Living Word Bibles Editorial Standards and Practices

Living Word Bibles publishes and distributes Scripture and Bible-related material in digital and physical formats. These standards govern how we prepare, format, describe, review, correct, and present Bible texts and related editorial content across our website, online readers, downloadable eBibles, print editions, mobile and web applications, product pages, historical resources, maps, reference material, newsletters, and other Living Word Bibles publications.

Living Word Bibles is operated by Cook Services Company, LLC. Our publishing work is guided by a Christian mission, but editorial integrity requires that Scripture text, historical facts, source information, copyright status, translation labels, and the views of differing Christian traditions be represented accurately rather than altered to fit a marketing objective or a preferred conclusion.

1. Mission Statement

Beautifully Formatted to Bring God’s Word to Life on Any Device. At Living Word Bibles, our mission is simple: make God’s Word accessible to all.

That mission requires more than attractive design. It requires faithful Scripture text, readable typography, responsible publishing, accurate supporting material, accessible digital experiences, reliable product descriptions, transparent rights information, and a correction process that treats readers with respect.

2. Products and Formats Covered by These Standards

These standards apply to Living Word Bibles products and public-facing content regardless of the device, storefront, file type, or distribution channel through which a reader receives them.

These standards work together with our Terms of Service, Copyright Notice, Publisher Licensing Notice, App Licensing, and Privacy Policy. Where a translation-specific license, rights-holder instruction, law, or contract imposes a stricter requirement, that requirement controls.

3. Core Editorial Principles

Accuracy

We verify names, dates, titles, Scripture references, book names, chapter and verse numbers, historical claims, quotations, source attributions, product specifications, and rights notices before publication when reasonably possible.

Fairness

When describing differences among Christian traditions, canons, translations, textual traditions, denominations, or scholarly interpretations, we aim to describe each position in recognizable terms and avoid caricature or unnecessary polemic.

Transparency

Readers should be able to tell what is Scripture, what is a translator or publisher note, what is Living Word Bibles editorial material, what is a quotation from another source, and what is an interpretive or historical explanation.

Accountability

Material errors should be corrected. Where an error affects more than one format or edition, we review the related website page, download, app data, print master, metadata, and product listing so the correction is not confined to only one surface.

Faithful Stewardship

We treat the Bible as sacred Scripture and also as a text with identifiable editions, translations, manuscript traditions, publishers, rights holders, and bibliographic histories. Reverence is not a substitute for textual care; it is a reason to exercise it.

4. Scripture Text Fidelity

The biblical text is the foundation of every Living Word Bibles Scripture product. A translation or edition must not be silently paraphrased, modernized, harmonized, doctrinally revised, shortened, expanded, or blended with another version while continuing to carry the original version label.

• Scripture text should be sourced from an identifiable edition, authorized digital source, publisher file, reliable public-domain transcription, or other documented source appropriate to the translation.
• Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, poetic lineation, red-letter treatment, divine-name conventions, italics, small caps, footnote markers, and other textual features should follow the chosen source edition unless an editorial policy clearly identifies a formatting change.
• Chapter and verse boundaries must be checked for omissions, duplication, transposition, broken anchors, accidental merges, and missing text.
• Formatting changes may improve readability, responsive display, navigation, or typography, but they must not change the meaning of the underlying Scripture text.
• If Living Word Bibles discovers that a source file itself contains a material textual error, the correction should be verified against an authoritative edition or rights-holder source before release.

5. Translation and Edition Identification

Every Bible product should identify the translation or version clearly enough that a reader can understand what text is being read. Where appropriate, an edition should also identify language, revision, publication history, source edition, copyright or public-domain status, and publisher or rights-holder attribution.

Living Word Bibles does not treat all translations as interchangeable. A King James Version edition, a literal translation, a Catholic Bible, an Orthodox Bible, an Ethiopian canon resource, and a modern copyrighted translation may differ in textual base, book order, included books, spelling, notes, versification, or licensing requirements. Those differences should be preserved and explained rather than flattened into a single generic product.

When multiple versions are compared on the website, headings and labels must prevent the reader from mistaking one translation for another. Search results, deep links, app state, and share links should retain translation context whenever practical.

6. Canon, Book Order, and Deuterocanonical Material

Christian traditions do not all use an identical table of contents. Living Word Bibles therefore treats canon and book-order information as edition-specific editorial data, not as something that may be changed silently.

• The books included in an edition should match the edition’s stated canon or source tradition.
• When an edition includes deuterocanonical, apocryphal, Orthodox, or Ethiopian books, their presence should be clear in the table of contents and product description.
• Historical or educational pages discussing canon should distinguish between the practices of different churches and historical periods.
• Alternative book names, numbering traditions, and book divisions should be explained where they could confuse readers.
• Living Word Bibles should not imply that a single modern arrangement represents every Christian tradition.

7. Original Languages, Transliteration, and Ancient Texts

When Living Word Bibles publishes Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, or other ancient-language material, the original script should be preserved where technically practical and reviewed for encoding, directionality, diacritics, punctuation, and font support.

Transliteration should use a consistent system within a page or publication. When a scholarly transliteration differs from a familiar English form, the page may provide both. Editorial material should distinguish a translation of an ancient-language term from a transliteration of that term.

Claims about manuscript readings, textual variants, the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Vulgate, Textus Receptus, critical Greek texts, Dead Sea Scrolls, or other witnesses should identify the relevant source or scholarly basis when the distinction matters to the claim.

8. Scripture Rights, Copyright, and Publisher Licensing

Rights vary by translation, edition, territory, format, and rights holder. Some Scripture texts may be in the public domain in a particular jurisdiction; others may be protected by copyright, trademark, contractual license, Crown privilege, or publisher-specific quotation and distribution rules.

• Before publishing or distributing a translation, Living Word Bibles should document the legal or contractual basis for the intended use.
• Required copyright notices, trademarks, publisher credits, quotation notices, territorial restrictions, and attribution language must be preserved.
• We do not claim ownership of underlying public-domain Scripture merely because it appears in a Living Word Bibles design or edition.
• Living Word Bibles may separately own or license its formatting, typography, artwork, metadata, product descriptions, software, editorial notes, and compilation elements.
• Rights questions and territorial restrictions are governed by the applicable translation license and our Copyright Notice and Publisher Licensing Notice.

For application and developer use, additional requirements may appear on our App Licensing page. This Editorial Standards page does not expand any license granted by a Bible publisher or rights holder.

9. Print Bible Production Standards

Print production introduces risks that do not exist in a browser: page imposition, trim, binding, gutter loss, font substitution, missing signatures, low-resolution artwork, and manufacturing defects can all interfere with the reading experience. Print masters should therefore be reviewed separately from digital files.

Pre-publication review

• Confirm the edition title, translation label, front matter, copyright notice, table of contents, book order, chapter sequence, and closing matter.
• Check verse continuity at page breaks, column breaks, section breaks, and book transitions.
• Review poetry, paragraphing, headings, footnotes, cross-references, page headers, folios, and typography for consistency.
• Check fonts, embedded characters, ligatures, diacritics, line spacing, margins, gutters, trim, bleed, cover dimensions, spine text, and barcode or ISBN metadata when applicable.
• Review a print proof or representative production proof before a major release when reasonably practical.

A manufacturing defect should not be confused with a textual correction. If a print run has a material production defect, the product listing and support process should address it honestly.

10. eBibles, PDFs, EPUB-Style Files, and Digital Downloads

Digital editions should preserve the same textual fidelity as print while also providing functional navigation. A technically valid file is not sufficient if verses are missing, the table of contents is broken, footnotes point to the wrong location, or the reading order is inaccessible.

• Digital files should be tested for opening, chapter navigation, internal links, reading order, search behavior, responsive display, and common-device compatibility appropriate to the format.
• Book and chapter navigation should be generated from verified metadata rather than inferred from visual styling alone.
• Footnotes and cross-references should return readers to the correct passage and should not obscure the biblical text.
• Download names, version numbers, file descriptions, and product pages should identify the correct translation and format.
• When a file is replaced because of a material correction, the revision should receive an updated version or date so support can distinguish old and corrected copies.

11. Website and Online Bible Reader Standards

The online Bible reader is a publishing surface, not merely a software component. The verse displayed to a reader must correspond to the selected translation, book, chapter, and verse.

• Translation switching must not combine text from different versions.
• Deep links should resolve to the intended passage and preserve translation context where the product supports it.
• Chapter selectors, book lists, verse anchors, search results, next/previous controls, and canonical URLs should be tested for consistency.
• Reader features such as highlights, notes, bookmarks, copy controls, and share links should remain visually distinct from Scripture text.
• Temporary loading errors, API failures, or cached data should not silently substitute the wrong translation or stale editorial content.

12. Apps, Software, and Interactive Bible Products

Living Word Bibles applications should apply the same standards to Scripture data that govern the website and downloadable editions. App convenience features must not change the underlying text without clear disclosure.

Release testing should include the core reading path, translation selection, book and chapter navigation, search, offline behavior where offered, font scaling, orientation changes, accessibility labels, links to legal notices, and restoration of reader state.

If an app uses third-party Scripture APIs or datasets, the displayed translation name, license status, attribution, and version should match the source actually returned. A vendor outage or API change must not be masked by presenting another text under the same label.

13. Accessibility and Device Compatibility

Making Scripture accessible includes readers with visual, motor, auditory, cognitive, and other disabilities. Living Word Bibles aims to improve accessibility across its website and digital products using recognized web-accessibility practices, including the principles reflected in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

• Use semantic headings, landmarks, lists, tables, labels, and reading order.
• Provide useful alternative text for meaningful images while avoiding redundant descriptions for decorative graphics.
• Support keyboard navigation and visible focus states for interactive web content.
• Maintain readable contrast and permit text enlargement without forcing unnecessary loss of content or function.
• Use descriptive link text and accessible labels for Bible-navigation controls.
• Avoid embedding essential Scripture content only inside an image when text can be provided accessibly.

Accessibility is an ongoing quality process. We should not claim a formal accessibility certification or conformance level unless the relevant product has actually been evaluated against that standard.

14. Headings, Notes, Footnotes, Cross-References, and Added Editorial Material

Material added by Living Word Bibles must be visually and semantically distinguishable from Scripture. This includes section headings that are not part of the source translation, introductions, study notes, explanatory notes, maps, captions, timelines, reading prompts, devotionals, cross-reference systems, and product-specific editorial features.

Where a heading or note could be mistaken for inspired biblical text, the design should make the distinction clear. Editorial notes should not be inserted into a verse as though they were part of the translation.

Cross-references are aids, not declarations that two passages have an identical meaning. They should be checked for valid destinations and presented as references rather than additions to the verse.

15. Bible History, Translation History, and Scholarly Content

Historical and educational pages should be researched with the same care applied to Scripture production. Dates, manuscript names, translation histories, councils, printers, publishers, archaeological discoveries, historical figures, and claims about the development of the biblical canon should be checked against reliable sources.

Where the historical record is disputed or scholarly conclusions remain provisional, Living Word Bibles should identify the uncertainty rather than present one reconstruction as undisputed fact. Traditional Christian claims may be described as tradition or confession when they cannot be established solely as historical fact.

Substantial historical pages should include a bibliography, source list, inline citations, or other reasonable means for readers to understand the basis of major claims.

16. Maps, Timelines, Archaeology, and Geographic Claims

Biblical geography often involves ancient place names, uncertain identifications, changing political boundaries, and competing archaeological proposals. Maps and timelines should distinguish a confirmed location or date from an approximate, traditional, proposed, or disputed identification.

• Modern borders should not be projected backward into antiquity without explanation.
• A map legend or caption should identify when a route, boundary, or location is approximate or reconstructed.
• Artifact and manuscript images should include provenance or source credit when known and lawful to publish.
• Illustrative reconstructions should not be captioned as documentary photographs of the event or object itself.

17. Theology, Denominations, and Christian Traditions

Living Word Bibles is a Christian Scripture publisher. At the same time, our Bible resources serve readers from many churches and traditions. When we explain a doctrinal issue, liturgical practice, canon, translation philosophy, or historical controversy, we aim to distinguish the position of a particular tradition from a claim shared across all Christianity.

Editorial content may reflect a Christian perspective, but it should not misquote Scripture, invent consensus, or falsely attribute a teaching to a church, council, scholar, translator, or denomination. Where an article presents interpretation or devotional application, that material should be identified as commentary or explanation rather than Scripture text.

18. Scripture Citations, Quotations, Sources, and Attribution

Scripture references should identify book, chapter, and verse clearly and use a consistent style within a page or publication. When more than one translation appears in the same article, the version should be identified where needed to prevent ambiguity.

For scholarship and editorial writing, Living Word Bibles may use recognized biblical-studies conventions such as those reflected in the SBL Handbook of Style, while adapting presentation for ordinary readers.

• Direct quotations should reproduce the source accurately and use quotation marks or block quotation formatting as appropriate.
• Paraphrases should not be presented as direct quotations.
• Source titles, authors, translators, editors, dates, publishers, and URLs should be recorded accurately where cited.
• Third-party research, images, and explanatory material should receive attribution when required by law, license, scholarly practice, or editorial fairness.

19. Images, Illustrations, Manuscripts, and Media

Images should be lawful to use, relevant to the page, and credited where required. A photograph of a manuscript, Bible, archaeological site, artwork, map, or historical figure should not be described in a way that overstates what the image proves.

Generated or heavily altered imagery may be used for decorative banners, conceptual illustrations, product mockups, or explanatory graphics, but it should not be represented as a photograph of a real manuscript, artifact, archaeological discovery, historical event, or person when it is not.

Captions should identify whether an image is documentary, archival, illustrative, reconstructed, generated, or a product rendering whenever that distinction is material to a reader’s understanding.

20. Technology-Assisted and AI-Assisted Publishing Workflows

Living Word Bibles may use software, automation, machine learning, generative tools, scripting, or other technology to assist with formatting, conversion, metadata preparation, proofreading, image creation, research organization, accessibility review, link checking, code generation, search, or draft preparation.

• AI or automated tools must not rewrite a Bible translation and publish the result under the original translation name.
• Generated historical claims, quotations, citations, manuscript descriptions, copyright claims, or bibliographic details must be checked before publication.
• Automated conversion between formats must be reviewed for missing verses, damaged characters, broken footnotes, altered italics, lost poetry structure, or incorrect book order.
• Technology-generated images must not be used to fabricate documentary evidence.
• Human editorial responsibility remains with Living Word Bibles for material we publish.

21. Metadata, Search, Structured Data, and SEO

Metadata should describe the content readers will actually receive. Search optimization must not mislabel a translation, canon, product type, language, historical claim, price, availability, or edition in order to attract clicks.

Book, chapter, verse, translation, language, title, canonical URL, social-preview image, schema metadata, ISBN or product identifiers, file version, and publication dates should be accurate and internally consistent.

Where structured Scripture data is exchanged between systems, Living Word Bibles may use established encoding conventions, including OSIS-style identifiers or equivalent schemas, when they improve interoperability and textual integrity. The Open Scriptural Information Standard (OSIS) is one established reference point for encoding biblical literature.

22. Corrections, Clarifications, and Version Control

Living Word Bibles corrects material errors when they are identified and verified. The correction process depends on whether the error is in Scripture text, editorial material, software behavior, metadata, or a physical product.

Scripture corrections

A suspected Scripture-text error should be checked against the documented source edition or rights-holder source before correction. We should not “correct” an unfamiliar reading merely because another translation uses different wording.

Editorial corrections

Errors in history pages, biographies, maps, bibliographies, captions, dates, product descriptions, or explanatory material should be corrected promptly once confirmed. Material corrections may include an update or correction note when useful to readers.

Multi-format review

If one source feeds multiple products, a material correction should trigger review of the website, downloadable file, app dataset, print master, search index, social metadata, and product listing as applicable.

Minor typography, spacing, broken-link, or layout fixes that do not change meaning may be corrected without a formal correction notice.

23. Quality Assurance and Release Review

Before a major Bible edition or significant digital release is published, Living Word Bibles should perform a review proportionate to the scope and risk of the product.

• Verify translation identity, source provenance, rights notices, and front matter.
• Check book, chapter, and verse completeness using automated comparison where practical and human spot review.
• Review known high-risk structures such as poetry, footnotes, red-letter passages, tables, special characters, deuterocanonical sections, long genealogies, and book boundaries.
• Validate navigation, internal links, download paths, image references, accessibility labels, and responsive layouts.
• Test representative desktop, tablet, and mobile environments for web products.
• Record release date or version information when a product is likely to receive future corrections or updates.

24. Commerce, Donations, Affiliates, and Editorial Independence

Living Word Bibles may sell products, receive donations, use third-party marketplaces, participate in affiliate programs, or promote related products and services. Commercial relationships must not justify an inaccurate description of Scripture, a false historical claim, a hidden textual alteration, or the suppression of a correction.

Product descriptions should identify the actual format, translation, included content, known compatibility, and material restrictions. Promotional language may describe design and features, but it should not create a false claim of scholarly endorsement, denominational approval, rights-holder sponsorship, or historical authority.

Donors, advertisers, marketplaces, payment processors, and technology vendors do not receive editorial authority over the wording of Scripture or the factual content of Living Word Bibles reference material merely because they provide funding, distribution, or infrastructure.

25. Reader Feedback, Error Reports, and Submissions

Readers are encouraged to report suspected textual errors, broken links, incorrect historical claims, accessibility problems, formatting defects, or mislabeled products. A useful report should include the page or product, translation, book/chapter/verse if applicable, device or file format, and the specific issue observed.

We review good-faith correction requests on their merits. A disagreement with a translation choice, canonical tradition, or scholarly conclusion does not automatically establish an error, but it may warrant clarification or additional sourcing.

26. Third-Party Publishers, Platforms, Retailers, and Services

Living Word Bibles may rely on publishers, rights holders, public-domain repositories, libraries, archives, ecommerce platforms, app stores, cloud services, payment processors, print-on-demand vendors, software libraries, or other third-party services.

References to a third-party organization or service are for identification, attribution, interoperability, licensing, sourcing, or reader usefulness and do not imply endorsement, sponsorship, partnership, or editorial approval unless expressly stated.

When a third-party platform controls fulfillment, app review, payment, or technical availability, Living Word Bibles should not describe a platform-controlled delay or restriction as though it were an editorial judgment about the Scripture itself.

27. External Reference Standards and Editorial Benchmarks

Living Word Bibles may consult established standards and professional references when they improve accuracy, accessibility, textual encoding, citation practice, or rights compliance. These resources are benchmarks; listing them does not imply affiliation, endorsement, certification, or formal review by the organizations that publish them.

• Society of Biblical Literature — SBL Handbook of Style: a professional reference for writing, citations, transliteration, and publishing in biblical studies. View the SBL resource.
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative — WCAG: an international framework for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. View WCAG guidance.
• Open Scriptural Information Standard (OSIS): an established XML-based reference for encoding biblical literature and Scripture structure. View OSIS information.
• U.S. Copyright Office: official information concerning copyright and literary works. View Copyright Office guidance.

28. Contact Us

Questions about these Editorial Standards, a suspected Scripture error, a historical or bibliographic correction, a rights-holder concern, or a publishing-quality issue may be directed to:

29. Standards Review

Living Word Bibles may update these standards as our catalog, technology, publishing formats, licenses, accessibility practices, or editorial workflows change. The “Last Updated” date identifies the current public version.

The purpose remains constant: to publish Scripture and Bible-related material with truth, integrity, accuracy, transparency, accountability, and faithful stewardship so readers can trust both the text they are reading and the way it has been presented.