Greek you can follow is rare in the New Testament itself, because Paul's long sentences and Luke's careful periods were not written for a beginner. The way in is a ladder of texts, and each step below is a place where you can read Koine and catch most of the words.
That is comprehensible input. Read a few sentences. If most have about one new word, keep reading. If you can't tell what's happening, pick something easier. The Biblical Greek app comparison covers courses and tutors, and this page covers what to read and hear.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Ancient Greek. You learn from Ancient Greek you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Biblical Greek lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it. A first line can be as short as Ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν. (God is love.)
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
- Lessons are written in Koine Greek, with audio and a tap on any word for its meaning.
- Goals include reading the New Testament, the Septuagint and the early Church writers, and Poppy picks the text form to match.
- Ask Poppy about a word or a line while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ puts the words you save into new lessons.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Learn every letter and its sound in the free Classical Greek Alphabet course.
- You can't turn your own Greek New Testament into lessons. However, you can paste a verse in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
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Other Apps We Looked At (1)
- BiblingoLists graded readers and a tagged Bible text, plus a Bible reading tab that shows the percentage of words you know in each book or chapter. It is free to download, with in-app purchases.
Bill Mounce's site lists A Graded Reader of Biblical Greek, which takes a second-year student through twenty texts, among them the Septuagint and the Didache, and explains the hard grammar as it comes. The Biblical Language Center's Living Koine Greek is built on a continuing story with thousands of pictures and audio, and its page names Galatians 3 and Luke 11 as passages the units lead to. Its page says a new curriculum is still being written.
Crossway's Reader's Edition of the Greek New Testament prints a gloss under the text for every word that occurs fewer than 25 times, so you meet the common words again and again and are told the rare ones. The text itself is the Tyndale House edition. To read on a screen, the SBL Greek New Testament is free to download under a Creative Commons license, and you can paste a verse from it into Poppy's chat.
KoineGreek.com lets you listen for free to New Testament books such as John and Romans, and to Septuagint Genesis and Job, read in a historical Koine pronunciation. Bubblegum's lessons use the Erasmian sounds instead, so a verse will sound different in the two places. Pick one for a stretch of study, and read the Biblical Greek page if you need to see how they differ.
| What You Can Follow | Try This | You're Ready to Move On When |
|---|---|---|
| A few words, like agape | A Bubblegum lesson on a short verse, with the audio on | You can say what a one-line verse is about |
| Short sentences | A Bubblegum lesson on a Gospel scene, or the early chapters of a Biblingo reader | You can say who does what in each sentence |
| Short Bible stories | A Living Koine Greek story unit, or a Bubblegum lesson with a dictionary open | You finish a page and look up only a few words |
| Easier Gospel passages | Mark or John in the Reader's Edition, with a Bubblegum lesson on the same passage beside it | You follow a paragraph without the English |
| Luke and Acts | The Reader's Edition, with KoineGreek.com playing | You read a chapter and look up only the rare words |
| Paul, Hebrews, the Septuagint | Mounce's Graded Reader, then the books themselves | You read a passage and explain its argument in your own words |
A long language list can mean only the menus are translated, so open one Greek lesson in your language first.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| Biblingo | 1 | Full list |
Which Biblical Greek app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Ancient Greek, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. A beginner who wants to be inside the New Testament text from the first week can also try Biblingo's readers.
Can I read the Greek New Testament before I finish a grammar?
Yes, in small pieces. A verse such as Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος (In the beginning was the Word) has five short words you can learn in a day, and a glossed edition covers the rare ones. A grammar then explains why the endings look the way they do.
Do I need the Septuagint to read the New Testament?
No. Start with the New Testament, and read the Septuagint when it is your goal. The Septuagint is the Old Testament in Greek, and it is written in Koine too.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Bubblegum: Ancient Greek
- Biblingo on the App Store (Koine Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Latin)
- Bill Mounce: Read the Greek Testament (A Graded Reader of Biblical Greek, free class)
- Biblical Language Center: Living Koine Greek
- Crossway: The Greek New Testament, Tyndale House, Reader's Edition
- SBL Greek New Testament (free text under Creative Commons)
- KoineGreek.com: free audio of New Testament texts, Septuagint Genesis and Job
- Wikipedia: Koine Greek
