Biblical Greek is the one to learn if you want to read the New Testament in the language it was written in. It is Koine Greek, the Greek spoken around the Mediterranean in the first century, and the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, is written in it too. For apps that teach Ancient Greek of any kind, see our Ancient Greek app comparison.
Biblical Greek is spelled the same way in every course, and it can be said in more than one way. Many Bible Greek courses and seminary textbooks teach the Erasmian sounds, and Bubblegum's Biblical lessons use the Erasmian sounds. Orthodox churches say the same words with Modern Greek sounds, and the Orthodox Greek page covers that side.
| Word | Erasmian | Modern Greek |
|---|---|---|
| ἀγάπη (love) | ah-GAH-pay | ah-GHAH-pee |
| ἐλέησον (have mercy) | eh-LEH-ay-sohn | eh-LEH-ee-sohn |
Bill Mounce's free class gives the vocabulary of each chapter in both a standard and a modern pronunciation, so you can hear the difference.
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. Ask her what καὶ ἐγένετο (and it happened) does at the start of a sentence.
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.
To learn Biblical Greek in Bubblegum, pick Ancient Greek, then Biblical. Level 6 for Biblical Greek reads: "I can read Paul, Hebrews or the Septuagint as written."
- Pick Ancient Greek, then Biblical, and lessons have audio in that form's sound.
- Pick a goal like reading the New Testament or getting ready for seminary Greek, and the lessons are written to match.
- Ask Poppy what a line means while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- 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™
Mobile
Mango Languages
Mango's Koine Greek course is built on short conversations, with grammar and culture notes. Its page says the Septuagint and the Christian New Testament were first written in Koine, and it doesn't say which texts the course reads.
- Mango lists Greek (Koine) as its own course, beside Greek (Ancient).
- Lessons are built from conversations, with grammar notes and color-coding that point out how Koine sentences are put together.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (1)
- BiblingoTakes learners from zero knowledge to reading the New Testament in Koine Greek, and also lists Biblical Hebrew and Latin. It is free to download, with in-app purchases, and its menus are in English.
Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek has a free online class that goes through every chapter. Each chapter comes with vocabulary audio, workbook exercises with answers, quizzes and slides, and the video lectures are sold separately. You will want the textbook beside it.
The Biblical Language Center's Living Koine Greek is a communicative curriculum. Each unit centers on a scene, such as meeting someone new or going to school, and a continuing story ties the units together. It comes with thousands of pictures with audio and cartoons of the story, and it leads toward reading New Testament passages such as Galatians 3 and Luke 11.
The Polis Institute's online courses teach the Koine of the first century, the Greek of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers. Classes are held entirely in Greek, in four levels, and after the second level students are expected to read simple narrative books in Koine without a dictionary.
Preply
Preply's Ancient Greek tutors work with private students. Ask a tutor to start with the passages you need, such as the Gospel of John.
- Preply lists 129 Ancient Greek tutors from 21 countries.
- If the first tutor isn't a match, you can try two more for free.
MobileWeb
A long language list can mean only the menus are translated, so try one Greek lesson in your language first.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| Mango | 2 | Full list |
| Biblingo | 1 | Full list |
| Preply | 19 | 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. Or start with Biblingo if you want a course that heads straight for the New Testament. For a book, see Textbooks and Courses.
Do I need to learn Attic Greek first?
No. The Polis Institute says the differences between Koine and Attic Greek are very few. A Biblical course goes straight to the New Testament, and Plato's Greek can come later.
Can I learn Biblical Greek on my own?
Yes. Bill Mounce's free class gives you the chapters, audio, exercises and answers, and Bubblegum writes reading lessons at your level. A class or a tutor is there when you want someone to look at your translations.
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
- Bill Mounce: free online class for Basics of Biblical Greek
- Biblical Language Center: Living Koine Greek
- Pontifical University of the Holy Cross: Which kind of Greek is taught at Polis?
- Biblingo on the App Store (Koine Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Latin)
- Mango Languages: Greek (Koine)
- Mango Languages: available languages
- Mango Languages on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Preply: online Ancient Greek tutors
- Preply on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Wikipedia: Koine Greek (the Greek of the New Testament and the Septuagint)
- Wikipedia: Erasmian pronunciation
- Mango Languages
