Bible Verse

Type a reference such as {John 3:16} in any note and Bible Verse shows the verse right there, in Live Preview and Reading view. Choose from 15 free translations with no account or API key, compare translations side by side, add the ESV with your own free key, link out to your favorite Bible website, and study the Hebrew and Greek behind King James verses with Strong's numbers. Verses can stay live or be baked into the note as plain Markdown, so your notes still read without the plugin.

Features

• Inline references. Wrap a reference in curly braces: a single verse, a range, a comma list, a whole chapter, or a verse to the end of the chapter.
• bible code blocks with per-block translation, style, verse numbers, new lines and reading sections.
• Comparison view. Two translations side by side inline, or as many as you like in a code block.
• 15 free translations through the HelloAO Bible API, no API key needed: KJV, BSB, ASV, WEB, NET, DARBY, DRB, ERV, YLT, BBE, FBV, LSV, MSB, GNV and OJB.
• ESV inline text with your own free key from api.esv.org. Crossway's copyright notice is shown automatically.
• Link-only translations. NIV, NKJV, NLT, AMP, CSB and NASB render as a link to the passage on your preferred Bible website.
• Bible website links to BibleGateway, BibleHub, Blue Letter Bible or Bible.com.
• Five display styles: callout, sidebar, blockquote, inline, and a native Obsidian callout that is baked into the note.
• Per-verse formatting: verse numbers on or off, a new line per verse, and reading sections that follow the text's paragraphs.
• Strong's numbers and the STEPBible lexicon on King James verses. Hover a word for its entry, open its number to see every verse that uses it, show it as its transliteration or one of its meanings, or insert the entry below the verse.
• Autocomplete inside {…} for book names, abbreviations, translations and display styles.
• Baking. Write verse text into the note as ordinary Markdown, per reference or with commands for the note or the whole vault, and refresh or strip it later.
• Local cache, so verses you have already looked up load without the network.
• Commands to quick-insert a reference, open the reference at the cursor on your Bible website, search the Bible for selected text, and extend or shrink a passage one verse at a time.
• What's new pop-up once after each update, which you can turn off.
• Searchable settings on Obsidian 1.13 and later. Works on desktop and mobile.

What's new in 1.12

1.12.4

• The Strong's number is a link. In the pop-up, the number (such as G4678) opens a concordance of every verse that uses it. Strong's number link in settings chooses Bible Hub (the default), STEPBible or Blue Letter Bible.
• Comparisons can include a link-only translation. {Romans 8:28, KJV, NIV} shows the King James text beside a NIV column that opens the passage on your Bible website. Separate the translations with commas.

1.12.3

• Pick the bold gloss. The bold word at the top of a Strong's entry, such as greediness for "covetousness", can be chosen like a numbered meaning. Insert below bolds it in the inserted line.
• Contributing guide. CONTRIBUTING.md covers building, testing and opening a pull request.

1.12.2

• A Strong's entry with only a gloss can be picked. When an entry has no numbered meanings, such as trying in James 1:3, that gloss is a meaning you can choose.
• The settings tab names the version you're running, at the bottom.

1.12.1

• Baking keeps your Strong's choices. Baking a verse with transliterations or lexicon meanings used to write the plain King James text. The baked text now matches the screen: transliterations in italics, meanings in corner brackets, labelled KJV-Strong's and credited to the STEPBible lexicon. Refresh baked verses keeps those choices.
• The reference reads KJV-Strong's. A verse with transliterations or meanings now names the translation in its reference, for example "Proverbs 3:5 (KJV-Strong's)". Hover it for the STEPBible credit.
• The 1.12.0 notes show up. The release notes that were missing from the 1.12.0 update are included.

1.12.0

• Strong's numbers and the STEPBible lexicon on King James verses. Put the cursor in a verse and run Toggle Strong's on this verse, or click the Strong's button next to the verse controls. Hover a word for its Strong's number, transliteration, lemma, gloss and definition. Click it to show the transliteration, or pick one of its meanings to show in the verse.

Release notes on GitHub · Full changelog

Install

From Obsidian: Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for Bible Verse → Install → Enable. Requires Obsidian 1.4.0 or later and works on desktop and mobile.

Manually: download main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the latest release into <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/bible-verse/, then reload Obsidian and enable Bible Verse under Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

Inline references

Wrap a reference in curly braces anywhere in a note:

{John 3:16}                 single verse
{1 Corinthians 13:4-7}      range
{John 3:16-18,21}           range plus extra verses
{Psalm 23}                  whole chapter
{Romans 8:26-eoc}           verse to the end of the chapter

Add a translation, a display style, or both, separated by commas:

{John 3:16, BSB}
{John 3:16, sidebar}
{Psalm 23:1-3, BSB, sidebar}

The styles are callout (the default), sidebar, blockquote, inline and native-callout. Typing inside {…} opens autocomplete for books; after a comma it lists translations and styles.

Code blocks

```bible
John 3:16-18
translation: BSB
style: sidebar
newline: true
numbers: false
```

The first line is the reference. Every other line is optional: translation: takes a translation code, style: one of sidebar, callout, blockquote or inline, and newline:, numbers: and sections: take true or false.

Comparison view

Put two translations in an inline reference, or list as many as you like after compare: in a code block:

{John 3:16, KJV, WEB}

```bible
Romans 8:28
compare: KJV, BSB, ASV
```

A link-only translation is its own column. {Romans 8:28, KJV, NIV} shows the King James text beside a NIV link to the passage.

Verse numbers: v, no-v and numbers:

Ranges, comma lists and whole chapters follow the Show verse numbers setting (on by default). A single verse shows no number unless you ask for one. An explicit choice always wins:

{John 3:16}                 no number
{John 3:16, v}              16. For God so loved the world...
{John 3:16-18, no-v}        three verses, no numbers

In a code block, use numbers: true or numbers: false:

```bible
John 3:16-18
numbers: false
```

More formatting tokens

{John 3:16-18, nl}          each verse on a new line (no-nl to turn it off)
{Luke 19, para}             group the chapter into its reading sections (no-para to turn it off)
{John 3:16, NIV}            link-only translation: a link to the passage on your Bible website
{John 3:16, ESV}            ESV text once your key is set, otherwise a link

Baking a verse into the note

bake writes the verse into the note as a bible code block. native-callout (or nco) writes it as a real, collapsible Obsidian callout; add - to start it collapsed. After baking, the text is ordinary Markdown that you own.

{John 3:16, bake}
{John 3:16, native-callout}
{John 3:16, nco-}

The bake commands do the same for a whole note or vault, and Refresh baked verses in this note updates baked text later.

Strong's numbers (King James)

Put the cursor in a KJV reference and run Toggle Strong's on this verse, or add the token yourself:

{Proverbs 3:5, strongs}

Words with a Strong's number get a dotted underline. Hover one to see its entry (LORD in Proverbs 3:5 shows H3068, ye.ho.vah). The number at the top of the pop-up is a link to every verse that uses it. Strong's number link chooses Bible Hub (the default), STEPBible or Blue Letter Bible. Click the word to show the transliteration, or pick one of its meanings, including the bold gloss at the top of the entry, to show in its place. Your picks are saved in the token as tr: and mn: entries, so they survive a reload. A verse that shows anything other than the King James words is labelled "KJV-Strong's".

Documentation

• Full syntax reference: Settings → Bible Verse → Syntax reference lists every token form, and the sections below cover the rest.
• Changelog: CHANGELOG.md. The same notes appear in Obsidian after each update, or any time with the Show what's new command.
• Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md covers building, testing and opening a pull request.
• Translation support map: open the interactive map or see the chart below.

Translation support map

Missing a translation? Request it with the issue form.

Translations

Display styles

Set the default under Settings → Bible Verse → Display style, or add the style to a reference.

Settings

Commands

Troubleshooting

• Verse not found. Check the book name, chapter and verse, or pick the book from autocomplete. A reference can't span chapters (John 3:16-4:2); split it in two.
• Link instead of text. NIV, NKJV, NLT, AMP, CSB and NASB are link-only by license. ESV needs a key under Settings → Bible Verse → ESV API key.
• Offline. Verses you have viewed are cached. For notes that must read anywhere, bake the text.
• Stale text. Run Clear verse cache; the next view fetches again.
• "No Strong's data". Strong's works on KJV verses only, one translation at a time. Add KJV to the token if it isn't your default: {Proverbs 3:5, KJV, strongs}.
• Careful with bulk commands. A default style of Native callout bakes every reference you add, and the vault-wide commands rewrite many notes. Try the note commands first.

Data sources

Text for the free translations comes from the HelloAO Bible API. ESV text comes from the ESV API with your own key, and Crossway's copyright notice is shown automatically. Strong's numbers, transliterations and definitions come from the STEPBible lexicon (TBESH and TBESG) by STEPBible.org / Tyndale House, Cambridge, licensed CC BY 4.0 and served through the HelloAO API. The plugin credits it wherever lexicon text is shown or inserted.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). You may use, change and share the plugin; changed versions you distribute must also be GPL-3.0 and come with their source.

Credits

• Author: kilrkrow
• Contributors: @tasodoufu: removed stale multi-chapter comments from the parser (#61)
• Data: HelloAO Bible API, STEPBible / Tyndale House, and the ESV API by Crossway

Links

Issues · Discussions · Releases