Should I look up a commentary immediately?
After you can say what is confusing. A commentary first replaces the paragraph with someone else’s clarity, which you cannot check.
Practice
What to do with a confusing paragraph
A confusing paragraph is not a sign to switch chapters. Read it once for the words you do know: who is speaking, what happened, what is asked. Then write “I do not yet know” next to the clause that lost you. That clause is the bookmark. Scripture Journey’s study note, if you are on a sermon page, is a second reading you may use after that, not a fog machine you turn on first.
Stay inside the paragraph
Do not solve it by importing a verse from memory that merely sounds related. If you want another passage, use one cross-reference and actually open it. The cross-reference guide says one is enough.
Check the translation you are holding. Switching versions mid-paragraph to chase an easier sentence is a different project. The one-chapter guide says to stay in the translation you have.
Write the known and the unknown
Two lines are enough. “These verses say someone is sent.” “I do not know who the someone is.” Both lines are a finished journal entry.
Do not fill the unknown with a word study you made up. If the page has a gloss, use the word-study guide. If it does not, leave the word unmarked.
Then decide whether to continue
You may stop. A ten-minute sitting that names the confusion is honest. You may read the next paragraph only if this one is clear enough to retell.
On a five-day study, carry the question into the next day instead of declaring the passage finished. The app’s later days are for that week, not for a new topic.
Questions
What if the whole chapter is confusing?
Shrink the sitting to the first paragraph. A chapter you cannot enter is not studied by scrolling to the end.