How to Use BibleBook

Finding a passage

Type where you want to go, such as John 3:16, Psalm 23 or 1 Cor 13, into the box on the home page or after pressing Search, then press Enter to go straight there. You can also type a word or phrase, likeshepherd, to find where it appears, or a subject like grief or worry to find verses about it.

While reading, press Go to above the chapter to choose any book and chapter with large buttons. Or openBooks to see all sixty-six books.

Making the text bigger

Press Settings (the Aa button at the top of every page). There you can choose:

• Text size: Small, Standard, Large or Largest.
• Line spacing: more space between lines can make reading easier.
• Typeface: Classic looks like a printed Bible; Book is a modern book face; Clear was designed for readers with low vision.
• Translators’ notes: show or hide the small note letters in the text.
• Page colour: Night uses a dark page, which is gentler on the eyes in the evening.
• Words of Jesus: shown in red or in black (the King James Version and World English Bible mark them).

BibleBook remembers your choices on this device.

Listening

Press Listen above any chapter and it will be read aloud, verse by verse, with the verse being read shaded on the page. Use Slower or Faster to change the speed, and the square button to stop. The voice is your device’s own, so it may sound different on a phone and a computer. No sound? Check the volume, and on an iPhone or iPad make sure the silent switch on the side is off.

Highlighting, bookmarks and notes

Tap any verse while reading. A panel opens at the bottom of the screen where you can highlight it in a colour, bookmark it, write a note on it, copy it, share it with a friend, listen from that verse, or compare it in all four translations. Tap more verses to choose several at once.

Everything you highlight, bookmark or write a note on is listed under Saved. A small pen beside a verse number shows you have a note there; tap the verse and choose Edit note to read or change it.

When you read to the end of a chapter, it counts toward your progress through the Bible, and each day you read adds to your streak. Both are on the Today page.

To send a verse as a picture, tap it and choose Picture. Pick Square for Facebook or WhatsApp messages, or Tall to fill a phone screen, and Paper or Night colours. Then pressShare picture to send it straight from your phone, or Save picture to keep it. The same button is on the verse of the day and on every topic page.

Reading plans

A reading plan gives you a short reading for each day, for example the whole Bible in a year. PressStart this plan, then read at your own pace. At the end of the day’s last chapter, pressMark Day … as read (or tick the day on the plan’s page), and BibleBook will have the next day ready for you. Missing a day is fine: it simply waits for you.

The verse of the day

Today shows a new verse every day, your reading for today, and the verses from earlier in the week, so you can come back to one you liked.

Verses by topic

Topics gathers well-loved verses for each season of life: comfort in anxiety or grief, strength, peace, marriage, growing older and many more. Each verse can be read in any of the four translations, copied, shared, or read in its chapter.

Studying a passage

• Compare shows two translations side by side, verse by verse, or tick Show all four.
• Tap a verse and choose Related to see other passages on the same subject.
• Word study: in the King James Version, press Word study above the chapter, then tap any word to see the Hebrew or Greek word behind it and what it means.
• Each book has an introduction: who wrote it, when, its main themes, an outline and key verses.
• Each chapter begins with a short summary, In this chapter, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
• Small letters in the text (like ^a) are translators’ notes: another way to translate a word, or what the Hebrew or Greek says word for word. Tap the letter to read the note; all the notes are also listed at the end of the chapter. You can hide them in Settings.

Printing a chapter

Press Print above any chapter for a clean, large-print copy with its notes, ready for a Bible study group or for reading on paper.

Using BibleBook on your phone

You can add BibleBook to your home screen so it opens like an app:

• iPhone or iPad: in Safari, press the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
• Android: in Chrome, press the menu (three dots), then Add to Home screen or Install app.

On iPhone and iPad, adding BibleBook to the Home Screen also keeps your bookmarks and highlights safe: Safari can clear a website’s saved information after a few weeks without a visit.

Chapters you have opened before are kept on your phone, so you can read them again without an internet connection. To keep a whole book, open its page (for example Psalms) and press Keep Psalms on this device.

Your privacy

You don’t need an account. Your settings, highlights, bookmarks and plans are kept in your browser on your own device; they aren’t sent to us. Because of this, they do not move between devices by themselves: use Save a backup on theSaved page, then Restore a backup on the other phone or computer (backups are free). To keep them the same on all your devices automatically, there is BibleBook Sync. The privacy page explains the rest.

Still need help?

Email us at support@biblebook.net. Tell us what you were trying to do and, if you can, what kind of phone or computer you use, and we’ll help.