Getting started

Every language package carries a list of doctrinal terms, words like atonement, propitiation, or covenant, and the renderings actually found across the Bible books loaded for that language. Where the books disagree with each other, someone has to decide which rendering is right.

Library review is where that decision gets made, by people who speak the language, and recorded with the reasoning attached. Once a term settles, it flows into the requirements package that translators and AI agents read during translation.

A term is either open and waiting for answers, or settled and decided. You do not need to answer every open term. Reviews are collaborative, and no term is ever settled on one person’s answer.

Plan on 15 to 30 minutes. Spend it on as many terms as you can consider carefully, rather than rushing all of them.

1. Get access

There are two ways in, and either one is enough.

You were invited. Look for the email Help review … Bible doctrine terms on tri-bible.ai and open the link inside it. It expires, so use it while it is current.

You speak the language. No invitation needed. Add the language to your profile and any language already under review opens up to you.

2. Sign in

If you are not signed in when you open a review link, you will be sent to the front page to sign in or create an account, then returned to the exact page you were heading for. Nothing is lost by clicking the link first.

3. Fill in your profile before you start

Go to your profile and complete these, because they determine how much weight your answers carry:

• Which languages do you speak fluently?
• Which languages could you review for Bible study translation?
• Approximately how many years have you been teaching the Bible?

Weighting is explained in full below. In short: teaching experience only counts toward the heavier weight once someone has vouched for you, through an invitation or an administrator grant.

4. Open Library review

It is in the left sidebar of the app, listed as Library review. You will see the languages you can review and how many terms are still open in each. If you see Nothing here., your profile has no language that currently has terms waiting.

5. Pick a term and read the context

Choose a language, then a term. Each term shows why it is contested, followed by Renderings found in the books, the actual wordings that appear across the Bible books loaded for that language.

Search the Library opens the Library entry for that term with the language already filtered, if you want to see how it is used before deciding.

6. Give your answer

Pick one of the renderings listed, or use one of the two alternatives:

• Something else, when none of the found renderings is right, and you type your own.
• Different in each testament, when the Old and New Testaments genuinely need different words. You give both.

The field labelled Why (optional, but it is the durable record) is the one that outlives the vote. The chosen word ends up in the package either way; your reasoning is what lets the next person understand the decision instead of reopening it.

Then press Submit my answer. You can come back and Update my answer later.

7. Read the other reviewers, then agree or disagree

Other people’s answers stay hidden until you have submitted your own. That is deliberate: it keeps the first answer from anchoring everyone who follows.

Once you have answered, Other reviewers appears, and you can Agree or Disagree with each of them. If you are first, you will see No one else has answered yet., which is normal.

8. Bring in someone who would know

Copy link gives you a direct address for the single term, shaped like /app/review/german/atonement_kipper. It is safe to send to anyone. They will be asked to sign in, and land on that exact term.

How a term settles

Nothing settles on one person’s say-so, and riskier doctrine needs more agreement.

Doctrinal risk	Weight needed	Distinct reviewers needed
Critical	4	2
High	3	2
Medium	2	2
Low	2	2

Vote weight. Most answers count as 1. An answer counts as 4 when all three are true: the reviewer’s profile lists that language, they report 5 or more years teaching the Bible, and someone vouched for them through an invitation or an administrator grant. Self-declaring a language on your own profile grants access to review, but not the heavier weight.

The floor that overrides everything. A term always needs at least 2 distinct reviewers. Without it, a single weight-4 answer would meet the Critical threshold alone and settle a Critical doctrinal term with nobody to agree or disagree.

For administrators

This is the loop that gets decisions out of review and into the package people download.

1. Load the terms. Under Library review in the admin area, use Load review items. The language then appears under Languages under review with its open count.
2. Invite people. Invite a reviewer takes an email address and a language, and Send invitation emails them a link that both grants access and vouches for them. Sent invitations are listed as Invited. Reviewer language grants is the other route: grant a language directly to an existing account, and mark them Qualified reviewer (theologian) where that applies.
3. Wait for the answers to settle. Watch the open count fall. Terms settle on their own as quorum is reached; there is nothing to approve by hand.
4. Generate the files. Generate files writes the settled decisions out, with the Commit message you supply recorded alongside them.
5. Promote to the shipping package. This is the step that changes what people actually download. Two safeguards will stop you, and both can be overridden on purpose: Promote with Critical/High still unsettled, and Settled without a qualified reviewer. Both exist so that shipping unsettled Critical doctrine is something you choose deliberately rather than something that happens quietly.

Keep to three languages under review at a time. Every committed language store is bundled into the deploy, and there is a hard size ceiling on it.