Bible The Bible API
Official vendor OpenAPI document · agent-readyEducationLmsapiKey8 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Browse and search a multilingual catalogue of licensed Bible translations, fetch passages and verses, and run keyword search via API.Bible.
Use for: I need to list every available Bible translation, Find the Bible identifier for the King James Version, Get the books of a specific Bible translation, Retrieve a chapter from a Bible by its identifier
Not supported: Does not handle audio Bibles, commentaries, or user accounts - use for licensed Bible text retrieval and search only.
API.Bible (the Scripture API by the American Bible Society) provides licensed access to a large catalogue of Bible translations across many languages, including content normally locked behind copyright. Agents can list the available Bibles, browse books and chapters, fetch passages and individual verses, and run keyword search across a chosen translation. Authentication uses an api-key header issued by the API.Bible developer portal. The 8-endpoint surface is small enough to navigate quickly while the underlying content covers thousands of translations.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the The Bible API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the The Bible API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fbible%2Fbible" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fbible%2Fbible" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with The Bible API.
List every Bible translation available in the API.Bible catalogue
Retrieve metadata for a specific Bible by its identifier
Browse the books available within a chosen Bible translation
Fetch a specific book of the Bible with its chapter list
Retrieve a chapter as plain text, HTML, or USFM markup
Look up passages and individual verses for citation in study materials
Search a Bible translation for a keyword or phrase
Use Cases
Patterns agents use The Bible API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Multilingual Scripture Reading App
Power a mobile app that lets users read the Bible in their preferred language and translation. The /bibles endpoint exposes the full multilingual catalogue, /bibles/{bibleId}/books lists books, and /bibles/{bibleId}/chapters/{chapterId} returns the chapter text with optional HTML or USFM formatting. API.Bible's licensed translations make this practical for distribution in stores that require licensed content.
Fetch /bibles to list translations, then /bibles/{bibleId}/books to populate the book picker for the chosen translation.
Sermon Preparation Search
Help a preacher find every passage that mentions a topic, such as 'forgiveness' or 'covenant'. The /bibles/{bibleId}/search endpoint runs a keyword search inside the chosen translation and returns matching passage references with snippets. The results can be expanded by calling /bibles/{bibleId}/passages/{passageId} for the full passage text.
Search /bibles/{bibleId}/search for query 'forgiveness' and return the top 10 passage references with snippets.
Citation Lookup for Study Notes
Resolve verse citations in academic study notes by calling /bibles/{bibleId}/verses/{verseId} for each cited verse. The verse object includes the canonical reference and text in the chosen translation, so footnotes can be expanded to full text on hover or in print.
Call /bibles/de4e12af7f28f599-02/verses/JHN.3.16 and return the verse text for a footnote.
AI Agent Bible Study Companion
An AI agent answering questions about the Bible can call API.Bible through Jentic to ground its answers in a specific licensed translation. The agent searches Jentic by intent ('search Bible for keyword'), loads the schema, and executes - Jentic injects the api-key header so the agent never sees the credential and the answer cites a specific Bible identifier.
Search Jentic for 'search a Bible translation', execute /bibles/{bibleId}/search with query 'covenant', and cite the top three results.
Key Endpoints
8 endpoints — api.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/bibles
List all Bibles
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}
Get a Bible
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/books
List books in a Bible
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/chapters/{chapterId}
Get a chapter
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/passages/{passageId}
Get a passage
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/verses/{verseId}
Get a verse
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/search
Search a Bible
GET
/bibles
List all Bibles
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}
Get a Bible
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/books
List books in a Bible
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/chapters/{chapterId}
Get a chapter
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/passages/{passageId}
Get a passage
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/verses/{verseId}
Get a verse
GET
/bibles/{bibleId}/search
Search a Bible
Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring The Bible API by hand means passing its api-key header on every call and threading the bibleId through every book, chapter, passage, and search path yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import The Bible API from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
The Bible API puts the translation id in the URL path (/bibles/{bibleId}/...), so a rule can pin your agent to one Bible translation: it can read that translation's books, chapters, and passages and nothing else. Every operation is read-only, so no write path is reachable.
Credential isolation
Your API.Bible key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search a Bible translation' or 'get a passage by id', and Jentic returns the matching operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using The Bible API through Jentic.
What authentication does API.Bible use?
API.Bible uses an apiKey scheme on a header named api-key. Register on the API.Bible developer portal to obtain a key, then include it on every request. Through Jentic, the api-key value is stored encrypted in the your Jentic One instance and injected at execution time so the agent never sees the raw key.
Can I search a specific Bible translation?
Yes. GET /bibles/{bibleId}/search accepts a query parameter and returns matching passages within the chosen translation. Use /bibles to find the bibleId for the translation you want to search; the response includes language, abbreviation, and copyright information.
How many Bible translations does API.Bible cover?
The catalogue covers thousands of translations across many languages, including licensed modern English versions when permitted by the licence. Call /bibles to retrieve the live list - the response includes language, name, and any copyright restrictions per translation.
How do I read a chapter through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'get a Bible chapter', load /bibles/{bibleId}/chapters/{chapterId}, and execute with the chapter identifier (such as GEN.1). With the SDK: pip install jentic, then SearchRequest, LoadRequest, and ExecutionRequest in an async flow.
Is API.Bible free to use?
API.Bible offers a free developer tier with rate limits and a paid tier for higher-volume or commercial use. Check the API.Bible portal for the current tier limits - they are not declared in the OpenAPI spec.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the API.Bible API?
Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which API.Bible operations and credentials the agent may use. Since the translation id sits in the URL path (/bibles/{bibleId}/...), you can pin the agent to a single Bible translation so it only reads that translation's books, chapters, passages, verses, and search results and nothing else. Every operation is read-only, so no write path is ever reachable.
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