JavaScript/TypeScript

Free Use Bible API

TypeScript and JavaScript client for the public Free Use Bible API:

  • https://bible.helloao.org

Installation

npm install free-use-bible-api
pnpm add free-use-bible-api
yarn add free-use-bible-api

Quick Start

import { FreeUseBibleApi } from 'free-use-bible-api';

const api = new FreeUseBibleApi();

const available = await api.getAvailableTranslations();
console.log('Total translations:', available.translations.length);

const books = await api.getTranslationBooks('BSB');
console.log('Books in BSB:', books.books.length);

const chapter = await api.getTranslationBookChapter('BSB', 'GEN', 1);
console.log('Verses in Genesis 1:', chapter.numberOfVerses);

Client Options

You can customize the client with FreeUseBibleApiOptions:

import { FreeUseBibleApi } from 'free-use-bible-api';

const api = new FreeUseBibleApi({
    endpoint: 'https://bible.helloao.org/',
    useCache: true,
});
  • endpoint: Base API endpoint.
  • useCache: Enables in-memory response caching (default: true).

API Methods

Translations

  • getAvailableTranslations(endpoint?)
  • getTranslationBooks(translation, endpoint?)
  • getTranslationBookChapter(translation, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getTranslationBookChapterWords(translation, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getCompleteTranslation(translation, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleTranslationBookChapter(translation, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleTranslationBookChapterWords(translation, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleCompleteTranslation(translation, endpoint?)

getCompleteTranslation() and getSimpleCompleteTranslation() disable per-request cache internally because payloads are typically large.

Commentaries

  • getAvailableCommentaries(endpoint?)
  • getCommentaryBooks(commentary, endpoint?)
  • getCommentaryBookChapter(commentary, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleCommentaryBookChapter(commentary, book, chapter, endpoint?)

Datasets

  • getAvailableDatasets(endpoint?)
  • getDatasetBooks(dataset, endpoint?)
  • getDatasetBookChapter(dataset, book, chapter, endpoint?)

Chapter Navigation Helpers

  • getNextChapter(chapter, endpoint?)
  • getPreviousChapter(chapter, endpoint?)

These helpers work with translation, commentary, and dataset chapter responses, as well as simplified translation and commentary chapter responses.

Word Annotations

Some translations include word-level annotations (Strong's numbers and related source data) for their chapters.

  • getChapterWords(chapter, endpoint?) - gets the annotations for a chapter you already loaded, or null if it doesn't have any.
  • getWordText(verse, word) - gets the text that a single annotation applies to.
  • getVerseWords(verse, words) - gets the annotations for a verse, each paired with the text it applies to.

Each annotation is anchored to a range of characters in a single item of a verse's content array: contentIndex is the index of the item, and start/end are character offsets into that item's text (end is exclusive). Anchoring per content item keeps the offsets correct for verses whose content is split into multiple items, such as poem lines and the words of Jesus.

getWordText() and getVerseWords() resolve those offsets for you, so you don't have to walk the content array yourself.

Simplified Chapters

Every translation and commentary chapter can also be fetched in a simplified format, where each verse's content is a single string instead of a list of formatted content. Footnotes, inline headings, the Words of Jesus, and poetry are represented as offset ranges into that string instead of being split across multiple content items.

  • getSimpleTranslationBookChapter(translation, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleCommentaryBookChapter(commentary, book, chapter, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleCompleteTranslation(translation, endpoint?)
  • getSimpleChapter(chapter, endpoint?) - follows a chapter's simpleChapterApiLink, or null if simplified chapters aren't available for it.
  • getSimpleTranslationBookChapterWords(translation, book, chapter, endpoint?) / getSimpleChapterWords(chapter, endpoint?) - the same as the regular word annotations, but with offsets into the simplified verse text instead of a verse's content array.
  • getSimpleWordText(verse, word) / getSimpleVerseWords(verse, words) - the same as getWordText()/getVerseWords(), but for simplified verses and annotations.
  • getSimpleChapterVerseText(chapter, options?) - the same as getChapterVerseText(), but for a simplified chapter.

getNextChapter() and getPreviousChapter() also accept simplified chapters, returning the next/previous simplified chapter.

Datasets don't have a simplified format.

Examples

Get a complete translation

const complete = await api.getCompleteTranslation('BSB');
console.log(complete.translation.id);
console.log(complete.books.length);

Read a commentary chapter

const comm = await api.getCommentaryBookChapter('matthew_henry', 'GEN', 1);
console.log(comm.book.name);

Read a dataset chapter

const dataChapter = await api.getDatasetBookChapter(
    'cross_references',
    'JHN',
    3
);
console.log(dataChapter.book.name);
const current = await api.getTranslationBookChapter('BSB', 'GEN', 1);

const next = await api.getNextChapter(current);
const previous = await api.getPreviousChapter(current);

console.log(next?.chapter.number);
console.log(previous?.chapter.number);

Read the Strong's numbers for a chapter

const chapter = await api.getTranslationBookChapter('engwebp', 'JHN', 1);
const words = await api.getChapterWords(chapter);

if (!words) {
    // This translation has no word-level annotations for the chapter.
    return;
}

for (const content of chapter.chapter.content) {
    if (content.type !== 'verse') {
        continue;
    }

    for (const word of api.getVerseWords(content, words)) {
        console.log(word.text, word.strongs);
    }
}

// In [ 'G1722' ]
// the [ 'G1722' ]
// beginning [ 'G0746' ]
// ...

Read a simplified chapter

const chapter = await api.getSimpleTranslationBookChapter('BSB', 'JHN', 1);

for (const content of chapter.chapter.content) {
    if (content.type !== 'verse') {
        continue;
    }
    console.log(content.number, content.text);
}

Direct HTTP Endpoints

Translation endpoints

  • GET /api/available_translations.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/books.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/{book}/{chapter}.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/{book}/{chapter}.words.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/complete.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/{book}/{chapter}.simple.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/{book}/{chapter}.words.simple.json
  • GET /api/{translation}/complete.simple.json

Commentary endpoints

  • GET /api/available_commentaries.json
  • GET /api/c/{commentary}/books.json
  • GET /api/c/{commentary}/{book}/{chapter}.json
  • GET /api/c/{commentary}/{book}/{chapter}.simple.json

Dataset endpoints

  • GET /api/available_datasets.json
  • GET /api/d/{dataset}/books.json
  • GET /api/d/{dataset}/{book}/{chapter}.json

Example requests:

curl https://bible.helloao.org/api/available_translations.json
curl https://bible.helloao.org/api/BSB/books.json
curl https://bible.helloao.org/api/BSB/GEN/1.json
curl https://bible.helloao.org/api/available_commentaries.json
curl https://bible.helloao.org/api/available_datasets.json

Error Handling

Methods throw on non-2xx responses.

A 404 response usually means one of the path values is invalid, for example:

  • translation
  • commentary
  • dataset
  • book
  • chapter

Notes

  • Uses the global fetch API.
  • For Node.js, use a runtime that provides fetch (Node 18+ recommended) or polyfill it.
Contributors: Kallyn Gowdhy, Kallyn Gowdy, Claude, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5