Title: The Word Widget
Author: HSteeb
Published: <strong>Colte 20, 2014</strong>
Last modified: MBooy 30, 2026

---

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![](https://ps.w.org/the-word-widget/assets/icon-128x128.png?rev=972478)

# The Word Widget

 By [HSteeb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hsteeb/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/the-word-widget.zip)

 * [Details](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/the-word-widget/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/the-word-widget/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/the-word-widget/#installation)
 * [Development](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/the-word-widget/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/)

## Description

The plugin provides a widget which you can place into one of the widget areas provided
by your theme (in the WordPress admin area: Appearance | Widgets).

The widget configuration retrieves the list of available Bible editions of the current
year remotely from [https://bible2.net](https://bible2.net) and lets you select 
one Bible edition. On each day, the widget retrieves the two verses for the day 
from bible2.net and displays them.

### Project Bible 2.0

Project [Bible 2.0](https://bible2.net/) collects cross-references between selected
Bible verses, formats the verses nicely and publishes two cross-referenced verses
for each day of the year in more than 20 languages, available for free download 
and as a remote service.

### Bible Editions Available

Dated 2026-03-30 – for latest information, see [https://bible2.net/download/bible-editions-available/](https://bible2.net/download/bible-editions-available/).

For **2026**, The Word is available in the following Bible editions and languages:

 * af Bybel in Afrikaans (1983-vertaling)
 * ar كتاب الحياة : الترجمة العربية الجديدة (Holy Bible, New Arabic Version, Ketab
   El Hayat)
 * cim Zimbrisch (German Cimbrian dialect), see [https://bible2.net/cim](https://bible2.net/cim)
 * da Bibelen (Danish)
 * de Hoffnung für Alle (German)
 * de Leonberger Bibel (German)
 * de Neue Evangelistische Übersetzung (German)
 * de Schlachter 2000 (German)
 * en English Standard Version
 * en Free Bible Version (new 2023!)
 * es Reina-Valera 1995 (Spanish)
 * fr Segond 21 (French)
 * ga An Bíobla Naofa 1981 (Gaelic)
 * gr Νέα Μετάφραση Βάμβα (Greek)
 * he ספר הבריתות 2004 (Hebrew)
 * hu Karoli 1990 (Hungarian)
 * it Nuova Riveduta 1994 (Italian)
 * pfl-x-suedsaar Südsaarländisch (Southern Saarlandian, a kind of Pfälzisch = Palatinate),
   see [https://bible2.net/pfl-x-suedsaar](https://bible2.net/pfl-x-suedsaar)
 * pl Biblia Tysiąclecia (Polski Polish)
 * pt Bíblia Livre em português (Portuguese)
 * ro Cornilescu 2014 (Romanian), see [https://bible2.net/ro](https://bible2.net/ro)
 * ru Юбилейная Библия Jubiläums-Bibel (русский Russian)
 * swg Bibel für Schwoba (Schwäbisch Swabian swg), see [https://bible2.net/swg](https://bible2.net/swg)
 * th สมาคมพระคริสตธรรมไทย 1971 (Thai Holy Bible 1971)
 * tr Kutsal Kitap 2001
 * ur کِتابِ مُقادّس (Urdu Revised Version)
 * uz-Cyrl Ўзбек тилидаги Муқаддас Китоб 2012
 * uz-Latn O‘zbek tilidagi Muqaddas Kitob 2012
 * vi Vietnamese Bible (1934)
 * zh-Hans 中文标准译本(简化字) (Simplified Chinese)
 * zh-Hant 中文标准译本(繁體字) (Traditional Chinese)

### System Requirements

 * PHP: tested with 8.1.
 * SimpleXML: the widget needs the “SimpleXML” PHP library. If it is not available,
   the widget configuration (see “Appearance | Widgets” in the Installation chapter)
   will show an error message.

### Adapting the Layout

The widget output uses the following CSS classes which you may adapt in your stylesheet(
CSS):

 * TheWord
 * TL
 * Parol
 * IL
 * L
 * SL

An example CSS file is included in the plugin zip file. It includes CSS to either
show the verses with line breaks (on a wider display) or without the line breaks(
on a smaller display). You may need to adapt the rules, depending on the actual 
width of your widget area.

#### Workaround: Adapt your Theme Stylesheet

If you have no idea how to adapt your stylesheet, the following workaround may help:

 * open your published WordPress page in a browser
 * inspect the page sources (via right mouse, menu item like “View page source”)
 * search for `wp-content/themes`, you should find it in a `href` attribute of an
   HTML element `link`
 * the `href` attribute value is an URL path to a stylesheet file of your WordPress
   theme
    - typically, the URL path ends like `.css?ver=1.2.3`
 * on your web server, open the file located at that path (omit the trailing `?ver
   =1.2.3`)
    - typically, the file does not contain line-breaks
 * just navigate to the end of the file, add a line-break, then enter the desired
   styles (you may start with the contents of the above mentioned example CSS file).
 * save the file and reload the page in your browser.
    - Now you should see the effect of the modified stylesheet.

Note: keep a backup of the inserted styles – WordPress will likely overwrite the
file when you update your WordPress version or the theme, so you’ll have to apply
the changes again.

#### Workaround: Adapt the Plugin Output

Example: you want the Bible 2.0 logo to open the bible2.net page not in the same
but in a new browser Tab.

Precondition: you have access to the installed plugin files on your webserver. (
If available, you better test this on a WordPress instance on a local computer first.)

Steps (based on plugin version 0.9):

 * locate the file wp-content/plugins/the-word-widget/the-word-widget.php
 * for backup, copy the file to another place
 * locate the line
    - `# $theWord truthy`
 * after that line, insert the following line (modifying the HTML link “target” 
   to “_blank”):
    - `$theWord = str_replace('target="_top" class="b2-twd-start"', 'target="_blank"
      class="b2-twd-start"', $theWord);`
 * save the file
 * in the browser, refresh your web page that displays The Word
 * click on the Bible 2.0 logo. This should now open the page in a new browser Tab.

By inspecting the page source in your browser, you may come up with other adaptations–
like adding a specific CSS class or style.
 Ensure you’re using correct PHP syntax,
e.g. don’t use the outer single quotes unmasked within your replacement text.

Note: keep a backup of your change – WordPress will likely overwrite the file when
you update your WordPress version or the theme, so you’ll have to apply the changes
again.

#### Further Examples

 * Make the title line “The Word for…” a `H2` instead of a `P` element:
    - `$theWord = preg_replace("/<p\sclass='TL'>(.*?)<\/p>/s", "<h2 class='TL'>$
      1</h2>", $theWord);`
 * Avoid the line-breaks in the verses (override CSS `white-space` to `normal`):
    - `$theWord = preg_replace("/(<p\sclass='L')>/", "$1 style='white-space: normal'
      >", $theWord);`
 * Show the verse text in black color:
    - `$theWord = preg_replace("/(<p\sclass='L')>/", "$1 style='color: black'>",
      $theWord);`
 * Show the Bible reference text in black color:
    - `$theWord = preg_replace("/(<p\sclass='SL')>/", "$1 style='color: black'>",
      $theWord);`

### For WordPress Developers

If you’re expert in the hottest WordPress development stuff like the “Block editor”,
and you could imagine to **maintain this plugin** – you’re welcome!

I don’t follow new WordPress trends any more (I moved sites from WordPress to Symfony
resp. Hugo).

So as of 2023-03, the WordPress admin dashboard supports configuring the plugin 
in “legacy” mode only. Maybe sometime they even obsolete this?

### Plugin License

The WordPress plugin is licensed under GPLv2 or later.

### License for Bible Texts (got remotely per day)

The license conditions for the Bible texts (verses) are defined by the publisher
of the respective Bible edition. They are contained in the .twd XML files, and are
also shown in [https://bible2.net/copyright/](https://bible2.net/copyright/).

### License for Related Bible References (got remotely per day)

The project Bible 2.0 provides pairs of related Bible references.

The Word associates one pair of Bible references with a certain day, respectively.

The association of Bible references into pairs and of such pairs to days of a certain
year is subject to

    ```
    License “Creative Commons 4.0”
    <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/>
    (Attribution, ShareAlike)
    ```

With each publication, the following statement with a link to [https://bible2.net](https://bible2.net)
must be available for the user (e.g. by adding a link to the copyright page):

    ```
    Association of Bible references by project Bible 2.0
    ```

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * The widget configuration
 * [[
 * The widget in a wider widget area (line breaks preserved)
 * [[
 * The widget in a small widget area (no line breaks)

## Installation

 1. unpack the zip file into your WordPress plugin folder `/wp-content/plugins/`;
 2. in the WordPress admin area, in Plugins | Installed Plugins, activate the plugin;
 3. in the WordPress admin area, in Appearance | Widgets, put the widget “The Word”
    into one of your widget areas;
 4. within “The Word” widget, click into the box labelled “The Word”, a combobox shows
    up
 5. in the combobox, select the desired Bible edition
 6. to see a preview, click outside the area labelled “The Word” (e.g. right to the
    top toolbar)
 7. to apply the change to your site, click the “Update” button (previously: “Save”
    button) top-right in the “Widgets” window.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a39d52fef5dafaff5ae6fe8cf658829e36b2d41a96f58440b686717e043204a0?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Das Wort Jesus Christus](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/das-wort-jesus-christus/)󠁿

 [kunbibelen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kunbibelen/) Korse 28, 2023

Denn so sehr hat Gott die Welt geliebt, dass er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, damit
jeder, der an ihn glaubt, nicht verlorengeht, sondern ewiges Leben hat. (Johannes
3:16)An den Entwickler: Vielen Dank für Deinen wertvollen Dienst. For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)To the developer: Thank you for
your valuable service.

 [ Read all 1 review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

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

Contributors

 *   [ HSteeb ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hsteeb/)

[Translate “The Word Widget” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/the-word-widget)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-word-widget/), 
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/the-word-widget/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/the-word-widget/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/the-word-widget/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 0.9

 * for use in a WP 5.8 Legacy Widget Block, moved the static method `html` from 
   includes/admin-form.php into the-word-widget.php
 * dropped the empty the-word-widget-admin.php
 * tested with PHP 7.4.3 and WordPress 5.8 RC4

#### 0.8

 * use anonymous function (available since PHP 5.3.0) instead of create_function(
   deprecated in PHP 7.2)
 * tested with PHP 7.2.15 and WordPress 5.1 RC2

#### 0.7

 * use https protocol to access bible2.net
 * tested up to WordPress 4.8

#### 0.6

 * if the SimpleXML module is missing, the widget configuration form shows a detailed
   info.

#### 0.5

 * if the widget form (for admin) fails to retrieve the list of Bible editions from
   bible2.net, the form shows a detailed log of its actions, and some environment
   info (`allow_url_fopen`, `php_version()`, `$wp_version`, `$required_php_version`).

#### 0.4

 * on restricted server configurations,
 * the plugin now falls back to a safer method to retrieve data from bible2.net
 * (if PHP setting allow_url_fopen=Off, simplexml_load_file fails,
 * then the plugin uses the WordPress method wg_remote_get)

#### 0.3

 * the widget does not store a .twd file per year but uses the daily online service

#### 0.2

 * the widget form (for admin) retrieves the list of Bible editions from bible2.
   net,
 * … lets admin select the Bible edition
 * … and retrieves The Word .twd file for the selected Bible edition from bible2.
   net.
 * the widget shows The Word from the Bible edition selected in the widget form.

#### 0.1

 * initial version

## Meta

 *  Version **0.9**
 *  Last updated **2 weeks ago**
 *  Active installations **200+**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.6 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.0**
 *  PHP version ** 5.3 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-word-widget/)
 * Tags
 * [bibel](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/bibel/)[bible](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/bible/)
   [devotional](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/devotional/)[verse of the day](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/verse-of-the-day/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://fuc.wordpress.org/plugins/the-word-widget/advanced/)

## Ratings

 5 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  1 5-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/reviews/?filter=4)
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[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ HSteeb ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hsteeb/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-word-widget/)