Hidden Word Bible Lessons helps your church or ministry teach Scripture through structured, engaging weekly lessons. Each lesson breaks down a single verse into five rich sections:

The Blueprint — The core scripture with memorization practice
The Context — Historical and cultural background
The Narrative — Events leading up to the verse
The Echo — Cross-references connecting to the rest of Scripture
Discussion — Reflection questions for small groups

Features

500-verse curated NIV curriculum (Biblica fair-use maximum)
King James Version and World English Bible (public domain) included
Local Bibles — download free public-domain translations (English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and more, including Catholic/Orthodox-scope texts) into your site database for offline reading and search
Spaced-repetition memorization (SM-2), Flip cards and other practice modes, and review queue
Bible study — verse notes with SOAP/HEAR/Inductive frameworks, Related verses (Treasury of Scripture Knowledge pack), tap-to-define Strong’s, book/chapter context chips, verse-scoped translation compare, Practice this verse, and optional church Shared study notes
Reading plans — multi-day discipleship plans (anxiety, prayer, identity, gospel share, kids stories, Advent/Lent, and more) with progress tracking, day review navigation, shared reflections for leaders, and shortcodes/blocks
Bible chapter reader with Hello AO audio (no key) and verse-synced read-along when timings are available; Spanish and Portuguese AO text editions; memorization “Listen to verse” speaks the exact verse text
Bible Maps with biblical + modern place labels, passage/book toggle, and verse references
Bible Concordance / Strong’s study tooling (Local Bibles offline; NIV/NLT via Biblia when configured)
Optional BYOK: API.Bible, Biblia.com, YouVersion Platform, OpenAI / Claude (or WP AI Connectors)
Licensed translation safety: NIV/ESV/NLT and similar wording is not embedded into AI prompts (display-only via API)
Verse of the Day matches bible.com’s daily verse via YouVersion’s public list (no API key). Verse wording comes from the Bible stored on your site. Email digests, progress tracking, and PDF leader guides are included
Custom scheduling, cohorts, study finder, and ask-a-question tools
Gospel share pages (/gospel/{id}), QR/WhatsApp helpers, and optional gospel-response capture with consent
Companion app support: church directory, app connect, Sign in with Apple, Sign in with Google, passkey account restore onto a new phone, and account deletion
Gutenberg blocks and shortcodes; lesson catalog at /bible-lesson/

Companion apps (iPhone and Android)

Free native apps for iPhone and Android connect to your church site (or thehiddenword.org): Bible reading, memorization, reading plans, journal, and the same study tools above.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/the-hidden-word/id6793653651
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thehiddenword.companion
Hub: https://thehiddenword.org

Shortcodes

[hwbl_lesson] — Current scheduled lesson
[hwbl_lesson_list] — Browse all lessons
[hwbl_verse_of_week] — Compact scheduled verse
[hwbl_bible_reader] — Read/listen to any chapter
[hwbl_bible_map] — Map biblical places for a verse or chapter (OpenBible geocoding data)
[hwbl_bible_concordance] — Word/phrase concordance (Local Bibles offline; NIV/NLT via Biblia when configured)
[hwbl_memorize_verse] / [hwbl_memorize_reviews] — Memorize and review
[hwbl_plan_list] / [hwbl_plan] — Browse or open a reading plan (optional topic filter)
[hwbl_verse_of_the_day] / [hwbl_study_finder] / [hwbl_ask_question] — Daily verse and AI study tools
[hwbl_my_progress] — Progress and streaks

NIV Copyright

The bundled NIV text is provided under Biblica’s gratis use guidelines for non-commercial WordPress plugins (fewer than 500 verses, no complete books).

External Services

Bundled NIV/KJV/WEB text is stored locally. All other external calls are optional and only happen when a site administrator explicitly enables a feature, supplies keys, or starts an import:

Hello AO — free Bible text/audio API (no key); optional verse timing metadata for read-along highlight
Bundled cross-reference pack derived from CrossReferences.org / Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (CC BY 4.0); served locally — no phone-home for Related verses
API.Bible, Biblia.com, YouVersion Platform — optional translation providers (BYOK)
bible.com — Verse of the Day page when the server can read it
nodejs.bible.com — public Verse of the Day list (reference and image) used when bible.com blocks automated requests. No API key. Church sites do not need a YouVersion App Key for the daily verse
OpenAI or Anthropic — optional AI explain/study/ask (BYOK or Connectors)
BibleSuperSearch.com, eBible.org, BereanBible.com, theWord module archives (theword-modules.com), and the scrollmapper/bible_databases GitHub repository — used only when an administrator uses the built-in Local Bible Importer (Bible Lessons Local Bibles) to download an additional public-domain translation
GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com, api.github.com) — used only when an administrator browses or installs a shared “Explain Pack” from the optional community catalog, or publishes/updates their own pack
OpenStreetMap tile servers — used when Bible Maps is enabled with the Leaflet provider (browser loads map tiles; OSM attribution shown on the map)
Mapbox — used only when an administrator selects Mapbox as the Bible Maps provider and supplies a Mapbox access token. Style presets include Outdoors (default), Light, Satellite, Streets, or a custom Mapbox Studio style URL (e.g. parchment/vintage themes)

Bundled OpenBible.info Bible-Geocoding-Data place index is licensed CC BY 4.0; attribution is shown with every map.

No license phone-home. No paid feature gates.