Importing a Bible
If you already have a Bible as a file — from a publisher, a Bible society or a SWORD library — Lamp Bible can turn it into a translation module you read like any other.
Where to start
Go to Settings → Modules → Manager → + → Import Module → Import a Bible, and choose a file, a folder or a zip from Files. Nothing is installed until you have reviewed what was found.
Formats
| Format | What to choose |
|---|---|
| USFM | The folder or zip of book files, as Bible societies and Paratext publish them, or a single book file |
| OSIS XML | The .osis or .xml file |
| Zefania XML | The .xml file |
| Plain XML | A <bible> file of books, chapters and verses, such as Beblia’s |
| SWORD | The module’s zip, or its whole folder — not the .conf file on its own |
Text is read as UTF-8, falling back to Windows-1252 for older files. If a folder holds USFM alongside XML, the USFM is used.
SWORD modules
Lamp Bible reads SWORD Bibles stored as zText, zText4, RawText or RawText4 with ZIP compression; marked up in OSIS, ThML, GBF or plain text; and numbered the KJV or NRSV way. It explains why when a module is outside that — a commentary or dictionary rather than a Bible, BZIP2 compression, Synodal verse numbering, TEI markup — rather than importing something broken.
Locked SWORD modules
Some SWORD Bibles are sold locked, with an unlock key sent on purchase. When you import one, the app asks for that key, and shows where to get one if the module says. A wrong key is caught and you are asked again. The key is used once to unlock the text and is not stored; the result is an ordinary translation module.
The review
Before anything is installed, a review shows:
- What was found — 66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses — and the format it came from.
- The Name, Abbreviation and Language, filled in from the file. Change them here.
- Not imported as written: anything left out or changed, such as books outside the 66, verses that appear twice, bridged verses kept under their first number, and formatting the app does not know, whose words are kept.
- The copyright line the file carries.
Nothing in that list blocks an import; it is there so you know exactly what you are getting.
Replacing an earlier import
Importing a Bible with the same abbreviation as one you imported before replaces it, and the button says Replace. A bundled translation is never replaced: if your abbreviation matches one, the import is installed alongside it.
What carries over
| Kept | Not kept |
|---|---|
| Verse text, headings, paragraphs and poetry; words of Christ; supplied words; the divine name; Selah; Strong’s numbers and morphology; translators’ footnotes | Cross-references; books outside the 66, such as the deuterocanon; introductions and other front and back matter |
Verse numbers are kept as the file has them, not remapped to another versification. A translation with Strong’s numbers supports word lookups and Strong’s search like the bundled ones.
After import
The translation appears in the translation picker and in search. It is a module like any other you installed, so it syncs to your own storage if sync is on — see Sync & backup. That copy is not encrypted, even if the original module was locked.