Study Tools
The study panel beside the Bible text shows material for the selected verse and updates as you move through the text.
The study panel
On a desktop, the panel is on the right side of the window, with these tabs:
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Study | Cross-references, topics, the Commentary Combined Summary, and interlinear words — all for the selected verse |
| Commentary | Full commentary entries, one tab per commentary |
| Topics | The topical-index browser, searchable by name |
| Dictionary | Dictionary and Strong's entries |
- Drag the divider between the Bible and the panel to resize it.
- Click the › at the right of the tab row to collapse the panel.
- A Search tab appears when a search is open.
On a phone, the same material is on separate screens reached from the bottom navigation bar. See Using on Your Phone.
Everything below follows the selected verse. Click a verse in the reading area to change it.
The Study tab
The Study tab contains collapsible sections: Cross-References, Topics, Commentary Combined Summary (when there is a summary for the verse), and Interlinear (Hebrew/Greek words, if provided by the translation). All sections start collapsed. Click a heading to expand it; it stays expanded as you navigate.
The top of the tab names the selected verse. The thumbtack beside it pins the tab to that verse, so it no longer follows your reading. While it is pinned, a banner shows the pinned verse and a Sync to button that moves it to your current passage. Click the thumbtack again to unpin.
Cross-references
Cross-references show verses that are related to the selected one. They come from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, as the section heading notes. Each entry shows a reference and a snippet of the verse.
- Click an entry to go to it.
- Hover over an entry to preview it.
- Show Verses expands the full text of all entries.
Topics
This section lists the topical index entries that include the selected verse, grouped by index (for example, Nave's Topical Bible). Click one to open it in the Topics tab. If some topical indexes are turned off in Settings, the section says so.
Commentary Combined Summary
This is a single summary generated from a set of many public-domain commentaries. It contains a notice that computers sometimes make mistakes in summarizing, and that commentaries sometimes have false doctrines. However, I have tried to set up the summarization scripting to minimize these issues as much as I could. The notice can be dismissed with its ✕; a small Auto-generated summary notice button brings it back. Open in Commentary opens the summary in the Commentary panel. In the Commentary overview, the summary is listed as Combined Summary, and you can mute it there like any other commentary; see The overview tab.
Interlinear
The original Greek or Hebrew of the verse, word by word, with Strong's numbers. This is the same data that Study display mode shows inline with the English. The Stacked and Inline buttons switch the layout; see Personalizing Your Experience.
The Commentary tab
A commentary is a set of verse-by-verse notes on the Bible, often written by a pastor or Bible scholar, or sometimes by a group of people. Several commentaries can be open at once, and they follow the selected verse.
The overview tab
The first tab in the row, marked with a house icon, is the overview. Its heading names the verse, for example "Commentaries on John 3:16". It lists every commentary with an entry for that verse, with a word count and a bar showing the entry's length. Commentaries with notes on the surrounding passage or the whole chapter are listed in their own sections below. Click an entry to expand it in place.
- The Filter... box filters the list by name.
- The sort menu orders the list by Default, A-Z, Long, Short, or Random.
- The star on a row keeps that commentary at the top of the list.
- An expanded entry has Mute, which hides that commentary, and Add to tabs, which opens it in its own tab. Muted commentaries are listed under Muted at the bottom; expand that section to unmute one.
To hide the overview tab, turn off Show combined commentary overview tab on the Modules tab in Settings; see Personalizing Your Experience.
Reading one commentary
Add to tabs opens a commentary in its own tab next to the overview. Drag tabs to reorder them. If the commentary has no entry for the current verse, Previous comment and Next comment buttons, each with a verse number, jump to the nearest verses it covers.
Pinning a commentary
Each commentary tab has a thumbtack that pins it to a passage, as in the Study tab. For example, you can keep Barnes on Romans 8:28 while following the cross-references it mentions. A pinned tab shows a thumbtack indicator and a Sync to button. Each tab is pinned independently.
References inside commentary text
Bible references in commentary text ("compare John 3:16", "see Rom 8:28") are automatically converted into Bible links.
- Click a reference to move the Bible panel to that verse.
- Hover over it to preview the verse.
- Ctrl+click (Cmd+click) it to open the verse in a new Bible tab.
The Topics tab
The Topics tab is the full topic browser. With no topic open, it lists the topics for the selected verse, grouped by topical index. The house, back, and forward buttons at the top move through the topics you have opened.
From a verse. Clicking a topic in the Study tab opens it here, with every verse the topic includes and its place in the hierarchy.
Searching by name. The Search topics... box at the top finds topics by name, such as prayer or mercy.
Hierarchy and breadcrumbs. Topics can have sub-topics; for example, "Faith" has sub-topics beneath it. A breadcrumb trail at the top of each entry shows where you are. Click any part of it to move up. The Sub-topics list can be filtered and sorted A-Z. The Verses list shows the number of references; Show Verses expands the text of each one. Long verse lists load in batches with Load more verses.
Dictionary and Strong's numbers
Strong's numbers give each Greek and Hebrew word in the Bible a unique identifier. Greek numbers start with G (G25); Hebrew numbers start with H (H7225).
Seeing the original words
Strong's numbers appear in Study display mode (see Reading the Bible) and in the interlinear section of the Study tab. Each English word is shown with its original word, a transliteration, and the Strong's number. If a translation has no interlinear data, the app shows a message.
Tooltip and full entry
Hover over a Strong's number to see a tooltip with the word, its transliteration, and a short definition.
Click the number to open the full entry: part of speech, the longer definition, etymology, and more. On a desktop, it opens in the Dictionary tab of the study panel. On a phone, it opens as a popup over the text.
Word families and finding every occurrence
Related Greek and Hebrew words share a root. For example, G25 (agapao, to love), G26 (agape, love), and G27 (agapetos, beloved) belong to one family.
The full entry has a Search all occurrences button that finds every verse using the word. The results show the word family as pills; click one to switch words. The Include related words toggle searches the whole family at once. Typing a Strong's number into the search bar gives the same results. See Searching.
