The Bible API

Introduction

The Bible API is a serverless REST API hosted on Netlify. It exposes a small, predictable set of endpoints for retrieving books, chapters, individual verses, running full-text search, and fetching a rotating verse of the day.

Responses are returned as JSON with a consistent schema across every translation, making integration predictable and easy to reason about.

Base URL

https://thebibleapi.netlify.app

All function endpoints are prefixed with /.netlify/functions/.

Authentication

None. The API is fully public - no keys, tokens, or sign-up required.

Available Translations

The Bible API supports 40+ Bible translations in multiple languages. Pass the translation query parameter to any endpoint to select a translation. If omitted, the default is web (World English Bible). If the requested translation is not found, the API falls back to web.

Usage

fetch('https://thebibleapi.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/getVerse?book=John&chapter=3&verse=16&translation=luther1912')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(console.log);

Translation Coverage

Each translation in The Bible API targets the 66 canonical books of the Protestant Bible. Coverage indicates how many of those 66 books are currently available for a given translation. Translations are grouped by completeness so you can quickly choose what fits your use case.

Full - 66/66 books High - 90%–99% Partial - below 90%

No translations match your search.

Full Coverage (66/66 books)

Production-ready - all 66 canonical books available.

High Coverage (90%–99%)

Nearly complete - a small number of books may return 404.

Status	Name	Code	Coverage	Missing

Partial Coverage (below 90%)

Significant gaps - many books will return 404. Use only when the specific language is required.

Status	Name	Code	Coverage	Missing books

Errors

The API uses standard HTTP status codes:

Error responses look like:

{
  "error": "Book not found",
  "status": 404
}

GET /getBooks

Returns the full list of available books.

Query parameters

Request

fetch('https://thebibleapi.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/getBooks?translation=kjv')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(console.log);

Response

{
  "translation": "kjv",
  "available_translations": ["kjv", "web", "asv", ...],
  "count": 66,
  "books": [
    { "name": "Genesis", "chapters": 50 },
    { "name": "Exodus", "chapters": 40 },
    ...
  ]
}

GET /getChapter

Returns every verse in a specific chapter.

Query parameters

Request

fetch('https://thebibleapi.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/getChapter?book=Genesis&chapter=1&translation=almeida')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(console.log);

Response

{
  "book": "Genesis",
  "chapter": 1,
  "translation": "ALMEIDA",
  "verses": [
    "No princípio criou Deus os céus e a terra.",
    "A terra era sem forma e vazia; ..."
  ]
}

GET /getVerse

Returns a single verse.

Query parameters

Request

fetch('https://thebibleapi.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/getVerse?book=John&chapter=3&verse=16&translation=kjv')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(console.log);

Response

{
  "book": "John",
  "chapter": 3,
  "verse": 16,
  "translation": "KJV",
  "text": "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..."
}

GET /search

Full-text search across all loaded books.

Query parameters

Request

fetch('https://thebibleapi.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/search?q=light&limit=5&translation=kjv')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(console.log);

Response

{
  "query": "light",
  "translation": "kjv",
  "count": 5,
  "results": [
    { "book": "Genesis", "chapter": 1, "verse": 3, "text": "And God said, Let there be light..." }
  ]
}

GET /verseOfDay

Returns a deterministic verse based on the current date (UTC).

Query parameters

Request

fetch('https://thebibleapi.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/verseOfDay?translation=kjv')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(console.log);

Response

{
  "date": "2026-04-30",
  "book": "John",
  "chapter": 3,
  "verse": 16,
  "translation": "KJV",
  "text": "For God so loved the world..."
}

Licensing & Attribution

The Bible API codebase is authored and maintained by Rithik Ronald. Bible text content remains under the licenses of its respective translations. See the dedicated licensing page for full details and per-translation attribution.

View Licensing & Attribution