diff --git a/ios/swiftbible/Models/DailyDevotional.swift b/ios/swiftbible/Models/DailyDevotional.swift
index eb16f9c1..a88b015a 100644
--- a/ios/swiftbible/Models/DailyDevotional.swift
+++ b/ios/swiftbible/Models/DailyDevotional.swift
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ struct DevotionalVerse: Codable, Equatable {
     let testament: String
 }
 
-struct DailyDevotional: Codable {
+struct DailyDevotional: Codable, Equatable {
     let id: Int
     let message: String
     let for_date: String
@@ -28,3 +28,39 @@ struct DailyDevotional: Codable {
     let model: String?
     let track: String?
 }
+
+extension DailyDevotional {
+    var cleanedForDisplay: DailyDevotional {
+        DailyDevotional(
+            id: id,
+            message: message.removingRedLetterTags(),
+            for_date: for_date,
+            devotional_type: devotional_type,
+            series_name: series_name,
+            series_part: series_part,
+            holiday_name: holiday_name,
+            holiday_url: holiday_url,
+            anchor_verse: anchor_verse,
+            verses: verses,
+            model: model,
+            track: track
+        )
+    }
+}
+
+extension String {
+    /// Removes red-letter markup from Bible text before that text is reused in
+    /// prose contexts such as devotionals, notifications, and saved snippets.
+    ///
+    /// Bible paragraphs intentionally keep `<JESUS>` markers for red-letter
+    /// rendering, but MarkdownUI displays those tags literally. The regex is
+    /// intentionally narrow: it only strips opening/closing JESUS tags, while
+    /// preserving the quoted words and all other devotional markdown.
+    func removingRedLetterTags() -> String {
+        replacingOccurrences(
+            of: #"<\s*/?\s*JESUS\s*>"#,
+            with: "",
+            options: [.regularExpression, .caseInsensitive]
+        )
+    }
+}
diff --git a/ios/swiftbible/Services/CacheService.swift b/ios/swiftbible/Services/CacheService.swift
index 0704a13b..80da81d7 100644
--- a/ios/swiftbible/Services/CacheService.swift
+++ b/ios/swiftbible/Services/CacheService.swift
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class CacheService {
         do {
             let encoder = JSONEncoder()
             encoder.dateEncodingStrategy = .iso8601
-            let data = try encoder.encode(devotional)
+            let data = try encoder.encode(devotional.cleanedForDisplay)
             try data.write(to: fileURL, options: .atomic)
         } catch {
             print("Error saving devotional to cache: \(error)")
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class CacheService {
             let decoder = JSONDecoder()
             decoder.dateDecodingStrategy = .iso8601
             let devotional = try decoder.decode(DailyDevotional.self, from: data)
-            return devotional
+            return devotional.cleanedForDisplay
         } catch {
             print("Error loading devotional from cache: \(error)")
             return nil
diff --git a/ios/swiftbible/Services/NotificationService.swift b/ios/swiftbible/Services/NotificationService.swift
index aa4df457..75e6c66b 100644
--- a/ios/swiftbible/Services/NotificationService.swift
+++ b/ios/swiftbible/Services/NotificationService.swift
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ final class NotificationService: NSObject, UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate {
         content.sound = .default
 
         if let devotional = CacheService.shared.loadDevotional(for: date),
-           let teaser = extractTeaser(from: devotional.message) {
+           let teaser = extractTeaser(from: devotional.cleanedForDisplay.message) {
             content.title = "Daily Devotional"
             content.body = teaser
         } else {
diff --git a/ios/swiftbible/Views/Daily Devotional/DailyDevotionalView.swift b/ios/swiftbible/Views/Daily Devotional/DailyDevotionalView.swift
index 4d5161b4..b7672135 100644
--- a/ios/swiftbible/Views/Daily Devotional/DailyDevotionalView.swift	
+++ b/ios/swiftbible/Views/Daily Devotional/DailyDevotionalView.swift	
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ struct DailyDevotionalView: View {
 
     @MainActor
     private func applyDevotional(_ devotional: DailyDevotional) {
-        message = devotional.message
+        message = devotional.cleanedForDisplay.message
         devotionalType = devotional.devotional_type ?? "single"
         seriesName = devotional.series_name
         seriesPart = devotional.series_part
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ struct DailyDevotionalView: View {
             )
 
             // Save to cache
-            CacheService.shared.saveDevotional(devotional, for: date)
+            CacheService.shared.saveDevotional(devotional.cleanedForDisplay, for: date)
             updateSavedState(for: date)
         } catch {
             print("No devotional found for \(dateString): \(error)")
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ struct DailyDevotionalView: View {
                 isFavorite = false
             }
         } else {
-            let devotional = SavedDevotional(date: selectedDate, message: message)
+            let devotional = SavedDevotional(date: selectedDate, message: message.removingRedLetterTags())
             context.insert(devotional)
             try? context.save()
             AnalyticsService.shared.capture(.devotionalSaved, properties: devotionalAnalyticsProperties())
diff --git a/ios/swiftbibleTests/DailyDevotionalTests.swift b/ios/swiftbibleTests/DailyDevotionalTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..292a09d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ios/swiftbibleTests/DailyDevotionalTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+//
+//  DailyDevotionalTests.swift
+//  swiftbibleTests
+//
+//  Verifies devotional prose is safe to render after Bible red-letter markup
+//  has been embedded in source verse text.
+//
+
+import XCTest
+@testable import swiftbible
+
+final class DailyDevotionalTests: XCTestCase {
+    func testRemovingRedLetterTagsKeepsJesusWords() {
+        let source = #"> "And he saith unto them, <JESUS>Are ye so without understanding also?</JESUS>" Mark 7:18"#
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(
+            source.removingRedLetterTags(),
+            #"> "And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also?" Mark 7:18"#
+        )
+    }
+
+    func testRemovingRedLetterTagsHandlesWhitespaceAndCaseVariants() {
+        let source = "<jesus>Peace be unto you.</ JESUS> < JESUS >Follow me.</jesus>"
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(source.removingRedLetterTags(), "Peace be unto you. Follow me.")
+    }
+
+    func testCleanedForDisplaySanitizesMessageOnly() {
+        let devotional = DailyDevotional(
+            id: 7,
+            message: "Before <JESUS>spoken words</JESUS> after",
+            for_date: "2026-06-22",
+            devotional_type: "single",
+            series_name: nil,
+            series_part: nil,
+            holiday_name: nil,
+            holiday_url: nil,
+            anchor_verse: "Mark 7:18",
+            verses: [DevotionalVerse(book: "Mark", chapter: 7, verse: 18, testament: "new")],
+            model: "test-model",
+            track: "narrative"
+        )
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(devotional.cleanedForDisplay.message, "Before spoken words after")
+        XCTAssertEqual(devotional.cleanedForDisplay.anchor_verse, "Mark 7:18")
+        XCTAssertEqual(devotional.cleanedForDisplay.verses, devotional.verses)
+    }
+}