The reader
The passage view, and the tools that sit around it: word lookups, commentary, notes, read aloud and navigation.
The text
Verse text is rendered from the translation module, which carries more than plain strings. Depending on the translation, a chapter can include section headings, paragraph breaks, poetry and stanza layout, superscriptions, italic supplied words, the divine name set apart, red-letter marking for the words of Christ, and per-word Strong’s numbers with morphology codes.
Word lookups
In a Strong’s-tagged translation, tapping a word opens its lexicon entry. Which lexicon appears first depends on your configured order — see Lexicons. Turn on Show Word Hints in Settings → Modules → Settings to underline every tagged word, so you can see at a glance which words have entries behind them.
Verse actions
Tap a verse number to highlight the whole verse or to open its note in the Notes panel. Select any span of text to highlight it, remove a highlight from it, or search for it; the usual Copy, Look Up and Share actions are there too. Highlights are character-precise rather than whole-verse, and they are stored per translation — see Highlights.
The tool panel
Show Tools splits the reader to show a panel beneath the text. On an iPad it can sit to the right instead — choose Split Right from the panel’s menu, or set the panel position in Settings. Drag the divider to resize it. The panel’s title menu chooses what it shows:
| Mode | Shows |
|---|---|
| Notes | Your notes for this chapter, edited in place: a chapter note first, then each verse or verse-range note. See Notes. |
| Commentary | Exposition for the current chapter from a chosen commentary series, including the two bundled cross-reference sets. |
| Devotionals | Your long-form writing, for reading beside the passage it discusses. |
For notes and commentary the panel’s scroll is linked to the reader both ways, so moving through the chapter moves the panel with you, and the panel moves on as each verse reaches the top. Unlink Scroll lets you read the two independently. Scripture references in commentary open a preview you can page through, with a button to go to the passage.
Cross-references
The bundled cross-references are two commentary series: the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Enhanced, and the OpenBible.info cross-reference set. Choose either in the tool panel to see the references for each verse of the chapter, each one a link you can preview or follow. References inside lexicon entries and your own notes are links too.
Read aloud
When you open a plan reading, a speaker button in the reader’s header reads the passage aloud with the system voices: the reading’s name, each chapter as it starts, then the verse text, skipping headings and verse numbers. You can pause, skip a verse back or forward, and scrub through the reading. Follow Along marks the verse being read and keeps it in view.
Reading carries on with the screen locked, with controls on the Lock Screen. It speaks at your reading rate, so the plan’s time estimates and the voice agree. Choose the voice in Settings under Read Aloud; if no voice is installed for the translation’s language, the app tells you where to add one.
Getting around
- Tap the title — the translation and chapter at the top of the reader — to choose a book and chapter. The translation menu at the top of that list switches translation.
- Pull past the top or bottom of a chapter to go to the previous or next chapter, or the previous or next reading in a plan.
- The menu in the bottom toolbar switches between a search field, History, chapter and book stepping, and — on a day with plan readings — Readings, which steps through the day’s readings with their verse counts, estimated time and any quiz.
- History keeps the last 50 chapters you visited, with back and forward buttons, so following a chain of cross-references is reversible.
- Hide Toolbars gives a full-screen page of text. The toolbars also tuck away as you scroll down, leaving a small title you tap to bring them back.
Handing off to another Bible app
If you own a study Bible on another platform, Lamp Bible can open a passage there instead of in its own reader. Supported targets are Accordance, e-Sword LT, Logos, Olive Tree and YouVersion. This is a deep link — the other app must be installed, and apps that are not installed are greyed out. Choose one in Settings under External Bible; plan readings then get a button that opens them there. See Reading plans.
Appearance
- Text size for the reader is in its menu, and is set independently of the tool panel’s and of devotional text.
- Light and dark rendering follows the system appearance.