Bible Gateway Blog

One of the most frequently-asked questions we receive at the Bible Gateway is “Can I read more than one Bible in parallel?” Yes, you can! You can view up to five different Bibles simultaneously, and you can display them side-by-side to compare a passage in several different versions. Read on for a short tutorial that shows you how to do so.

A parallel Bible view is easy to set up. First, go to the Passage Lookup page (located in the navigation bar on the left).

Type in the passage to look up, like you normally would–but before you click the button to perform the search, take note of the version selector:

Click the “Lookup passage in multiple versions” link below the selector. Several more drop-down selectors will appear, where you can choose additional Bibles to add to your search. Choose the additional Bibles you want to view:

Then click on the Lookup Passage button to look up the passage you entered.

There! The same passage is displayed in each of the Bible versions you chose. By default, the versions are displayed in a list (scroll down to see the passage in all of the Bible versions). However, if you’d like to view all of the Bibles side-by-side, click on the “Columns” layout option:

The end result should look something like this:

You can toggle between a List and Column layout by switching between those two options.

And that’s it! You can update the multiple versions (or change which versions you’re viewing in parallel) from the passage results page. If you have questions or problems viewing the Bible in parallel that aren’t answered in this FAQ, don’t hesitate to contact us.

We’ve talked in the past about different ways to add a Bible Gateway search utility to your web browser. Today, we’ll look at yet another way. This method has the advantage of not requiring you to download or install any new software–the feature is built right in to your browser!

If you’re using recent versions of either Firefox or Internet Explorer (IE 7; this may not work with earlier versions of IE) as your web browser, you’ll note that by default, there is a search box located in the upper right corner of the browser window. Here’s how to add the Bible Gateway to that search box, so that you can search for Bible verses right from the search window.

It’s really quite easy. Just go to the Bible Gateway site. Then, if you’re using IE, click on the little down-arrow to the right of the search box, then click on Add Search Providers –> Bible Gateway, like such:

A popup window will ask you if you want to make the Bible Gateway your default search or not. We’ll leave that choice up to you. Either way, you’re all set–the BG has now been added to your available search engines, and you can search for verses right from the search box.

If you’re using Firefox, the process is quite similar, although the arrangement of the search window is slightly different. It should look something like this:

Note that this is a new BG feature that we’re trying out, and it may have some rough edges. Use at your own risk, and if you have any feedback (positive or negative), feel free to let us know.

There are a number of good third-party tools and web browser plugins that make it easy to search the Bible Gateway. But if you use the Firefox web browser, there’s a way to do Bible searches right from your browser address bar, without installing any extra software!

Doing so is easy–it involves bookmarking a Bible Gateway search URL and then assigning it a keyword. The PlasticMind blog has the details, but we’ll walk you through the basics here:

1. First, you must be using the free Firefox web browser. (You might be able to do this in other browsers as well, but we’ll stick to Firefox for this example. This example also assumes you’re using Firefox in Windows, but the process is similar in OS X or Linux.)
2. Bookmark the following link (right-click on it and choose ‘Bookmark This Link’):

   http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=%s&qs_version=31

   Click ‘OK’.

3. Go up to the Bookmarks menu (at the top of the browser window) and select ‘Organize Bookmarks’. Find the bookmark you just made; click to select it and press the ‘Properties’ button near the top of the window.
4. In the window that pops up, type niv into the Keyword field.

   

   You can leave the other fields as they are. Click ‘OK.’

You’re done! Now if you type niv into your browser address bar followed by a verse or keyword, you can search the Bible Gateway. Try typing niv genesis 1 into your address bar, hit Enter, and see what happens:

If everything worked, you should see a Bible Gateway page with Genesis 1 displayed! From now on, anytime you need to do a quick search for a Bible passage or keyword, you can do it right from your address bar by typing niv followed by Bible passage or keywords you want to look up–no need to first visit the Bible Gateway homepage and do your search from there. You can try slightly more specific searches like niv genesis 2:1-5 or use abbreviations like niv gen 1.

You can do a lot of customization with the Bible Gateway URL you bookmarked earlier–you could bookmark a different Bible version or a different language, for instance. You could even bookmark several different Bible versions and assign a separate keyword to each (niv, kjv, esv, etc.).

The PlasticMind blog I linked to above has the URLs to bookmark for some other popular Bible versions. And if you’re feeling brave, you can customize the URL yourself by changing the ‘version’ part of the URL using this list of Bible version ID numbers.

We get a lot of questions about the Verse of the Day feature on the Bible Gateway main page. Today, we’ll look at some common questions (and answers!):

Can I put the verse of the day on my website?
Yes, you can. The easiest way to do so is to plug a small chunk of HTML code into your website. We’ve put together a simple online tool that will generate the HTML code for your site, using the Bible version and language of your choice. Just select from a few options and paste the resulting code into your site!

The basic code should work for most sites, but if you’re familiar with HTML, feel free to play around with the Verse of the Day code to make it match your site better.

Is there a Verse of the Day RSS feed?
Yes, there is–it’s http://www.biblegateway.com/usage/votd/rss/votd.rdf. You can subscribe to that feed with an RSS reader, use it to display the Verse of the Day on a website, or other nifty RSS tricks.

Can I have the Verse of the Day emailed to me each day?
The Bible Gateway currently doesn’t send the Verse of the Day out via email. However, there are a number of free services that do. One such ministry is E-Word Today, which sends out a free daily email with a Scripture passage and links to classic Bible commentaries.

What else can I do with the Verse of the Day?
If you’re an advanced user and want to really play around with the Verse of the Day, we have made the Verse of the Day API available as a free webservice. This provides more options than the basic HTML code, but requires a bit more technical savvy.

Did you know that you can view multiple Bibles side-by-side at the Bible Gateway?

Doing so is a great way to compare how different Bible versions translate the same passage. And it’s not hard to do–click here (or on the image above) to watch a video tutorial that walks you through all the steps to view multiple Bibles at the same time.

Did you know that you can link to the Bible Gateway from your website? Of course you did–but did you know that you can configure your link to specify the exact Bible version, language, and search terms to display? Today we’ll explore some of these advanced linking techniques.

Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that you can change the default version of the Bible that the Bible Gateway uses? By default, the Bible Gateway makes use of the New International Version when you do a Bible search—but you can set the Bible Gateway to use any one of the dozens of versions available. Want the Bible Gateway to use the King James Version or The Message instead, or perhaps the Russian Synodal Version or another language?

No problem! To choose which version you want to the Bible Gateway to use, click on the “Preferences” link in the navigation bar on the left side of the page. This brings you to a page at which you can set a number of different preferences; halfway down the page you’ll see the Default Version selector:

Simply select the version you want to use from the drop-down list (you can leave the other settings alone for now). Then click “Update your preferences” at the bottom of the page.

Congratulations–you’ve just changed the default Bible version that the Bible Gateway uses! From now on, when you visit the Bible Gateway, it will use the Bible version you chose instead of the New International Version! (You can always change this back to the NIV, or to another version, by visiting the Preferences page again.)