Bible API — OriginsAPI Documentation

Overview

The Bible API serves 12 public domain translations as static JSON files from a global edge network. No API key, no authentication, no rate limits for standard usage.

https://bible-{translation}.originsapi.com/{reference}.json

Each translation has its own subdomain. References use dot notation: BOOK.CHAPTER.VERSE. All responses are UTF-8 encoded JSON with open CORS headers.

CURL

# John 3:16, King James Version curl https://bible-kjv.originsapi.com/JHN.3.16.json # Genesis 1:1, Hebrew (WLC) curl https://bible-wlc.originsapi.com/GEN.1.1.json

Translations

Use the translation code in the subdomain. All translations are 100% public domain. Each keeps its native verse numbering — no forced alignment across translations.

Code	Translation	Language	Year	Coverage	Verses
`kjv`	King James Version	English	1611	Full Bible	31,102
`ylt`	Young's Literal Translation	English	1862	Full Bible	31,102
`darby`	Darby Translation	English	1867	Full Bible	31,099
`asv`	American Standard Version	English	1901	Full Bible	31,086
`bbe`	Bible in Basic English	English	1964	Full Bible	31,086
`drc`	Douay-Rheims Challoner	English	1899	Full Bible	35,805
`geneva1599`	Geneva Bible	English	1599	Full Bible	31,064
`rotherham`	Rotherham Emphasized Bible	English	1902	Full Bible	31,086
`tyndale`	Tyndale Bible	English	1530	NT only	7,888
`vulgate`	Clementine Latin Vulgate	Latin	1592	Full Bible	37,248
`tr`	Textus Receptus	Greek	1550	NT only	7,957
`wlc`	Westminster Leningrad Codex	Hebrew	2006	OT only	23,213

OT/NT only: wlc covers Old Testament only. tr and tyndale cover New Testament only. Requesting a book outside a translation's coverage returns a 404.

Endpoints

Four endpoint patterns are available for every translation. All return JSON with Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8.

Single verse

/BOOK.CHAPTER.VERSE.json

Returns a single verse object with text, metadata, and navigation pointers to the previous and next verse.

CURL

# Psalm 23:1, KJV curl https://bible-kjv.originsapi.com/PSA.23.1.json

Chapter

/BOOK.CHAPTER.json

Returns all verses in a chapter as an array. Useful for displaying full chapters or building rotation widgets.

CURL

# John chapter 3, KJV curl https://bible-kjv.originsapi.com/JHN.3.json

Whole book

/BOOK.json

Returns all chapters and verses for a complete book. Response size varies — shorter books are a few KB, longer books like Psalms are larger.

CURL

# The book of Ruth, KJV curl https://bible-kjv.originsapi.com/RUT.json

Book index

/index.json

Returns the list of all books available for a translation, with book codes, names, testament, and chapter counts.

CURL

# All books in the KJV curl https://bible-kjv.originsapi.com/index.json

Response schema

All single verse responses follow this structure:

_provider

Always "originsapi.com". Identifies the data source.

reference

Dot-notation reference. e.g. "JHN.3.16"

book

Full book name. e.g. "John"

book_code

3-letter book code. e.g. "JHN"

chapter

Chapter number as integer.

verse

Verse number as integer.

testament

"old" or "new"

Reference of the previous verse. null at start of book.

Reference of the next verse. null at end of book.

translation

Translation code. e.g. "kjv"

text

The verse text in the translation language, UTF-8 encoded.

                EXAMPLE RESPONSE
              
{
  "_provider": "originsapi.com",
  "reference": "JHN.3.16",
  "book": "John",
  "book_code": "JHN",
  "chapter": 3,
  "verse": 16,
  "testament": "new",
  "prev": "JHN.3.15",
  "next": "JHN.3.17",
  "translation": "kjv",
  "text": "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
}

Book codes

All references use 3-letter uppercase book codes in dot notation.

Old Testament

GENGenesis

EXOExodus

LEVLeviticus

NUMNumbers

DEUDeuteronomy

JOSJoshua

JDGJudges

RUTRuth

1SA1 Samuel

2SA2 Samuel

1KI1 Kings

2KI2 Kings

1CH1 Chronicles

2CH2 Chronicles

EZREzra

NEHNehemiah

ESTEsther

JOBJob

PSAPsalms

PROProverbs

ECCEcclesiastes

SNGSong of Solomon

ISAIsaiah

JERJeremiah

LAMLamentations

EZKEzekiel

DANDaniel

HOSHosea

JOLJoel

AMOAmos

OBAObadiah

JONJonah

MICMicah

NAMNahum

HABHabakkuk

ZEPZephaniah

HAGHaggai

ZECZechariah

MALMalachi

New Testament

MATMatthew

MRKMark

LUKLuke

JHNJohn

ACTActs

ROMRomans

1CO1 Corinthians

2CO2 Corinthians

GALGalatians

EPHEphesians

PHPPhilippians

COLColossians

1TH1 Thessalonians

2TH2 Thessalonians

1TI1 Timothy

2TI2 Timothy

TITTitus

PHMPhilemon

HEBHebrews

JASJames

1PE1 Peter

2PE2 Peter

1JN1 John

2JN2 John

3JN3 John

JUDJude

REVRevelation

Deuterocanonical books are included in the DRC and Vulgate translations. Request index.json on those translations for the full book list.

Notes

Native verse numbering

Each translation keeps its own native verse numbering. There is no forced alignment across translations. Verse counts differ between translations and some verses in one translation may not exist in another. The Douay-Rheims and Vulgate include deuterocanonical books not present in Protestant translations.

Right-to-left text

The WLC (Hebrew) returns right-to-left Unicode text. Render with dir="rtl" or equivalent for correct display.

Data quality

All texts are public domain digitisations. OCR errors exist and are being corrected progressively. If you find an error please report it — reports go directly into the verification queue.

Caching

All responses are served with Cache-Control: public, max-age=86400. Files are cached at the edge globally.

CORS

All endpoints return Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *. You can fetch directly from the browser without a proxy.

Errors

Invalid references return a 404 with no body. Check that your book code is valid for the translation you are requesting — wlc will 404 on any New Testament reference, tr and tyndale will 404 on any Old Testament reference.