Sometimes when reading a biblical passage having quick access to basic reference materials can be helpful to get a bit more context or to explore linked passages. You might not need all of the functionality provided by a Passage Guide but you do want a bit of additional insight.
The Insights Sidebar provides this functionality using a pane directly within your Bible panel, making it easy to quickly reference Study Bibles, Commentaries and relevant associated passages. This can, for example, provide background information on Jewish weddings when reading John 2:1-12 or show that 1 Peter 2:25 alludes to Isaiah 53:6. And when you don't need it, you can simply toggle it off until you're looking for further insight again. The Insights Sidebar is available in all Ancient, Original, and Modern Translation Bibles, Study Bibles, Bible Studies, Textual Commentaries, Bible Commentaries, and Bible Apparatuses.
Note: This capability is available to all users of the web app but requires access to a Verbum Pro or higher subscription on desktop and mobile.
The interface is slightly different between desktop / web and mobile so please select the tab that relates to the platform you are using.
Skip ahead to:
- Open the Insights Sidebar
- Select Different Reference Books
- Explore Related Passages
- Understand Textual History
Open the Insights Sidebar
To open the Insights Sidebar on desktop,
- Go to the Home tab in an open Bible.
- Then select Insights
to open the sidebar.
The Insights Sidebar shows snippets of articles from your highest prioritised Study Bible and your highest prioritized relevant commentary.
Click More at the bottom to expand the article. You can click the name of the book to open it in a separate panel.
Select Different Reference Books
To specify a different reference book for the Insights Sidebar, click the small chevron to the right of the book's name and select a different book from the popup menu.
Explore Related Passages
Beneath the Related Books section is a Related Passages section that is displayed when there are linked passages to the one you are studying. This includes information drawn from:
- the New Testament Use of the Old Testament Interactive
- a range of cross-reference and harmony books
- your Bibles
Click the title of a cross-reference book to open it to the appropriate section.
The Cross References card at the bottom of the pane, shows a range of cross-references drawn from Bibles you own. Hover your cursor over one to see the contents of the verse, click one to move to that location in your Bible. This card also provides the ability to open a Passage Guide on the verse / passage for more detailed study.
Understand Textual History
Sometimes you will want to understand the textual history of a passage before interpretation even begins. What did the Greek or Hebrew text say? Are there differences between the manuscripts that I need to be aware of? How did other ancient translators handle this passage?
The Textual History section brings that information right into the Bible, so it's always on hand. The cards found in this section include relevant information from Textual Commentaries, Bible Apparatuses, Original Language Bibles, and Ancient Version Bibles. Click More at the bottom to expand the article. You can click the title of a resource to open it in a separate panel.
Note: The Textual History section requires a Verbum Max subscription and will only appear within Ancient, Original, and Modern Translation Bibles, Textual and Bible Commentaries, and Bible Apparatus book types.
Skip ahead to:
- Open the Insights Panel
- Insights Panel Sections
- Highlights
- Guides and Tools
- Additional Information and Insights
Open the Insights Panel
There are two main ways to open the Insights Panel.
- From the text you are studying
- By tapping the Insights
Open the Insights Panel from the Text
Press and hold a word to open the Insights Panel focused on that word, or double tap a word to open the Insights Panel on the entire verse.
Here are a few items to note about navigating in the Insights Panel:
- The slider at the top of the Panel allows you to adjust the height as required.
- The toggle at the top of the panel provides the ability to change focus between words and verses.
- The left / right arrows at the bottom of the panel pan left / right between different words or verses.
Note: If you press and drag text immediately (without holding), Verbum may use your last highlighting style to markup your selected text. Learn more about highlighting in Verbum mobile.
Open the Insights Panel from the Insights Button
Tap the Insights button to open the Insights Panel. It will open on the currently selected verse. When you open the panel in this way, you cannot switch between words and verses or to pan left / right.
Note: The Insights Button only appears in the text when scrolling view is enabled and the top / bottom menus are visible.
Pinning the Insights Panel
If you are using the Insights Panel on a tablet, it open to the right of the text in a separate panel so you can easily engage with both at the same time.
Insights Panel Sections
The Insights Panel has three sections:
Highlights
The top section shows your most recently-applied highlights. Swipe left in the row of highlights to reveal more, up to a limit of 20.
You can add a note or access additional highlights by tapping the More Actions Menu icon .
Guides and Tools
The middle section includes quick links to Guides and Tools. Depending on your selection, this section will include options like:
- Copy
- Share
- Note
- Search
- Bible Word Study
- Passage Guide
- Exegetical Guide
- Text Comparison
- and more
Additional Information and Insights
The final section includes a number of sub-sections containing access to more detailed information, tap one to expand it and see the information it contains.
When focused on a word, this section provides detailed word information, access to notes and highlights on that word, and related Factbook entries. When focused on a verse, it provides quick access to study Bibles and commentaries, links to related biblical passages, your notes and highlights on that word, and related Factbook entries.
Word Info section
The Word Info section shows more detailed information on the selected word.
Tap or tap a specific entry to expand the Word Info section and access all of its functions. Quickly view Lemma, Root, Morphology, and Strong's information, along with the word's article in your highest prioritized lexicon. Quick links are also available to expand your study or search for other occurrences of the original language word. Tap the terms in blue (i.e. "lemma") to open a pop-up with a description of the term.
When you are in a non-Bible book, such as a commentary or dictionary, you will see the Lookup Card in this section. This card allows you to quickly lookup dictionary definitions of a selected word. The Lookup Card appears only for non-morphologically tagged text.
When available, the Lookup Card includes a mode switcher. Simple shows the top-prioritized Dictionary entry, while Detailed shows the top-prioritized Encyclopedia entry. If an entry type doesn’t exist for one of these modes, the switcher is hidden and the available content is shown instead. On iOS, when no Dictionary or Encyclopedia entries are available, a link is shown to search for the concept in the iOS system dictionary (this is not available on Android).
Notes & Highlights section
The Notes & Highlights section shows any notes or highlights on the selected word or verse. Tap the More Actions Menu icon to see additional options for annotating the text.
Factbook section
The Factbook section contains a single card that groups together all relevant Factbook entries. Tap an entry to open an expanded view that contains more details, a preview of the key article and links to Factbook and Search for that entity.
Related Books section
Note: This option only appears when the Insights Panel is focused on a verse, not an individual word.
The Related Books section shows snippets of articles from your highest prioritized Study Bible and your highest prioritized relevant commentary. Tap a title to bring up a menu enabling you to switch to a different book of the same type.
Tap the expand button to see the full contents in a scrollable panel. And, from there, tap the Open button to open that book in a separate tab.
Related Passages section
Note: This option only appears when the Insights Panel is focused on a verse, not an individual word.
The Related Passages section shows passages that are linked to the one you are studying. Sometimes there are no linked passages and, in that case, you are prompted to try another reference.
Where there are related passages, this draws on information found in the New Testament Use of the Old Testament Interactive and a range of cross-reference and harmony books.
Tap Open to see more detail about that reference.
Homilies & Bible Studies section
Note: This option only appears when the Insights Panel is focused on a verse, not an individual word.
The Homilies & Bible Studies section shows any Homily or Bible Study documents that are based on the verse range selected. One icon (1) indicates the presence of a related Bible Study document while the other icon (2) indicates the presence of a related Homily document. To see all the related documents (if there are too many to fit in the standard section) tap the expand icon to expand the section.
Tap one of the entries to see the contents of the document within the panel - and you can scroll down to the bottom of the entry to Open the document in a separate tab.
As well as this information being shown in the Insights Panel, you can see where related Bible study or homily documents appear within the biblical text itself. Once you enable this in the View Settings menu you will see icons indicating the presence of these documents.
If your phone is in landscape mode (or if you are using a tablet) you will also see vertical lines showing the extent of the passage covered (the dark blue line relates to Bible Study documents while the light blue line relates to Homily documents).
Tap an icon or a line (when showing) to open the Insights Panel section.