I found installing Sword from source to be problematic on both Mac and Linux. Thankfully, I found hidden in some documentation that it is available through common repositories. Unfortunately, the documentation was not thorough. Here's what worked for me on Mac OSX 10.9.5 and Linux Mint 17.3 "Rosa". These instructions should work on any recent version of Mac and any flavor of Ubuntu.
The process for installing Sword differs a bit between Mac and Linux. I used Homebrew on Mac, but MacPorts should work just fine. Linux was a little less friendly, but I did get it working.
Method 1: Using Homebrew (tested):
brew update
brew install sword
Method 2: Using MacPorts (untested):
sudo port selfupdate
sudo port install sword
Installing on Linux was a little trickier. It took some trial and error to figure out the name of the package to install. After searching the repository, I stumbled across one of the Bible modules with a description citing that it was a module for libsword. A little more trial and error and I was able to work out some related packages and dependencies. Some of these are required for front-end use while some are for development. I wasn't able to find good documentation so I went the for whole lot of them. Most people will probably want to test their created modules in a front-end anyway. On Mint, you can choose between xiphos and bibletime if you choose to install the front-end viewer afterward.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libsword-common libsword-dbg libsword-utils libsword9 diatheke
Next, you'll install the front-end applications. This isn't required for development, but it is recommended.
sudo apt-get install bibletime # for BibleTime
sudo apt-get install xiphos # for Xiphos
Optionally, you may install any number of books for the front-end applications. For full functionality, be sure to include the suggested packages. This is not a complete list of available packages.
sudo apt-get install -y sword-text-kjv sword-text-tr sword-text-wlc sword-text-web --include-suggests
You can see a list of available packages with this command.
apt-cache search sword-text
You can test your installation by installing a module. This will install CrossWire's KJV module with Strong's Morphology (and related packages). This process is the same for all platforms.
export SWORD_PATH=~/.sword
mkdir -p $SWORD_PATH/mods.d
echo yes |installmgr -init # create a basic user config file
echo yes |installmgr -sc # sync config with list of known remote repos
echo yes |installmgr -r CrossWire # refresh remote source
echo yes |installmgr -ri CrossWire KJV # install module from remote source
installmgr -l # list installed modules
diatheke -b KJV -k Jn 3:16
If all went well, you should see the following output from the last command.
John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(KJV)
Sources:
http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/DevTools:Modules#Collect_and_Install_Software_Tools
http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/Tutorial:Compiling_%26_Installing_SWORD
You have spelling mistake
brew intall sword
should be
brew install sword