Overview
The Bible API provides programmatic access to 196 Bible versions from the OfflineBible-Data project by Jaden-J. Every endpoint returns clean JSON suitable for web and mobile apps, study tools, or language analysis.
Quick Start
No authentication needed. Just make a GET request:
# Fetch KJV Genesis chapter 1 (by book number) curl https://apibible.wbem.org/api/bibles/en/kjv/1/1 # Same chapter using book name curl https://apibible.wbem.org/api/bibles/en/kjv/gen/1 # Fetch whole book of Psalms (by name or number) curl https://apibible.wbem.org/api/bibles/en/kjv/ps/19 curl https://apibible.wbem.org/api/bibles/en/esv/gen/1/1
API Endpoints
Health check. Returns { "status": "ok" } if the service is running.
Returns the full manifest of all available languages and Bible versions. Use this to discover what translations are available.
Fetch an entire Bible version by language code and version code. Example: /api/bibles/en/kjv returns the full KJV.
Fetch a single book (all chapters). :book accepts a number (1–66) or name (gen, ps, matt, etc.). Example: /api/bibles/en/kjv/gen
Fetch a single chapter's verses. Example: /api/bibles/en/esv/gen/1 or /api/bibles/en/kjv/1/1
Available Languages
The following languages have at least one Bible version available:
Get the full list with version codes from /api/manifest.
Example: English Versions
| Version | Code | Example URL |
|---|---|---|
| King James Version | kjv | /api/bibles/en/kjv |
| New International Version (2011) | niv2011 | /api/bibles/en/niv2011 |
| English Standard Version | esv | /api/bibles/en/esv |
| New Living Translation | nlt | /api/bibles/en/nlt |
| New American Standard Bible | nasb | /api/bibles/en/nasb |
| American Standard Version | asv | /api/bibles/en/asv |
| World English Bible | web | /api/bibles/en/web |
| Young's Literal Translation | ylt | /api/bibles/en/ylt |
See /api/manifest for all languages and versions.
Data Format
Each version file is a JSON object with two top-level keys:
{
"books": [
["Gen", 50],
["Exod", 40]
// [book_name, chapter_count]
],
"verses": {
"1": {
"1": ["In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."],
"2": ["And the earth was without form, and void..."]
// book_number: { chapter_number: [verse1, verse2, ...] }
}
}
}
Try It
Use Cases
- Mobile & web apps — Build Bible readers, devotionals, or study tools without managing your own database.
- Language learning — Compare parallel translations for language study or linguistic analysis.
- Data analysis — Tokenize, search, or run NLP across hundreds of translations.
- AI / LLM datasets — Use as ground-truth text for training or evaluation.
- Education — Power classroom tools, quizzes, or scripture-memory apps.