Display Options

STEPBible offers you numerous ways to display the material you want to explore. For example, you can display verses from several Bible versions, and compare them in rows or in columns. The display options STEPBible offers depend on the capabilities of the text or texts you have selected to view.  Read more about Bible version capabilities here, in Opening Bibles and Commentaries.

Click the cog-shaped Display Options button on the right under the Find Bar to show a drop-down Display Options menu.

STEPBible offers you Display Options appropriate to the Bible versions and/or commentaries you have selected for display, as follows:

• Display Options for a Single Bible Version

• Display Options for Comparing Bible Versions

• Options for Displaying Bibles Together with Commentaries

Additionally, and depending on the capabilities of the selected Bible version(s), STEPBible offers you options to display headings, verses on separate lines, Jesus' words in red, Quick Lexicon and verse vocabulary.  If you select an original language Bible version (Hebrew or Greek), STEPBible offers you the option of displaying the text with or without accents, though only some of these texts have that capability.  Note:  Activating Jesus' words in red disables the hyperlinks to Word Analysis in the right side-panel for those words.

A Note About Chapters and Verses

Some Bibles use slightly different Versification (division of the Bible text into chapters and verses).  You may notice this as you use STEPBible's capabilities of comparing Bible texts, as described in the User Guide sections below.  See more here . For example, the last verse in the Old Testament is Malachi 4:6 in English but it is 3:24 in Hebrew because the English starts a new chapter at 3.19.

These kinds of differences may effect the display when different kinds of versions appear together in column, interleaved, or interlinear selections (described in the subsections below). 

In these displays that compare Bible texts, the chapters and verses will always follow the first Bible or Commentary listed, which is displayed in bold.

The Bible was first divided into chapters in the 13^th century, and then divided into verses in the 16^th century. Before that, people used to refer to a section by citing the first few words. For example instead of referring to “Psalm 23,” they’d refer to “The Lord’s my shepherd.”

Remarkably, all Bibles are in complete agreement about almost all chapters and verses though there are many small differences. Most of the differences occur in the Psalms, for a few reasons:

• some versions follow the Hebrew Bible which puts the introductions in separate verses while others count them as part of verse 1 or put them before verse 1.
• some versions follow the ancient Greek tradition of merging Psalm 9 & 10 and dividing Psalm 147 into two. This means that every Psalm in-between is numbered differently.
• occasionally verses will be divided differently

Here is a complex example:

The verse “For you have delivered my soul from death…” (ESV Psalm 56:13) can have four different references.

• Almost all English versions follow the KJV, where the long introduction is part of verse 1 or placed before verse 1.
• All ancient versions make the introduction into verse 1, so that the text of the psalm itself starts and verse 2. So the last verse is verse 14.
• In ancient Greek and Latin translations this is Psalm 55, because they merge Psalms 9&10.
• Latin translations have an extra verse because they split one verse into two.

All this means that this same verse is:

• Psa.56.13 in English         For you have delivered my soul from death…
• Psa.56.14 in Hebrew        כִּי הִצַּלְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִמָּוֶת
• Psa.55.13 in Latin             quoniam eripuisti animam meam de morte…
• Psa.55.14 in Greek           ὅτι ἐρρύσω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου

Display Options for a Single Bible Version STEPBible offers you Display Options specifically for viewing a single Bible version, but limited to the capabilities of the Bible version you select. Click the cog-shaped Display Options button on the right under the Find Bar to show a drop-down Display Options menu. If you have selected a single Bible version for display, STEPBible offers you the following options to adjust your display.  This list and the accompanying illustration pertains to the KJV, currently the Bible version with the greatest number of display options available: Headings Verse numbers Verses on separate lines Jesus words in red Vocab options (vocabulary language options) Vocab. in English Vocab. in Greek/ Hebrew Vocab. transliterated Notes and references Grammar Color code grammar and General Options: Quick lexicon (lexicological display that appears when you hover over words) Verse vocabulary (verse vocabulary displayed when you hover over verse numbers) Font size. The capabilities of the Bible version you have chosen for display limit the Display Options STEPBible offers you. Note:  Activating Jesus' words in red disables the hyperlinks to Word Analysis in the right side-panel for those words. On the Display Options menu, click the Options you want to invoke.  (Click again to dismiss.)

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Display Options for Comparing Bible Versions Select two or more Bible versions to compare their texts.  Click the cog-shaped Display Options button on the right under the Find Bar to show a drop-down Display Options menu. If you have selected several Bible versions to compare, STEPBible offers you the following options to view them together: Inteleaved - shows the different versions grouped  verse by verse. Interleaved with comparison -  as above, but highlights the textual differences between words (only works for Bibles with the capability and written in the same language) Interlinear - aligns words and phrases such that one can see the links between words as they are translated in different languages. This feature is only supported by a few Bibles. Column view - shows each version in its own column. Each row represents one verse. Column view with comparison - as above, but highlights the textual differences.

In addition, depending upon the capabilities of the Bible versions you have selected, STEPBible offers Display options Headings Verses on separate lines Jesus' words in red Colour code grammar Note:  Activating Jesus' words in red disables the hyperlinks to Word Analysis in the right side-panel for those words. General Options Quick lexicon - display lexicological helps when you hover over a word  Verse vocabulary - display verse's vocabulary helps when you hover over a verse number Font size - adjust display font size An Example and Notes on the comparisons:  If you are comparing more than two Bibles, STEPBible compares the first one selected (the Master), with each of the others in turn. To rearrange your selection (and the first version to compare with the others), drag the Bible buttons to the desired positions in the Search Bar. The text will appear in lower case, with the Greek or Hebrew shown without accents (to make comparisons easier and more accurate).  the comparison will show even partial words that are different (eg in "restores" and "refreshes" in Ps.23.3 illustrated here) sometimes a word will be highlighted even though it occurs in both versions, because of the order of words (eg in "valley" in Ps.23.4 illustrated here). If different verse numbering is used in these versions, the numbering follows the first version (see explanation above at A Note About Chapters and Verses). The capabilities of the Bible versions you have chosen for display limit the Display Options STEPBible offers you. On the Display Options menu, click the Options you want to invoke (click again to dismiss).

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Options for Displaying Bibles Together with Commentaries When you select one or more commentaries to view in conjunction with one or more Bible versions, STEPBible offers the following Display Options: Interleaved Column view The remaining Display Options are the same as with other viewing arrangements as described above. Top ⬆