Downloads & API

The Readable English Bible is free to use in your apps, websites, churches, schools, and ministries, including commercial products. No sign-up, no API key, no fees.

License

The translation text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, share, adapt, and use it for any purpose, as long as you give credit. Please include this line wherever the text is shown:

Scripture from the Readable English Bible (READ), readable.bible, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

The official abbreviation is READ. This is a draft translation (Draft 0.2) and the text may still change.

Download the full Bible

JSON API

Every book and chapter is available as a JSON file you can fetch straight from your app. Cross-origin requests are allowed.

`GET /api/books.json`	List of all 66 books
`GET /api/{book}.json`	A whole book, e.g. `/api/ruth.json`
`GET /api/{book}/{chapter}.json`	One chapter, e.g. `/api/john/3.json`

Book slugs are lowercase with dashes: genesis, 1-samuel, psalms, song-of-solomon, 1-john. Each book also has its standard USFM code (GEN, PSA, JHN…).

Example

const res = await fetch("https://readable.bible/api/john/3.json");
const chapter = await res.json();
const verse = chapter.verses.find(v => v.verse === 16);
console.log(verse.text);

A chapter looks like this (shortened):

{
  "name": "Readable English Bible",
  "abbreviation": "READ",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "book": { "name": "John", "slug": "john", "usfm": "JHN", "testament": "NT", "chapters": 21 },
  "chapter": 3,
  "verses": [
    { "verse": 16, "text": "For God so loved the world…" }
  ],
  "previous": { "book": "john", "chapter": 2, "url": "…" },
  "next": { "book": "john", "chapter": 4, "url": "…" }
}

Verses with a translator note include a "note" field. Lines of poetry are separated by \n.

Source

The translation and the code for this website are open on GitHub.