The Word in Context

Settings

Subscription

7-day free trial
Then $4.99 per month, or $39.99 per year (save 33%)

Full access to the app, live Bible sources, and all features. Manage via the Account button.

Chat speaks AI replies with device voices below. BSB Audio and Studio voices are for the Bible reader — listed here so you see the same options as Read.

Narration voice (Chat) Your saved voice · Premium Neural · John (Narrator) — same groups as the Read app.
iPhone: try Daniel or Karen under John (Narrator).
Mac: use Chrome for Enhanced voices.
Zoom: turn off Hands-free, use headphones, tap 🔊 on replies. Reload system voices

Test any voice (click 🔊). Click ✏️ on a row to give it your own name (great for the numbered internal voices). Numbered ones are real macOS voices — listen to discover male/female.

Speed: 0.95 Pitch: 1.0 Auto-speak AI replies (uses your selected local voice). Independent of the hands-free toggle in the chat bar.

Require wake word for hands-free (recommended to reduce noise) Wake word Default is John. Pick a preset or type your own — your choice is saved on this device.

Turn off the checkbox above to always listen without a wake word. Pause commands like "[name] pause" use whatever name you set here. Save settings to apply.

Library language & reading

Choose the language and Bible translation for reading and listening in the Library. You can also change translation from the Library toolbar. Chat still uses the English translation below for live scripture grounding.

Language Bible translation

Speak uses your saved voice above when it matches this language; otherwise a voice for the Library language.

Default English Translation (used for live literal text & citations in replies)

What works in this web app

iPhone — basic voices only
Safari, Chrome, and Edge all expose the same compact iOS system voices in web apps — not Enhanced, Premium, or third-party voices. Tap Unlock all voices if the list is empty, then pick Daniel (British male) or Karen (Australian female).

Mac — use Chrome
Chrome exposes Enhanced voices downloaded in System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices. Tap Reload system voices after downloading.

Future: Realtime conversational voice (full-duplex, very low latency, like talking naturally). We may offer this as a higher-priced tier later once the app is stable with more users.

Dark mode (saved on this device)

📚 Sources & Data Attribution

Every citation of The Word in this app is traceable and verifiable — nothing is assumed or memorized by the model.

Bible Scripture Text (English + Original Languages)

Live from the network — not written into the code or baked into the model. All text (English and originals) is fetched on-demand from the public Free Use Bible API at https://bible.helloao.org.
When you mention a reference (e.g. "Galatians 6", "John 1:1-5", or ask about a Greek/Hebrew word), the server detects it and fetches the exact verses.
English grounding: Berean Standard Bible (BSB) is the default. User-selectable in Settings: BSB, KJV, NET, Darby, ASV, YLT, or WEB — all fetched live from bible.helloao.org only.
Greek New Testament sources (for NT passages and word studies): SBL Greek New Testament (primary modern critical text), Byzantine Greek NT, Majority Text, Textus Receptus, and others (Tischendorf, Family 35, etc.). The server automatically pulls the Greek alongside English when relevant.
Hebrew Old Testament sources (for OT / Tanakh): Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC / hbo_wlc) — the standard scholarly Masoretic Text (Hebrew) used as the base for most modern OT translations. Also available in some modern Hebrew editions.
After the AI replies, the server scans the reply for any scripture the model referenced and fetches accurate live text (English + original where available) for the sources panel.
The model is instructed to quote or reference the original Greek/Hebrew text (with transliteration when helpful) when discussing specific words, grammar, or key terms, and to cite the exact source (e.g. "SBL Greek New Testament" or "Westminster Leningrad Codex").

What "Context" Means in This App

"Context" is the disciplined practice of letting The Word interpret The Word — examining a passage within its proper literary, grammatical, and canonical setting rather than in isolation. It includes:

Literary context: The immediate sentence, paragraph, chapter, and book — how the words function in the author's flow of argument or story.
Grammatical & syntactic context: In the original Greek or Hebrew, verb tense, voice, mood, word order, case, and sentence structure often carry nuances that translations can only approximate.
Lexical context: How the same Greek or Hebrew word is used by this author elsewhere, in the same book, or in the broader literature of the period.
Historical & cultural context: The world of the original audience (ancient Near East for the Old Testament; 1st-century Greco-Roman world for the New Testament).
Canonical context: How the passage relates to the rest of Scripture and the overall redemptive story.

How to Understand Greek & Hebrew in Context (the Process)

Begin with the literal text supplied by the app (SBL Greek New Testament for the NT; Westminster Leningrad Codex for the Hebrew OT).
Read the surrounding verses and chapters to grasp the author's immediate purpose.
Identify significant words or constructions and study their usage in the original language (the app surfaces these when you ask about a specific term).
Analyze the grammar: Who is acting? What is the tense, aspect, or emphasis? How does the sentence structure shape meaning?
Consider genre (narrative, poetry, epistle, prophecy, etc.) because different genres use language differently.
Compare the same words, themes, or constructions elsewhere in the author's writings and the wider canon.
Only after the text has spoken in its original context do we move to application or theology — always letting the particulars of the Greek or Hebrew guide us.

Citations You Hear When It Speaks

The system prompt requires the model to include explicit, natural-sounding citations — including original languages — in every response that discusses scripture:

“John 1:1 (SBL Greek New Testament) reads: ‘Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος...’ (En archē ēn ho logos...)”
“The Hebrew of Genesis 1:1 (Westminster Leningrad Codex) is: ‘בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים’ (Bereshit bara Elohim...)”

Because the spoken text contains the citations, you hear the English translation source and the original Greek/Hebrew every time the voice reads the answer.

AI Model

Responses generated by Grok 4.3 (model: grok-4.3).
Calls go through a secure server-side proxy — your xAI API key never leaves the server and is never exposed to the browser.

Voice (Text-to-Speech)

Browser voices only (window.speechSynthesis). iPhone: basic system voices only (any browser) — try Daniel or Karen. Mac: Chrome for Enhanced voices from Spoken Content. No app filter.
No server TTS, no xAI voices, no cloud voices for speech output. All speaking (manual replies, auto-speak, hands-free, preview tests) uses only your device's own voices.

Conversation History

Your chats are stored only in your browser’s localStorage (they survive refresh but stay on this device).

📖 The Word in Context