Bible API
✓ Official Vendor SpecEducationLmsnone6 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Look up Bible verses by reference, browse books and chapters, and fetch a random verse from public-domain Bible translations.
Use for: I need to look up John 3:16 in the World English Bible, Get a random Bible verse, List the available Bible translations, Retrieve every verse in Genesis chapter 1
Not supported: Does not handle audio, commentary, or licensed translations such as NIV and ESV — use for free public-domain Bible verse lookup only.
Bible API is a free Bible verse lookup service that returns scripture passages by reference, lists available translations, and serves random verses. The default translation is the World English Bible (WEB) and additional translations are exposed under /data/{translationId}. Agents can fetch a verse by passing a human-readable reference such as 'John 3:16' directly in the path, or browse books, chapters, and verses through the structured /data tree. There is no authentication required, which makes it well suited to side projects and embedded scripture displays.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Bible API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call 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.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | 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 Bible API.
Look up a Bible passage by reference such as John 3:16 or Romans 8:28-30
List the available Bible translations supported by the API
Browse the books inside a specific translation
List the chapters available within a specific book
Retrieve every verse in a chapter for full chapter reading
Fetch a random verse for a daily-verse widget
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Bible API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Daily Verse Widget
Display a random Bible verse on a homepage or send one to subscribers each morning. The /data/{translationId}/random endpoint returns a complete verse object with reference and text. Because the API is unauthenticated, the widget can call directly from the browser; for higher reliability, cache the verse server-side to reduce origin load.
Call /data/web/random and return the reference and verse text for a homepage banner.
Reference Lookup Chat Bot
Build a chat bot that resolves user-typed references like 'show me Romans 8:28' into the verse text. The /{reference} endpoint accepts the reference directly in the URL, supporting single verses, ranges, and multi-chapter references. Because no API key is required, the bot can run as a lightweight serverless function with no credential management.
Call /John+3:16 and return the verse text in the WEB translation.
Multi-Translation Comparison Reader
Render the same chapter across multiple translations side by side. Call /data to list translations, then /data/{translationId}/{bookId}/{chapter} for each translation chosen. The structured /data endpoints return JSON arrays of verses, making side-by-side rendering straightforward.
Fetch /data/web/genesis/1 and /data/kjv/genesis/1 and align verses by verse number for a comparison view.
AI Agent Scripture Reference Resolver
An AI assistant explaining a sermon can fetch the cited verse text on demand through Jentic. The agent issues an intent like 'look up John 3:16', loads the schema, and executes /{reference}, then quotes the verse with citation in its answer. Because the API is unauthenticated, Jentic discovery still helps by routing the right operation without the agent parsing the path scheme.
Search Jentic for 'look up Bible verse by reference', execute /John+3:16, and return the verse text.
Key Endpoints
6 endpoints — bible api is a free bible verse lookup service that returns scripture passages by reference, lists available translations, and serves random verses.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/{reference}
Look up verses by reference string
GET
/data
List available translations
GET
/data/{translationId}
List books in a translation
GET
/data/{translationId}/{bookId}/{chapter}
Read a chapter
GET
/data/{translationId}/random
Get a random verse
GET
/{reference}
Look up verses by reference string
GET
/data
List available translations
GET
/data/{translationId}
List books in a translation
GET
/data/{translationId}/{bookId}/{chapter}
Read a chapter
GET
/data/{translationId}/random
Get a random verse
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Bible API requires no credentials, but Jentic still mediates the call so agent traffic can be metered and the agent's identity is preserved without exposing infrastructure details — there is no secret to leak.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g., 'look up Bible verse by reference') and Jentic returns the matching operation with its path parameter shape, so agents do not need to know that the reference is encoded directly in the URL.
Time to first call
Direct integration: an hour to handle URL-encoded references and translation parameters. Through Jentic: under 15 minutes — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Bible API through Jentic.
What authentication does Bible API use?
Bible API requires no authentication — every endpoint is public and rate-limited only by fair-use conventions. Through Jentic, calls still flow through the platform so usage can be tracked and the agent can be billed centrally even when the upstream API is free.
Can I look up a verse by reference like John 3:16?
Yes. Pass the reference directly in the URL path, for example /John+3:16 or /Romans+8:28-30. The response includes the parsed reference, verse-by-verse text, and the translation identifier (default WEB).
Which Bible translations are available?
Call GET /data to retrieve the list of supported translations. The default for unauthenticated requests is the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain modern English translation. Other translations exposed by /data can be selected via the /data/{translationId} tree.
How do I get a random verse through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'random Bible verse', load /data/{translationId}/random, and execute with translationId 'web' for the default. With the SDK: pip install jentic, then SearchRequest, LoadRequest, ExecutionRequest in an async flow.
Is Bible API free?
Yes — bible-api.com is operated as a free public service. Use it responsibly: cache responses where possible and avoid re-fetching the same verse repeatedly. There are no paid tiers in the OpenAPI spec.
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