4 Tips for Writers Quoting Scripture from BibleGateway.com

by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28

Bible Gateway is an invaluable website for writers who want to quote Scripture. We can simply copy and paste verses from the site into our writing without having to hunt down a physical copy of the translation we want. I use the website or free app nearly every day for my quiet time or writing, and I’ve noticed a few things writers need to remember. 

Tips for Using BibleGateway in Your Writing

Tip #1: When you copy and paste verses from the internet, you may bring hidden characters with your text. 

When I was working in Microsoft Word one day, I noticed that words in a certain Bible verse looked “clumped” together. There were little spaces between the words as normal, but the justification wasn’t right. A huge gap was at the end of the line when it shouldn’t have been there. 

I clicked on the hidden characters button (the backwards P), and I saw little “bubbles” or raised circles between the words of the verse. Sneaky characters. I deleted them and replaced them with normal spaces by using the space bar, and the verse was perfectly spaced and justified. 

For some odd reason, these little bubbles can be in between words that come from the internet. It can wreak a little havoc for book and magazine designers. So if you copy and paste Scripture from the internet, please look for these sneaky bubbles. 

Tip #2: I discovered Bible Gateway has commentaries that we can use for free.

I often use Online Bible, my computer software, for looking up tidbits of understanding in commentaries. But as I was using Bible Gateway one day, I looked up a passage of Scripture, and clicked on “Read full chapter” right under the verses. This let me see the whole chapter, and in the right-hand side bar, a list of study Bibles, commentaries, and dictionaries appeared. 

When I clicked on one of the commentary titles, I could read that book’s entry about the Bible chapter. The site also has Bible dictionaries and maps, but you may need to “upgrade” to Bible Gateway Plus to use some resources. 

Tip #3: I can easily compare “gobs” of Bible translations for a verse at once.

Yes, gobs. When I search for a particular verse, it appears with two links below it. One is to read the full chapter in Scripture, and the other is to read the verse “in all English translations.” This helps me to see how various translators interpreted the verse literally or thought-for-thought.

My favorite literal translation is the New King James Version (NKJV). I often read from the New Living Translation (NLT). Once in a while, I might look at the New International Version (NIV) and the English Standard Version (ESV). But when I quote from Scripture, I mostly use the NKJV. Which ones do you like the most? 

Tip #4: Use Bible Gateway’s copyright information for each Bible translation, and be sure to check the rules. 

The copyright information for Bible translations is conveniently located on each web page for Bible verses. When I quote from a translation, I copy and paste that info onto the copyright page of my books. 

It’s also helpful to double-check how much we’re allowed to quote from a translation by looking at the publisher’s website. I can google “copyright permissions” with the translation name, and find guidelines for how much I can quote from that translation. 

Guidelines may have changed in recent years, so if it’s been a while since you looked them up, be sure to research your favorite Bible translations and see what’s legal and what’s not. 

Some translations allow you to quote up to 500 verses of Scripture or the equivalent of up to a quarter of your total written work.

See what’s considered “gratis use” and what’s not with these links:

• NKJV
• ESV
• NIV
• NASB

Have you discovered the ease of using Bible Gateway to quote Scripture? Which translations do you like to quote the most? Let’s get the conversation started in the comments, and may God bless each time you share His Word with the world.

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4 Tips for Writers Quoting Scripture from BibleGateway.com from @KatyKauffman28 on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet) 

Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, and a co-founder of LIGHTHOUSE BIBLE STUDIES. She loves connecting with writers and working alongside them in compilations, such as Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, Collection 1 which is a 2020 Selah Awards finalist. She also enjoys encouraging writers and giving writing tips in her monthly writers’ newsletter called THE LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION.

In addition to online magazines, Katy’s writing can be found at CBN.COM, thoughts-about-God.com, and three blogs on writing. She loves to spend time with family and friends, create art and make crafts with her group MY ARTSY TRIBE, and tend the garden in the morning sun. She makes her home in a cozy suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Connect with her on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.

Featured Image: Photo by Jandré van der Walt on Unsplash