Typing Biblical Languages
Your computer's default fonts may work, but they will generally be optimized for modern Greek and Hebrew. If you want your Greek or Hebrew to have the more ancient style that you're used to seeing in most Biblical Studies literature, you can install and use different fonts.
Get Fonts
SBL Greek
Standard font for Biblical Studies produced by the Society of Biblical Literature
Gentium Plus
Multi-script font from SIL International. Includes Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character sets.
Times New Roman
Standard font generally pre-installed on all computers.
SBL Hebrew
Standard font for Biblical Studies produced by the Society of Biblical Literature.
Ezra SIL
Modeled on the typeface of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS).
Critical Apparatus
Apparatus SIL
Provides the symbols and special characters used by the textual apparatus of the major critical editions of the Greek & Hebrew biblical texts.
Transliteration
SBL BibLit
Provides Greek, Hebrew, and Latin characters in addition to transliteration diacritics.
International Phonetic Alphabet
Doulos SIL
Provides the full International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and many diacritics. Similar in appearance to Times New Roman.
Install Fonts
Using an Installer
If the font download includes an installer app (a file ending in .exe or .msi), you can double-click that file and follow the installation prompts.
Using Windows Explorer
- Double-click the font file (ending in
.ttfor.otf). - In the preview window that opens, click the install button.
Using Settings
- From the Windows menu, open Settings.
- Navigate to Personalization > Fonts.
- Drag and drop one or more font files onto the "Drag and drop to install" area.
Apple documentation: How to install and remove fonts on your Mac
Using Finder
- Double-click the font file (ending in
.ttfor.otf). - In the preview window that opens, click the Install Font button.
Using Font Book
- Launch the Font Book app.
- Go to the File menu and choose Add Fonts.
- Select the font file(s) and then click Open.