grudem (born 1948) is a New Testament scholar turned theologian, seminary professor, and author. He co-founded the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and served as the general editor of the '' ESV Study Bible''. Life Grudem was b ...

John F. MacArthur John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American Protestant pastor and author known for his internationally syndicated Christian teaching radio and television program ''Grace to You''. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Ch ...

Beth Moore Wanda Elizabeth "Beth" Moore (born Wanda Elizabeth Green, June 16, 1957) is an American Anglican evangelist, author, and Bible teacher. She is president of Living Proof Ministries, a Christian organization she founded in 1994 to teach women to k ...

, John Piper,

R. C. Sproul Robert Charles Sproul ( ; February 13, 1939 – December 14, 2017) was an American Reformed theologian and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries (named for the Ligonier Va ...

Chuck Swindoll Charles Rozell Swindoll (born October 18, 1934) is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded ''Insight for Living'', headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more t ...

, and

Rick Warren Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American Southern Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake For ...

, and the classic authors

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

and

Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a Nonconformist minister and author, who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition of the Old and New Testaments' ...

References

External links

Reviews

Introducing BibleReader 5

Overview of Olive Tree’s BibleReader 5.0 App for iPad, iPhone
{{Authority control Electronic Bibles Digital library software Christian publishing companies Publishing companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in Washington (state) Companies based in Spokane, Washington