How to Access the Bible via API or Download the Bible as Data

Here you’ll find Bible datasets, databases, and texts that can be used in software development and programming. We want to help people get answers to questions like: where can I download the Bible text for free; download the Bible data set to use in apps and software projects, how to access Bible as API, Bible download in XML, CSV, USFM, or other formats.

There are also many popular Bible versions and translations that have copyrights requiring licensing for legal usage. The typical process for usage rights of copyrighted Bible texts, you will need to contact the corresponding copyright holder to make legal arrangements for permissible use.

Bible API

ABS BibleSearch API @ API.Bible – American Bible Society (free)
With nearly 2500 Bible versions available across over 1600 languages, API.Bible offers the largest collection of Bibles available. The Bible Search Application Programming Interface (API) allows any developer to include Scripture content and text anywhere in their website or application for non-commercial purposes. Access via XML or JSON requests served over HTTP using RESTful resources.

Bible Brain API – Faith Comes By Hearing (free)
Bible Brain provides simple API calls for easy access to Bible text, audio, and video in 1700 languages.

Biblia.com API – Faithlife (free)
Biblia.com API provides Web, mobile, and desktop applications with access to Bible text through web services. Specifically, there are services that get information about the available Bibles, download the text of those Bibles, and search those Bibles. Additional services support validating Bible references, comparing Bible references, and finding Bible references in text and HTML.

ESV Bible Web Service API– Crossway (free for non-commercial use)
API access to the Holy Bible, English Standard Version. The ESV API is available in HTML, plain text, and the XML format used to store the text.

NLT API – Tyndale House Publishers (free for non-commercial use)
API access to the New Living Translation of the Bible

NET Bible’s Bible.org API – NET Bible (free)
API access for using NET Bible text in your web application or service. (html/json/xml)

SWORD Engine API – CrossWire Bible Society’s open source Bible software

RESTful Bible API – more than 7 versions, 5 languages and multiple features to simplify your day to day.

getBible API – API access to the Bible via Joomla component and JSON. Also, download Bible text in many languages at its GitHub repository, including Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai.

bible-api.com – Sinatra web app that serves RESTful JSON web API for open and public domain Bibles. Repository of public domain and freely licensed Bibles in XML and other standard formats.

jsonBible.com – interprets Scripture reference into more easily parsed format; “an experiment in creating a Bible API” – with KJV, NIV, NKJV, ESV, NASB, and more.

SWORD-to-JSON – Convert SWORD modules to JSON: Generate json files of many Bible versions

Node.js based Bible API GraphQL web service and API RESTful web service

Bolls Bible API https://bolls.life/api/ – with many Bible versions and languages, including KJV, NKJV, CJB, TLV, NASB, ESV, NIV, NLT, Hebrew עברית, Українська Ukrainian, Русский Russian, Español Spanish, Deutsch German, Farsi فارسی, தமிழ் Tamil, Japanese 日本語, Ελληνικά Greek, Chinese 中文, and more – by Bohuslav Богуслав Павлишинець

Bible SuperSearch API – This web service API allows the Bible SuperSearch Bible search engine to be used seamlessly on any website or app. There is no cost to use the API, however, your website will be limited to 1000 hits per day. Many languages available for non-commercial use.

IQ Bible API – “provides everything you need to build powerful and feature-rich Bible apps and websites. This API has over 40 endpoints ranging from the original Hebrew and Greek to professional audio narrations and advanced study tools.”

Free Use Bible API - "Access over 1000 Bible translations in an easy-to-use JSON format that also includes basic formatting information and additions like footnotes."

XML and other formats for Bible texts

marvel.bible
Open Hebrew Bible Project; aligning BHS with WLC; bridging ETCBC, OpenScriptures & Berean data on Hebrew Bible

berean.bible/downloads.htm
Berean Study Bible in XLSX, PDF, Word, and Text

ebible.org/find
Download the Bible in many translations and formats, like Albanian, Arabic, Khmer, 中国语文, አማርኛ, český, français, বেঙ্গলী, Deutsch, Ελληνική, हिन्दी, Português, Біблія, Español, Tiếng Việt, many more languages; formats include: HTML, ePub, .mobi, PDF, Word XML, SQL, USFX, USFM

OpenBible.com – Open source Bibles for download, sharing, development, and blockchain; in XLSX, PDF, Word docx, ePub, text formats

github.com/churchio/bible_parser
Ruby library for parsing different bible XML formats, supports USFX and OSIS

github.com/openbibleinfo/Bible-Passage-Reference-Parser
Bible Passage Reference Parser- Coffeescript to identify and understand Bible references like “ sacred-texts.com/bib/osrc
Bible Data Files: King James Version, the Apocrypha, Greek New Testament, Septuagint, Tanach, Vulgate (UTF-8)

tanach.us/Pages/Technical.html
The Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) has Unicode Hebrew characters with XML markup; displayed Tanach text is obtained from these formal electronic files.

mechon-mamre.org – online and offline Bible and Mishneh Torah texts

biblicalhumanities.org/dashboard
list of data resources for Greek and Hebrew studies, mostly provided under open licenses—base texts, tagged texts, lexicons, grammars—including: Nestle 1904 Greek New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus, Septuagint, Liddell-Scott-Jones Perseus Lexica, Mounce Lexicon, Rydberg-Cox Greek Syntax

byztxt.com/downloads.html
Robinson-Pierpoint Byzantine text—the New Testament in the Original Greek, Byzantine Textform, 2005.

github.com/morphgnt – Linguistic Databases and Python Tools for the Greek New Testament, with Python API and REST API and Strong’s Greek Dictionary in XML with real Greek

TextCritical.net – free access to ancient Greek works in the original language; an open source project

The entire Greek New Testament – Textus Receptus (1550/1894) parsed by book name, chapter number and verse number in CSV format

OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible – in OSIS XML, Hebrew Lexicon, Hebrew Morphology Codes

Hebrew Bible (the Tanach) – derived from the WLC 4.20 provided by the Groves Center (XML, Text, HTML, ODT, PDF)</p>

o-bible.com/dlb.html
Download Bibles: Bible in Basic English, King James Version, Chinese Union Version (GB2312 and Big5)

bible4u.net/en/download – Bible translations in various format (XML, PDF, TXT, LaTeX)

https://sourceforge.net/projects/zefania-sharp/ – Zefania XML Bible Markup Language
ZefaniaBible component is designed to work with Joomla Content Management System; biblical texts and commentaries in multiple languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek. The Greek texts include these LXX and NT versions: Westcott-Hort Greek NT, Strongs Numbers, Textus Receptus NT, Strongs Numbers, Robinson, Pierpont Byzantine Greek NT, The Analytic Septuagint (morphologically tagged), Byzantine Majority Text (2000), Tischendorf Greek NT, Septuaginta LXX, Greek WH, Greek NT Tischendorf 8th Ed, Greek NT 1894, Greek New Testament, Greek NT 1550

Bible translations in JSON format
American Standard Version (ASV), King James Version (KJV), Contemporary Russian Translation of the Bible (CRTB), The New Russian Translation (NRT), Russian Synodal Translation (RST)

github.com/thiagobodruk/biblia
Bíblia: XML + SQL + JSON – Este projeto tem o objetivo de democratizar o acesso à Bíblia Sagrada em português brasileiro a programadores e desenvolvedores.

OSIS Bible Tool Library
Using the OSIS XML format, this online Bible Tool library with many Bible versions, multiple languages, commentaries, devotionals, lexicons, and dictionaries. Displayed in a browsable listing at crosswire.org/study and data sets can be downloaded as SWORD modules.