Hidden Word Bible Lessons

Description

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
  • Spaced-repetition memorization (SM-2), practice modes, and review queue
  • Bible chapter reader with Hello AO audio (no API key)
  • Optional BYOK: API.Bible, Biblia.com, YouVersion Platform, OpenAI / Claude (or WP AI Connectors)
  • Verse of the Day, email digests, progress tracking, PDF leader guides
  • Custom scheduling, cohorts, study finder, and ask-a-question tools
  • Gutenberg blocks and shortcodes; lesson catalog at /bible-lesson/

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_memorize_verse] / [hwbl_memorize_reviews] — Memorize and review
  • [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

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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. Optional services are used only when a site administrator enables them and supplies keys (or uses WordPress AI Connectors):

  • Hello AO — free Bible text/audio API (no key)
  • API.Bible, Biblia.com, YouVersion Platform — optional translation providers (BYOK)
  • bible.com — Verse of the Day reference/image (when VOTD is enabled)
  • OpenAI or Anthropic — optional AI explain/study/ask (BYOK or Connectors)

No license phone-home. No paid feature gates.

Screenshots

Blocks

This plugin provides 2 blocks.

  • Bible Lesson
  • Bible Lesson Catalog

Installation

  1. Upload the plugin to /wp-content/plugins/hidden-word-bible-lessons/
  2. Activate through the ‘Plugins’ menu
  3. Go to Hidden Word Bible Lessons in the admin menu — 500 lessons seed in the background. A Today’s Lesson demo page is created on first activation.
  4. Add [hwbl_lesson] to any page or use the Bible Lesson Gutenberg block
  5. Configure schedule and translation under Settings; API keys and digests under Advanced
  6. If you previously used the separate Premium add-on, deactivate and delete that plugin

FAQ

How many NIV verses are bundled?

500 single-verse lessons, using the full Biblica 500-verse gratis use allowance.

Do I need a separate Premium plugin?

No. Former Premium features are included in this plugin for free. Deactivate any older separate Premium install.

Can I add my own lessons?

Yes. Create new Bible Lessons or edit the seeded 500-lesson curriculum.

Does this work with page builders?

Yes. Use the shortcode [hwbl_lesson] in any page builder text widget or the Gutenberg block.

Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

Contributors & Developers

“Hidden Word Bible Lessons” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Changelog

2.0.2

  • Fix Verse of the Day Explain 404s: flush CPT rewrite rules when missing so saved explanation permalinks resolve
  • Ignore empty/broken saved explanation shells and regenerate usable content
  • Silence Plugin Check false positive for wp_get_connectors() via call_user_func

2.0.1

  • Verse of the Day Explain: clearer errors when AI explain is off or no provider is ready; follow site AI toggle when the VOTD explain option has never been saved
  • Log AI generation failures for Verse of the Day Explain to help diagnose Connectors/BYOK issues

2.0.0

  • Merge former Premium add-on into this plugin (all features free, no license gate)
  • Advanced Settings: Bible API keys, AI (BYOK/Connectors), digests, VOTD, scheduling
  • Shortcodes: hwbl_study_finder, hwbl_ask_question, hwbl_verse_of_the_day, hwbl_my_progress, and more
  • Remove license phone-home and GitHub updater from bundled modules

1.7.2

  • Escape copyright and lesson list HTML with wp_kses_post at output boundaries
  • Remove legacy thw_/THW_ shortcodes, constants, class aliases, and hook bridges (hwbl_/HWBL_ only)

1.7.1

  • Fix “Listen to verse” when site translation has no Hello AO audio (falls back to KJV/WEB/BSB chapter audio)
  • Add “Know the reference” memorization mode for book, chapter, and verse practice

1.7.0

  • SRS-first memorization: daily review mode, quality ratings, review queue dashboard shortcode [hwbl_memorize_reviews]
  • Lesson pages show due-review banner and auto-enroll verses in your SRS deck when logged in
  • Engagement: cohort leaderboard + weekly challenge, unified AI assistant, side-by-side translation compare
  • PWA offline pack caching for review queue; memorization audio via Hello AO
  • API.Bible FUMS script + attribution; merge-ready hwbl_premium_features_enabled() helper

1.6.0

  • SM-2 spaced repetition with server-side progress (hwbl/v1/memorize/* REST)
  • Practice modes: hide words, type from memory, first-letter hints, word scramble
  • Server streak sync with one-time localStorage import on login
  • REST namespace bridge: hwbl/v1 primary, thw/v1 deprecated aliases
  • Engagement scaffolds: cohort leaderboard, AI assistant shell, personalized digests, translation compare, PWA offline pack

1.5.0

  • Secure memorize-verse REST endpoint with rate limiting; custom verse posts require login
  • Memoize bundled KJV/WEB/NIV curriculum JSON loads for better performance
  • JavaScript i18n foundation for lesson tabs and memorization widget
  • Keyboard accessibility for word-hide memorization (Enter/Space, ARIA labels)
  • Align Premium streak claim with hwbl_mem_streak localStorage key

1.3.1

  • Schedule-aware front-end labels: “Today’s / This Week’s / This Month’s Verse to Memorize” based on Bible Lessons Settings schedule mode
  • Rename user-facing “lesson” CTAs/catalog/widget copy toward verse-to-memorize wording

1.3.0

  • Renamed for WordPress.org: Hidden Word Bible Lessons (slug hidden-word-bible-lessons)
  • Prefix identifiers as hwbl_/HWBL_ (4+ characters) with legacy thw_* shortcode/block aliases
  • Scope curriculum admin notices to plugin screens (Guideline 11)
  • Migrate legacy thw_lesson CPT, options, and meta on upgrade

1.2.2

1.2.2

  • Add optional Enable AI Features setting (requires Premium for front-end AI explain and study search)

1.2.1

  • Fix autoload for translation provider interface on plugin activation

1.2.0

  • Add lesson catalog with [hwbl_lesson_list], Gutenberg block, and /bible-lesson/ archive
  • Add print and copy verse buttons on lesson pages
  • Add browser-local memorization streak counter with Premium upsell
  • Add classic Verse of the Week widget
  • Backfill enriched lesson content and echo verse text from bundled curriculum cache

1.1.5

  • Add bundled World English Bible (WEB) as a third offline translation
  • Re-initialize memorization widget when Premium translation switcher changes verse text

1.1.4

  • Replace deprecated get_page_by_title() with WP_Query for demo page lookup
  • Add combined smoke-all.sh and Plugin Check smoke script

1.1.3

  • Replace mock WordPress.org screenshots with real wp-env UI captures
  • Seeding-complete admin notice links to the Today’s Lesson demo page
  • Update WordPress.org reviewer and submission documentation

1.1.2

  • Create a “Today’s Lesson” demo page with [hwbl_lesson] on first activation (does not change your homepage)
  • Add WordPress.org application form copy and plugin apply guide

1.1.1

  • The bundled 500-lesson curriculum now seeds in small background batches instead of all at once on activation, to avoid timeouts on slower hosting. An admin notice shows progress while it runs.
  • Lesson scheduling uses an in-memory lookup map instead of slow meta queries on every page load.

1.1.0

  • Expand bundled NIV curriculum from 52 to 500 verses (Biblica fair-use maximum)
  • Add HWBL_Curriculum helper for verse counting and lesson scheduling
  • Scheduler and lesson meta now support lesson numbers 1–500
  • Automatic upgrade seeding for existing installs
  • WordPress.org assets and GitHub Actions CI

1.0.1

  • Complete 52-week NIV curriculum with historical context, narrative, and discussion questions
  • Update project .cursorrules for Hidden Word Bible Lessons

1.0.0

  • Initial release
  • 52-week NIV + KJV curriculum
  • Lesson CPT with meta boxes
  • Tabbed front-end lesson display
  • Basic memorization widget
  • Gutenberg block and shortcodes