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
- Upload the plugin to
/wp-content/plugins/hidden-word-bible-lessons/ - Activate through the ‘Plugins’ menu
- 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.
- Add
[hwbl_lesson]to any page or use the Bible Lesson Gutenberg block - Configure schedule and translation under Settings; API keys and digests under Advanced
- 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.
-
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.
ContributorsTranslate “Hidden Word Bible Lessons” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
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()withWP_Queryfor demo page lookup - Add combined
smoke-all.shand 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
