The VerseVoices Project
A slow practice for a hurried age.
VerseVoices is a project, not a daily devotional. I am working through Scripture one verse at a time, digging into the original languages where the English has gone soft, pairing each verse with artwork, and publishing only when the verse is ready.
Here is what I am trying to do, in ten parts.
I. One verse at a time.
I am not working through a reading plan. I am not building a curriculum. I take one verse and stay with it until I see what it is saying. Some verses take a week. Some take longer.
The reader who wants a daily checklist will not find one here. The reader who wants to slow down with me will.
II. The King James, opened up.
I write from the King James. Not because the modern translations are wrong, but because the older English has kept words the newer ones have lost in translation. Charity became love. Followeth became follows. Meditate lost its Hebrew teeth.
I return to the older word and ask what it kept.
III. The original languages, when the English needs help.
I am not a Hebrew or Greek scholar. But every verse in our Bibles started in one of those languages, and sometimes the English we read cannot carry what the original was saying. Agapē is more than love. Radaph is more than follow. Tetelestai is more than finished.
When I feel the original might have more to say, I do the work to find out what.
IV. Plain words, the way a pastor would say them.
Billy Graham could have read these entries from the pulpit and the man in the back pew would have understood. That is the test I am writing toward.
The Greek and Hebrew work is in the entry, but the seminary language is not. The reader does not need to know what a Hebrew root is. The reader needs to know what the verse is saying.
V. Artwork for every entry.
Every entry is paired with artwork. The artwork is initially AI-generated and I complete it with a human touch. I disclose this openly in every entry's references section.
The artwork is made specifically for the verse and no other. It is not stock photography. It is not generic illustration. It is created to fit what the entry is about.
VI. Published when the verse is ready.
There is no schedule. There is no editorial calendar. An entry is finished when the work is honest, the turn has landed, the artwork is right, and the prayer can be prayed.
The world rewards constant output. Scripture does not.
VII. A line to meditate on.
The Hebrew word for meditation in Psalm 1 is hagah. To chew on a word. To say it quietly through the day. To carry it to the kitchen sink, to the car, to bed.
Every entry ends with one sentence written to be carried that way. Not a takeaway. Not a quote for the wall. A sentence the reader can hold and ponder as the Spirit works to give us understanding.
VIII. Transparency about how the work is done.
I write VerseVoices with the help of AI research tools that hold the standard lexicons and commentaries in working memory. I disclose this once on the About page and once in every entry's references section.
The writing is mine. The seeing is mine. The conviction is mine. The dictionaries and the cross-references belong to my AI partner, who can also search every word of the Bible at one time. I would rather tell the reader how the work is done than perform a credential I do not have.
IX. For the reader who lingers.
I am writing for the reader who has read the same verses for years and wonders whether there is more underneath. For the reader who pauses. For the believer who has heard love a thousand times and is ready to hear what was underneath the word the whole time.
If you are looking for a daily devotional, there are good ones. This work moves more slowly. If you want to sit with a verse, you and I are reading the same way.
X. The power belongs to Scripture, not to me.
A verse can change a life. Not because of my commentary. Because Scripture has always carried power. When God sends His Word, He sends it with a purpose.
The Greek word for that power is dunamis. The same force that raised Christ from the dead.
What I am promising
To read carefully. To write honestly. To pair the word with light. To disclose how the work is done. To honor the God who speaks.
Mark Lawrence VerseVoices · versevoices.org