Bible API

About the Bible API

A Bible verse and scripture API. Bible works by querying a large database of bible verses to retrieve the verse based on the book, chapter, and verse provided. It returns the bible verse in a structured format.

What people use it for

Daily Devotional Notifications

Devotional mobile apps schedule daily morning push notifications that display a random verse along with its book and chapter reference.

Worship Slide Generation

To prepare church projection slides, presentation software queries chapter text and verse numbers to format reading prompts automatically.

Multitranslation Scripture Study

Academic study platforms pull the same verse across KJV, BSB, YLT and Darby so researchers can compare wording line by line.

Custom Journal Publishing

When laying out printable prayer planners, publishing tools inject verse text and testament classifications into daily reading header blocks.

Without writing code

Desktop Verses for Windows puts a new verse on your desktop every day.

The Bible Verse widget from WidgetSpark does it in one tile.

See it in action

The Bible API in one live call, from the Playground to your own code.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — GET /v1/bible

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

Optional

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/bible?book=Genesis&version=KJV&chapter=6&verse=18&verseEnd=19" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — GET /v1/bible

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "text": "But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.",
    "book": "Genesis",
    "abbr": "Ge",
    "chapter": 6,
    "verses": [
      18,
      19
    ],
    "version": "KJV",
    "testament": "Old Testament",
    "bookNumber": 1,
    "totalChapters": 50,
    "totalVersesInChapter": 22,
    "wordCount": 58,
    "reference": "Genesis 6:18-19",
    "passage": [
      {
        "chapter": 6,
        "verse": 18,
        "text": "But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee."
      },
      {
        "chapter": 6,
        "verse": 19,
        "text": "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female."
      }
    ],
    "previous": {
      "reference": "Genesis 6:17",
      "book": "Genesis",
      "chapter": 6,
      "verse": 17
    },
    "next": {
      "reference": "Genesis 6:20",
      "book": "Genesis",
      "chapter": 6,
      "verse": 20
    }
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 1 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive Bible form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — Bible API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1