Jerusalem Bible Holy Version

This app is a copy of the Jerusalem Bible you can carry on your phone. The Jerusalem Bible is a Catholic translation, which is the main reason it is worth a look.

The Jerusalem Bible includes the full Catholic canon — the seven deuterocanonical books that Protestant Bibles leave out — and it is known for its footnotes and book introductions that give you background on who wrote what and why. In the app you get the text to read, navigation by book and chapter, and the helps that come with this translation. It is a straightforward reader rather than a study suite.

The Jerusalem Bible reads well. It came out of a serious scholarly effort in the middle of the last century and the English is clear and a little literary without being stiff. For someone who finds the older translations heavy going, this one moves.

It is a good fit if you specifically want the Jerusalem Bible — maybe it is the translation you have prayed with for years, or you simply prefer it — and you want it free and on the phone. The footnotes make it useful for following a reading more closely than a bare text would let you.

A few honest notes. This is an app from an independent developer, not an official Church or publisher release, so it is a wrapper around the text rather than a supported product, and you may run into ads or rough edges. Make sure the translation it actually loads is the one you expect before you rely on it for study. It is the content that is Catholic here, not the company behind the app.

It is free, published by Oleg Shukalovich. You can find it on the App Store: Jerusalem Bible Holy Version. If the Jerusalem Bible is the one you want, this is an easy way to keep it with you.