Help & About

Published

Read one translation as originally published. Tap the options pill in the centre of the header — in Published mode it shows which translation you are reading — and pick a different one from the Translation dropdown. Publisher footnote markers shown in chapter text belong only to the selected translation, while translation difference markers can still appear if enabled.

What are OASV and OARV?

Two free translations OpenScripture is preparing from the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. OASV (OpenScripture AI Study Version) stays close to the wording and structure of the original languages. OARV (OpenScripture AI Readers Version) is written for clear, sustained reading and keeps poetry, wordplay and imagery.

Neither is published yet. Until they are, Learning works with any translation you read in Composite, showing source words in their dictionary form.

Verse Drawer

Tap any translation difference marker, verse number, or word to open the Verse Drawer. A section bar switches between three views of the same verse:

• Compare — every enabled version side by side, grouped by tradition, with Lock it in and custom translation controls.
• Word Study — a word-by-word, interlinear-style strip of the verse with the tapped word highlighted; tap any word for its word study.
• Commentary+ — separate commentary and publisher Footnotes faces from multiple sources, plus a Cross-refs view of related passages.

Your own highlights and notes for the verse open from the Note/Highlight button on the verse card, or by tapping a note indicator in the text. To move between verses, swipe the verse card left or right.

Word Study

Tap any word in the scripture text to open the word study strip in the Verse Drawer. It shows:

• The original language word in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek script.
• Pronunciation guide (transliteration).
• Strong's number — a standard dictionary code used by most Bible study tools.
• Grammatical analysis (morphology): part of speech, tense, person, number, etc.
• How often the word appears across the entire Bible.
• A concise lexical definition.

In the strip, source words sit above their English rendering. The alignment indications explain how closely each English word or phrase corresponds to the original-language text. Depending on the view, they appear as explanatory text, an underline joining words, a blank source or English row, or an ≈ badge:

• Direct — an original-language word corresponds directly to the English rendering shown beneath it.
• Translated as a phrase — two or more original-language words are translated together as one English phrase, so the individual words do not have separate one-to-one English equivalents. A single original-language word can also be expressed by a longer English phrase.
• Attached — the English word is carried by the grammar of a linked source word, such as an affix, inflection, person, or tense, but is not a separate direct translation of that word.
• Supplied — the English word does not match a separate Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek word. The selected translation adds words like this so the sentence reads naturally, and some of them carry meaning implied by a nearby word.
• Not rendered — the original-language word is present, but the selected translation does not express it as a separate English word; its meaning is carried by the words around it.
• ≈ Approximate — this word's link to the original language is a best guess, so Word Locks do not replace it.

When a word has a Strong's number, tap BibleHub or Blue Letter Bible in the strip to open a full concordance view for that word in a new tab. Word study is available in all reading modes.

Study Notes & Commentary

The Commentary+ section of the Verse Drawer collects commentary from several sources. A source picker lets you read one at a time or all together:

• Christos Project (a short pointer into a focused study, on the verses it covers)
• REV Commentary (from Spirit & Truth)
• NET Bible Translators' Notes
• Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary
• Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
• Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
• Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
• Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament

Cross-References

The Cross-refs view in the Verse Drawer's Commentary+ section shows related passages from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, a classic public-domain cross-reference collection. Tap any reference to go straight to that verse.

Verse Locks

A Verse Lock pins one verse to the translation you choose, so Composite mode always shows that wording.

• To create one: open the Verse Drawer, go to Compare, choose the translation you want, tap Lock it in, then choose All Bibles or tick one or more Personalised Bibles.
• All Bibles covers every Bible you have now and any you add later. A lock for one Bible overrides the All Bibles lock in that Bible.
• Use Edit beside a locked translation to change its Bible scope. Unlock removes only the active Bible assignment; if you are viewing an All Bibles lock, the confirmation explains that every Bible using it will be affected.
• Locked text is styled like a pasted-in paper cutting, so personalised verses are easy to spot. Hover or press and hold locked wording to see the original verse.
• Free and Guest accounts can keep up to 5 Verse Locks. One verse still counts as one lock when you assign it to several Bibles. Locks are stored locally in Guest mode and sync across your devices once you sign in. Premium unlocks unlimited Verse Locks.
• By default, Word Locks still apply inside a verse-locked verse. To use the whole-verse wording without word substitutions, or to adjust lock colours, go to My OpenScripture → Lock Appearance.
• From the Verse Locks tab, use the Bibles control or Edit to change scope, Go to verse to find the passage, and Unlock to remove the whole visible configuration.
• A Custom Translation and its Verse Lock share one scope because the custom text itself belongs to that Bible. Change that scope under Custom Translations.

Word Locks

A Word Lock ties one original-language word (identified by its exact Strong's number) to your preferred rendering everywhere that Strong's number appears in Composite mode — a find-and-replace tied to the original word, not to the English spelling.

• To create one: tap any word in the text, open Word Study in the Verse Drawer, and type the rendering you want — plain English, a transliteration, or the original script. For example, lock the Greek word λόγος (G3056) to display as “logos” or “λόγος” throughout the New Testament.
• Hover or press and hold a locked word to see the wording it replaced and, when available, the source word behind it.
• Choose All Bibles or tick one or more Personalised Bibles. A rendering for one Bible overrides the All Bibles rendering for the same Strong's number in that Bible.
• Free and Guest accounts can store up to 2 Word Locks; assigning one to several Bibles still counts once. Premium unlocks unlimited Word Locks.
• Manage scope and wording from the Word Locks tab; Search finds occurrences, while Edit changes the lock.
• Word Locks are now part of Learn: a Word Lock is the Custom choice under How this word appears.

Learning

Learn helps you get to know important Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words a few at a time while you read. Open it with the Learn button beside the reading-mode bar at the bottom of a chapter. Words you are learning appear as their source word inside the text in Composite; hover or tap one to see the English.

• Goal — the first time you open Learn you choose what to learn: the core words, core and theme words, everything, or your own picks. The bar on the goal card measures your progress against it; tap Change on the card, or Change my goal in Learn settings, to pick another. Only words inside your goal come in on their own; you can still learn any word yourself.
• Tiers — OpenScripture's own grading of the words, not a measure of difficulty: Foundations (the words BibleProject made a video about, and the handful every reader meets), Theme words (words a BibleProject theme turns on, and the Ten Commandments' key words), Reading vocabulary (common words that make a verse readable) and Deep cuts (rare words with no video, and the rest of the Greek course list).
• Your word list is one list, in the order you will learn the words: tier by tier, in your order within a tier. Drag a word's handle to change what comes next. Filter it by tier, Greek or Hebrew, Learned, or In <book> for words in the book you read last. Turning on a tier outside your goal shows its words marked “Beyond your goal”.
• In focus — a word you are learning now; it carries an “In focus” tag in your list and the header counts it. It appears as the source word in the text and counts each chapter you read that contains it.
• Learned — you have met the word in enough chapters over at least two days, or marked it learned yourself. It has a tick in your list and keeps showing as the source word.
• Paused — you chose English Translation for it. The word stays in your list and you can resume it any time.
• Word families: words from one root, such as agape (love) and agapao (to love), share one row in your list and are learned together, taking one place in the text, with every chapter that contains any of its words counting towards it. A word family counts as one word in every count.
• Pace: Words in focus at once sets how many unlearned words are swapped into the text, per language. When one is learned the next takes its place, unless you turn off Move on automatically. How many chapters and days it takes is under Advanced in Learn settings.
• Words in Learn have a How this word appears choice in Word Study: English Translation, the source word, or Custom. Choosing English Translation for a word you are learning pauses it, with an Undo. Custom is your own wording, saved as a Word Lock.
• Word Study also lists Other Resources for many words: BibleProject podcast episodes that discuss the word, and dictionary links (Blue Letter Bible, Mounce). Tapping an episode opens its page on bibleproject.com; dictionary links open in your browser.
• Most words come from BibleProject. Key Greek words from Jeremy Duff's course book The Elements of New Testament Greek are included too, marked with their chapter (“Duff ch. 5”); turn them off with Include Greek course vocabulary (Duff) in Learn settings.
• Learning works with any translation in Composite, in dictionary form. Showing the exact form used in each passage waits for OASV and OARV. Your choices can differ between Personalised Bibles.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks save whole chapters (not individual verses) into named, colour-coded collections.

• Tap the bookmark icon at the top right of the chapter header, then tap a collection to save this chapter there, or tap it again to remove it.
• The bookmark icon shows a coloured ribbon when the current chapter is saved, and chapter tiles in the book picker are marked with their collection colours.
• Each collection has its own name and colour. Free accounts include 3 collections total, including the default Bookmarks collection, and Premium removes that limit.
• Bookmarks are visible in every Personalised Bible and every reading mode.
• Manage everything, including creating collections, sorting, filtering, collection names, colours, and individual removals, from the Bookmarks tab on your profile page.

Custom Translations

Write your own rendering for any verse. In the Verse Drawer's Compare section, tap + Add custom translation and enter your own text. Your custom rendering appears at the top of the translation list and can be locked in just like any published translation — it displays while reading in Composite mode. Custom translations are a Premium feature.

• When you create one while a Personalised Bible is active, it applies to that Bible by default. Choose All Bibles if the same wording should be available in every Bible.
• Manage them from the Custom Translations tab: search, move a translation between one Bible and All Bibles, or delete it. Edit in reader jumps back to its verse so you can change the text.

Enabled Translations

From your profile, open Translations & Downloads to choose which translations appear throughout the app, reorder them, and toggle visibility. Translations are grouped by tradition — Ecumenical, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, and Independent — so you can quickly focus on the ones most relevant to your study. At least one translation must remain enabled. The enabled set affects which translations appear in the Verse Drawer, which are included in the Composite base text, and which footnote markers show in chapter text.

Offline Datasets

For in-depth language and commentary study offline, you can download larger datasets from the Translations & Downloads tab on your profile page:

• Original-language words — required for Interlinear mode and full Composite word study offline.
• Textual Commentaries & Articles — study notes, translation introductions, and helper articles.
• Translation Differences & Textual Certainty — difference markers and certainty data.

All three require Premium. Free and Guest accounts keep offline Published mode with the public-domain translations they have downloaded.

Cancelling

Cancel through the platform you subscribed on:

• Web subscriptions — open My OpenScripture → Sign-in & Billing and use the billing portal to manage or cancel your subscription.
• iOS (Apple) — on your device, go to Settings → your Apple ID → Subscriptions and cancel there.
• Android (Google Play) — open the Play Store app → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions and cancel there.

Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep full Premium access until then, and you are not charged again.

Payment Issues

Update your card or payment method through the same place you would cancel: the billing portal in Sign-in & Billing for web subscriptions, or your Apple / Google Play subscription settings for app-store subscriptions. If a payment fails, your subscription enters a short grace period — we email you and show a banner in the app so you can fix the payment. Premium continues during the grace period, and updating your payment details restores normal billing.

Refunds

Refunds follow the platform you purchased on:

• Web subscriptions — contact support and we will help. If you are in Australia, nothing in our refund policy limits your rights under Australian Consumer Law.
• Apple purchases — request a refund from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple decides Apple refunds.
• Google Play purchases — request a refund through your Google Play order history. Google decides Google Play refunds.

The full refund policy is in our Terms of Use.