bible

name

bible

description

Generate Bible studies, sermon messages, slide-format readings, extended chapter studies, structural analyses, and Sabbath School outlines from an SDA pioneer perspective — and pull the source material (KJV verses, EGW writings, EGW Bible Commentary, Strong's concordance, SDA Hymnal, Sabbath School lesson PDFs) via the `bible` CLI to feed generation. Each output type has a reference file with the canonical system prompt and the export-to-Apple-Notes workflow; `references/source-material.md` documents the CLI command surface. Use when the user asks for new preaching/teaching content, when revising existing files, when working with the SDA pioneer corpus, or when fetching raw source data (verses, EGW, hymns, Strong's, commentary, SS PDFs). Triggers on: sermon, message, study, reading, Sabbath School, structural analysis, chiasm, EGW study/reference, bible verse, Strong's number, hymn lookup, commentary on a verse, sabbath school PDF, "generate a message/study/reading on X", "revise this file", "export to notes".

bible — Content Generation

Generate Bible-study content (messages, studies, readings, structural analyses, Sabbath School outlines) and keep an Apple-Notes copy in sync via the bible CLI.

Pick the reference

What is the user asking for?
├─ Sermon outline (≤30 min, peak-ending, CTA)            → references/messages.md
├─ Topical Bible study (whiteboard, scannable bullets)   → references/studies.md
├─ Slide deck (slide-by-slide, [IMG] prompts)            → references/readings-slides.md
├─ Extended chapter study (preserve every source verse)  → references/readings-study.md
├─ Structural analysis (chiastic, typological, parallel) → references/analyze.md
└─ Sabbath School week outline (PDF-driven)              → references/sabbath-school.md

Each reference contains: when-to-use, source-material commands, the full system prompt, output shape, frontmatter spec, and the export workflow.

Regardless of which reference you pick, the interpretive method is shared: read Hermeneutic & Sources below first. Every output type interprets Scripture by Miller's Rules and draws only on the EGW + SDA-pioneer (incl. William Miller) corpus.

Topic Index

File	Output type	Output dir	Filename pattern
references/messages.md	Sermon outline	outputs/messages/	YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md
references/studies.md	Topical study	outputs/studies/	YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md
references/readings-slides.md	Slide deck	outputs/readings/	YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md
references/readings-study.md	Chapter study	outputs/readings/	chapter-N.md
references/analyze.md	Structural analysis	outputs/analyses/	YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md
references/sabbath-school.md	SS week outline	outputs/sabbath-school/	YYYY-QX-WY.md

Not an output type, but used by every one of them: references/source-material.md — the bible CLI command surface for pulling verses, EGW, commentary, Strong's, hymns, and SS PDFs (step 1 of the workflow).

bible resolves outputs/ against a build-time-baked CLI root, so commands work from any cwd.

Universal workflow (every reference follows this)

1. Pull source material via the bible CLI (verses, EGW, hymns, commentary, Strong's) — see references/source-material.md. Don't paraphrase from memory.
2. Generate the content yourself using the system prompt from the reference file — bible no longer has any AI generation commands.
3. Write the file to outputs/<type>/<filename>.md with frontmatter (created_at, type-specific fields).
4. Export to Apple Notes: bible export -f <file> --folder <type>. Writes apple_note_id back into the frontmatter.
5. Updates: edit the file in place, then bible sync -f <file> (uses apple_note_id to update the linked note).

Hermeneutic & Sources (canonical — every reference inherits this)

All interpretation in every output type follows William Miller's Rules of Interpretation. The reference files set tone, shape, and output format; this section sets the method. When a reference's system prompt and these rules ever seem to disagree, the rules govern the interpretation.

Stance — literal historicism, not spiritualism

We read the Bible the way the Reformers and SDA pioneers read it: literal-historicist, not allegorical-mystical. This is the Reformer/pioneer line (Wycliffe, Luther, Zwingli, Miller) against the Alexandrian-allegorical line (Origen → Rome), which dissolves the plain text into a "hidden," secret, or mystical sense.

• The word is read as it is. Take the Bible as it reads. The language of Scripture carries its plain, obvious meaning — unless the text itself marks a symbol or figure (then interpret the figure by the Bible, per Rules 6–12). Do not invent a secret, esoteric, or "deeper spiritual" meaning behind the words. Prophecy is symbolic where Scripture says it is symbolic, and literal everywhere else — that is historicism, not spiritualizing.
• No mystical / hidden meaning. Reject the method that treats the plain text as a veil over some concealed sense. A reading that needs a key the Bible itself never supplies is suspect by definition.
• Greek/Hebrew is auxiliary, not foundational. Sound hermeneutics does not depend on the original languages. Scripture interprets Scripture in any faithful translation (KJV here). Use Strong's / lexical data only as supporting confirmation of a meaning already plain from the text and its cross-references — never as the route by which a non-obvious meaning is introduced. If a point requires Greek to stand, it is not yet established from the Bible.

EGW confirms this stance (Great Controversy):

"The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the language employed. These men are false teachers. … The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed. … If men would but take the Bible as it reads, … a work would be accomplished that would … bring into the fold of Christ thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error." — GC 598.3

"He submitted himself to the Bible as the word of God, the only sufficient, infallible rule. He saw that it must be its own interpreter. He dared not attempt to explain Scripture to sustain a preconceived theory or doctrine, but held it his duty to learn what is its direct and obvious teaching." — GC 173.2 (Zwingli)

Miller's Rules of Interpretation

Apply these as a generation checklist — every Scripture-takes-Scripture move, every type, every prophetic figure must pass them:

1. Every word must have its proper bearing on the subject presented in the Bible.
2. All Scripture is necessary and may be understood by diligent study and attention.
3. Nothing revealed in Scripture is hidden from those who ask in faith, not doubting.
4. To understand doctrine, bring together all the scriptures on the subject, then let every word have its proper influence; if you can form your theory without a contradiction, you cannot be in error.
5. Scripture must be its own expositor, since it is a rule of itself. If I depend on a teacher to expound it, and he guesses, his guess is the word of God to me; but if the word of God be its own interpreter, no man is left to guess.
6. God has revealed things to come by visions, figures, and parables; the same thing is often shown in different ways (figures, types, metaphors) to establish it.
7. Visions are always mentioned as such (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28; Num. 12:6). What is figurative must be explained by the same Bible figure elsewhere.
8. Figures always have a figurative meaning, used much in prophecy to represent future things, times, and events — mountains, beasts, lamps, days, etc.
9. Parables and metaphors are used as comparisons to illustrate a subject, and must be explained the same way as figures, by the subject and the Bible.
10. Figures sometimes have two or more meanings (day = literal, definite, or indefinite; world = earth, wicked, or a dispensation) — discern by context and harmony.
11. How to know a word is used figuratively: if it makes good sense as it stands and does no violence to the simple laws of nature, it is literal; otherwise, figurative.
12. To learn the true meaning of a figure, trace the word through your Bible, and where you find it explained, put it on the figure; if it makes good sense, you need look no further; if not, look again.
13. To know whether we have the true historical event for a prophecy's fulfillment: if you find every word of the prophecy (after the figures are understood) literally fulfilled, you may know your history is the true event; but if one word lacks a fulfillment, you must look for another event, or wait its future development.
14. The most important rule: you must have faith. Faith that will sacrifice pleasure, the world, reputation — that will, if required, give up all for Christ. Without this you can never understand the word of God. (Governed by evidence, never by feeling or preconceived opinion.)

Source corpus (in authority order)

• Scripture (KJV) — supreme, self-interpreting authority. Quote, don't paraphrase. Pull via bible verse "<ref>" --json.
• Spirit of Prophecy (Ellen G. White) — prophetic voice; a confirming witness in harmony with Scripture (Isaiah 8:20), never an independent authority. Quote paragraphs[].text from bible egw lookup / egw commentary.
• SDA pioneers — including William Miller, plus Uriah Smith, J.N. Andrews, James White, J.N. Loughborough, and the broader Millerite/early-Advent corpus. Use for historicist framing, prophetic chronology, and the pioneer voice. Cite the pioneer by name when their reading shapes the take.

Do not introduce non-pioneer/non-EGW interpretive frameworks as authority. EGW and the pioneers (Miller foremost) are the lens; Scripture is the rule.

Finding EGW + pioneer references

You rarely start with the exact refcode. Search to find it, then look it up to quote it — never recall EGW from memory:

bible egw search "investigative judgment" --json     # 1. find the refcode (local FTS5)
bible egw search "1844" --remote --json              #    --remote = whole ~17K-para corpus
bible egw lookup "GC 423.1" --json                   # 2. quote the exact paragraph text
bible egw commentary "daniel 8:14" --json            #    verse-keyed commentary

For pioneer voices not in the local DB (Miller, Smith, Andrews, …), find the book with bible egw catalog --search "<title>", bible egw download <CODE>, then search / lookup as above.

Full command surface — flags, JSON shapes, every command — lives in references/source-material.md. Read it before pulling source material.

Step	Command
Fetch verses	bible verse "<ref>" --json
Find EGW reference	bible egw search "<query>" [--book CODE] [--remote] --json
Fetch EGW	bible egw lookup "<refcode>" --json / bible egw commentary "<verse>" --json
Fetch hymn	bible hymns search "<query>" --json / bible hymns get <n> --json
Fetch Strong's	bible concordance H1234 --json
Fetch SS PDFs	bible sabbath-school fetch -y 2026 -q 2 -w 5 --json
Write file	Write tool to outputs/<type>/...md
Initial export	bible export -f outputs/<type>/<file>.md --folder <type>
Update note	bible sync -f outputs/<type>/<file>.md
List existing	bible <type> list [--json]
Delete linked note	bible <type> delete -f <file>

Apple Notes idempotency contract

Every generated file must have frontmatter. The apple_note_id field is what makes export/sync idempotent:

---
created_at: '2026-05-08T14:00:00Z'
topic: 'Choose Ye This Day'
apple_note_id: 'x-coredata://.../ICNote/p1234' # ← written by `bible export`
---

• No apple_note_id → bible export creates the note, writes the ID back.
• Has apple_note_id → bible sync updates that exact note.
• Has apple_note_id + you want a fresh note → bible export -f <file> --force-create.

Anti-patterns

• Don't generate without first pulling source material through the bible CLI. The whole point of the toolchain is verse accuracy.
• Don't paraphrase verses from memory — quote what bible verse returns.
• Don't paraphrase EGW — quote paragraphs[].text from bible egw lookup.
• Don't invent Strong's numbers or hymn numbers — look them up.
• Don't write to disk without frontmatter — export needs created_at and uses apple_note_id for idempotency.
• Don't skip the export step — Cristian uses Apple Notes as the active surface. A file on disk that isn't in Notes is invisible.

Source material commands

For raw text (verses, EGW pages/commentary, Strong's, hymns, SS PDFs), use the bible CLI. The full command surface — Quick Reference table, typical agent flow, per-command flags, --json shapes, and anti-patterns — lives in references/source-material.md. The command table above is the short version; that reference is the source of truth.