Help for the whole site

The home page is a calm entry point. Use Resume (when shown) to continue where you left off in the reader, or open Read, Partner, Plan, Notes, and other shortcuts. Reference quick links align with the header's Reference menu (creeds, theology, Strong's, map, how to read by genre, Apostolic Fathers, Freedom & bondage of the will, Ninety-Five Theses). Full texts such as On the Bondage of the Will are linked from the debate overview and this help page—not every title appears in the menu.

Theme (light / dark / system) is available in the header on every page. No account is required to use the site.

Read is the chapter reader. Choose book and chapter from the controls, pick a translation from the list (only translations installed in this build appear as selectable). The URL stores your place (book, chapter, translation, optional verse) so you can bookmark or share a passage.

Keyboard: [ and ] go to the previous and next chapter when focus is not in a text field or menu.

Verse: when a chapter is loaded, use the small Verse field next to the chapter controls: type a verse number and press Enter to jump (or use the next/previous controls at the bottom of the passage).

Canon & order: the reader uses the sixty-six books and ordering in this app's database (Protestant Bible order). Deuterocanonical books are not included in Read.

Parallel reading: set Compare with to a second translation. Two columns appear for the same chapter; verse numbers align by position.

Commentary & context: header toggles (and small-screen controls beside the passage) turn on Matthew Henry and background/context panels. On large screens they sit in a rail beside the chapter; on phones they stack under the passage. Both can be on at once (stacked in the rail).

Study column: choose Study to open Strong's, meditation, notes, and the on-device assistant. You can drag the divider on wide screens to resize. Focus reading hides the study column for fewer distractions.

Read the full chapter below. Turn on Study in the header to open the tools column, then choose Reflect → Notes (or Meditation). Phone: press and hold a verse number for notes and marker colors. Desktop: long-press cycles the marker; right-click picks a color (and notes). Double-click for notes. Phrase highlights: select text, then color, Notes, or cancel.

Verse numbers support notes, bookmarks, highlights, and phrase selection (see Notes below). Preferences (font size, reader typeface, sharing, liturgical day hints where available) live in the reader menu.

Plan lists structured reading schedules. Open a plan to see day-by-day (or segment) assignments and links into the reader. Plans help pace reading; your progress may be stored locally in the browser depending on how the plan is implemented.

If something looks empty, the database may still be loading plans—try again after a moment.

Notes (Reflect) is for personal study on this device: verse-linked notes, search across your library, and a chapter-oriented reflect view at /reflect/… when you open a book and chapter.

From the reader, opening notes for a verse jumps the study column to the Notes tab (when Study is visible). Notes are not synced to a server account today—they stay in your browser storage unless you export or copy them yourself.

The Assistant tab (local) can answer questions about the open chapter using on-device context; it is not a cloud chatbot.

Timeline places Scripture and history on a scrollable timeline. Switch views (events, books, etc.) from the page controls. It complements reading by showing overlap between books and eras.

The former Book order URL redirects here into the books-oriented view.

Scarlet thread is an interactive graph of thematic links between passages—useful for tracing themes across the canon. Pan and zoom; follow edges to related nodes. Performance depends on device; very large graphs may feel heavy on older hardware.

Under Reference → Creeds, historic confessions and catechisms are available to read alongside Scripture. Pick a document, browse articles or questions, and use proof-text popovers where provided to jump to Bible references in the reader.

Text is presented for study; it is not a substitute for your church's teaching or pastoral care.

Theology hosts longer systematic and devotional works (for example classic systematic theologies) split into chapters you can read in the same reference layout as other long-form pages. Use the table of contents to move within a work.

Strong's lets you search Hebrew and Greek lexicon entries by number or gloss, and follow links from the reader where Strong's numbers are embedded in the translation. Use it to compare how words are used; lexicon articles are reference tools, not devotional commentary.

Map shows places named in Scripture. Click markers for context and references. The map helps spatial imagination; ancient boundaries differ from modern political maps.

How to read by genre is a long-form guide: narrative, law, poetry, prophecy, gospels, epistles, apocalyptic, and how each genre shapes responsible reading. It links out to the reader and timeline where relevant.

Under Reference → Apostolic Fathers, you can open full English texts of 1 Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp to the Philippians from a single public-domain edition (Project Gutenberg) for historical reading alongside Scripture.

Freedom and bondage of the will is an interactive circular chart of the 1524–1525 debate between Erasmus and Luther. It is a visual study aid, not a substitute for reading those authors or Scripture itself.

Full public-domain English texts on their own pages: Luther's Ninety-Five Theses (1517) and On the Bondage of the Will (1525, Henry Cole via CCEL). Both use the same immersive reading layout as other long Reference documents.

About summarizes the mission (calm, ad-free reading), what is on the site today—including notes, reading partner, timeline, and reference texts—and alpha status. It also explains how Scripture relates to creeds, theology, and other helps: Scripture first, secondary works labeled, and a library voice that is openly Protestant-friendly in parts. For product questions not covered here, use feedback (below).

Legal collects terms of use, copyright notices for Scripture and third-party material, and related policies. Read it if you redistribute content or embed links professionally.

The About page includes a feedback form for general comments. Messages are sent to the team via Slack when configured; they are not stored on the server. A legacy feedback review page exists for password-protected access but stays empty with Slack-only delivery.

You do not need an account to read the Bible or use core tools. Study features store data only on your device (see below); there is no cloud account or sync for notes and preferences in the shipped app.

Notes, highlights, layout preferences, and similar choices are stored in your browser (local storage / IndexedDB style persistence, depending on feature). Clearing site data or switching devices will not carry that information over automatically.

Treat the site as a private desk: back up anything you care about by copying text or exporting where the UI offers it.