Free Use Bible API

I-Swift

I-Swift SDK iyatholakala nge-Swift Package Manager njengomkhiqizo FreeUseBibleAPI we-repository ye bible-api-swift .

Swift client for the public Free Use Bible API:

  • https://bible.helloao.org

It supports iOS 13+, macOS 10.15+, tvOS 13+, watchOS 6+, visionOS, and Linux, and has no dependencies.

Installation

Add the package to your Package.swift:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/HelloAOLab/bible-api-swift.git", from: "v1.16.0"),
],
targets: [
    .target(
        name: "MyApp",
        dependencies: [
            .product(name: "FreeUseBibleAPI", package: "bible-api-swift"),
        ]
    ),
]

Or in Xcode, choose File > Add Package Dependencies… and enter https://github.com/HelloAOLab/bible-api-swift.git.

The versions match the releases of the Free Use Bible API.

Quick Start

import FreeUseBibleAPI

let api = FreeUseBibleAPI()

let available = try await api.getAvailableTranslations()
print("Total translations:", available.translations.count)

let books = try await api.getTranslationBooks(translation: "BSB")
print("Books in BSB:", books.books.count)

let chapter = try await api.getTranslationBookChapter(translation: "BSB", book: .GEN, chapter: 1)
print("Verses in Genesis 1:", chapter.numberOfVerses)

Client Options

let api = FreeUseBibleAPI(
    endpoint: URL(string: "https://bible.helloao.org/")!,
    useCache: true,
    transport: URLSessionTransport(session: .shared)
)
  • endpoint: Base API endpoint.
  • useCache: Enables in-memory response caching (default: true). Concurrent requests for the same URL share a single request.
  • transport: Performs the HTTP requests (default: URLSessionTransport with URLSession.shared). Implement the FreeUseBibleAPITransport protocol to use a different HTTP client, add logging, or return canned responses in tests.

Every request method also takes an optional endpoint: argument to use a different endpoint for a single request.

API Methods

All of the request methods are async throws.

Translations

  • getAvailableTranslations()
  • getTranslationBooks(translation:)
  • getTranslationBookChapter(translation:book:chapter:)
  • getTranslationBookChapterAudioTimings(translation:book:chapter:reader:)
  • getTranslationBookChapterWords(translation:book:chapter:)
  • getCompleteTranslation(translation:)
  • getSimpleTranslationBookChapter(translation:book:chapter:)
  • getSimpleTranslationBookChapterWords(translation:book:chapter:)
  • getSimpleCompleteTranslation(translation:)

getCompleteTranslation() and getSimpleCompleteTranslation() are never cached because their responses are very large.

Only some chapters have audio timings. The keys of a chapter's thisChapterAudioTimings property identify the readers available to pass to getTranslationBookChapterAudioTimings().

Commentaries

  • getAvailableCommentaries()
  • getCommentaryBooks(commentary:)
  • getCommentaryBookChapter(commentary:book:chapter:)
  • getSimpleCommentaryBookChapter(commentary:book:chapter:)

Datasets

  • getAvailableDatasets()
  • getDatasetBooks(dataset:)
  • getDatasetBookChapter(dataset:book:chapter:) - returns an ApiDatasetBookChapterResponse, which is either .datasetBookChapter (cross references for cross reference datasets, or the original-language words of each verse for interlinear datasets such as bsb-interlinear) or .datasetEntityBookChapter (the people, places, and events that appear in the chapter for entity datasets such as theographic)
  • getDatasetPeople(dataset:)
  • getDatasetPerson(dataset:person:)
  • getDatasetPlaces(dataset:)
  • getDatasetPlace(dataset:place:)
  • getDatasetEvents(dataset:)
  • getDatasetEvent(dataset:event:)
  • getDatasetPeopleGroups(dataset:)
  • getDatasetPeopleGroup(dataset:group:)
  • getDatasetLexicon(dataset:)
  • getDatasetLexiconEntry(dataset:strongs:)
  • getDatasetVerses(dataset:)
  • getVerseOfTheDay(date:seed:category:dataset:) - see Verse of the Day
  • getDatasetCategories(dataset:)
  • getDatasetCategory(dataset:category:)

Chapter Navigation Helpers

  • getNextChapter(_:) / getPreviousChapter(_:) - work with any chapter response, and return the same type of chapter (or nil at the start or end of the translation).
  • getFirstChapter(_:) / getLastChapter(_:) - get the first or last chapter of a translation, commentary, or dataset book.
  • getSimpleChapter(_:) - follows a chapter's simpleChapterApiLink, or returns nil if simplified chapters aren't available for it.

Chapter & Verse Helpers

  • getVerseText(_:)
  • getChapterVerseText(_:options:)
  • getSimpleChapterVerseText(_:options:)
  • formatReference(_:_:)

Verse of the Day

  • getVerseOfTheDay(date:seed:category:dataset:) - gets the verse of the day for a date (today by default) from the verse-of-the-day dataset. The date is a YYYY-MM-DD string or a Date (its calendar date in the current time zone is used).
  • pickVerseOfTheDay(_:date:seed:category:holidays:) - picks the verse of the day from a list of verses you already have, such as the verses and holidays from getDatasetVerses(dataset:).

The verse is picked by the Verse of the Day Convention, so every SDK picks the same verse on the same day. The same date always gives the same verse, a verse doesn't repeat within a calendar year, and holidays (such as Christmas and Resurrection Sunday) get verses of their own. Pass a seed (such as the name of your app) to get a different order with the same guarantees.

Word Annotations

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

  • getChapterWords(_:) / getSimpleChapterWords(_:) - get the annotations for a chapter you already loaded, or nil if it doesn't have any.
  • getWordText(_:_:) / getSimpleWordText(_:_:) - get the text that a single annotation applies to.
  • getVerseWords(_:_:) / getSimpleVerseWords(_:_:) - get the annotations for a verse, each paired with the text it applies to.

The offsets in annotations (and in simplified chapters) count UTF-16 code units, like JavaScript string indexes. The helpers take care of this for you.

Types

The response types are generated from the API's OpenAPI document and use the same names as the schemas in it (ApiTranslationBookChapter, ChapterVerse, and so on). They are all Codable, Hashable, and Sendable.

  • Content that can be one of several kinds is an enum. For example, ChapterContent is .heading, .lineBreak, .verse, or .hebrewSubtitle, and the items in a verse's content are .text, .formattedText, .inlineHeading, .inlineLineBreak, or .verseFootnoteReference.
  • Values with a fixed set of options, like BookId and TextDirection, are structs with a static property for each known value (BookId.GEN, BookId._1SA), and can also be created from string literals ("GEN").
  • Values that are newer than the SDK are kept instead of failing to decode: enums have an .unknown(JSONValue) case, and option values keep their rawValue.

Examples

Print the text of a chapter

let chapter = try await api.getTranslationBookChapter(translation: "BSB", book: .JHN, chapter: 1)
print(api.getChapterVerseText(chapter))

// John 1
// [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ...

Read the verses of a chapter

let chapter = try await api.getTranslationBookChapter(translation: "BSB", book: .GEN, chapter: 1)

for content in chapter.chapter.content {
    switch content {
    case .heading(let heading):
        print("##", heading.content.joined(separator: " "))
    case .verse(let verse):
        print(verse.number, api.getVerseText(verse))
    default:
        break
    }
}
let current = try await api.getTranslationBookChapter(translation: "BSB", book: .GEN, chapter: 1)

let next = try await api.getNextChapter(current)
let previous = try await api.getPreviousChapter(current)

print(next?.chapter.number as Any)      // Optional(2)
print(previous?.chapter.number as Any)  // nil

Read the Strong's numbers for a chapter

let chapter = try await api.getTranslationBookChapter(translation: "engwebp", book: .JHN, chapter: 1)

if let words = try await api.getChapterWords(chapter) {
    for case .verse(let verse) in chapter.chapter.content {
        for annotated in api.getVerseWords(verse, words) {
            print(annotated.text, annotated.word.strongs ?? [])
        }
    }
}

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

Read a dataset chapter

let chapter = try await api.getDatasetBookChapter(dataset: "open-cross-ref", book: .JHN, chapter: 3)

if case .datasetBookChapter(let crossReferences) = chapter {
    for case .references(let verse) in crossReferences.chapter.content {
        print(verse.verse, verse.references.count)
    }
}

Get the verse of the day

if let verse = try await api.getVerseOfTheDay(date: "2026-12-25") {
    let chapter = try await api.getTranslationBookChapter(translation: "BSB", book: verse.book, chapter: verse.chapter)
    for case .verse(let content) in chapter.chapter.content where (verse.verse...(verse.endVerse ?? verse.verse)).contains(content.number) {
        print(content.number, api.getVerseText(content))
    }
}

Error Handling

Request methods throw FreeUseBibleAPIError:

  • .requestFailed(url:statusCode:) for non-2xx responses. A 404 usually means that one of the path values is invalid, for example the translation, commentary, dataset, book, or chapter.
  • .decodingFailed(url:underlyingError:) if the response can't be decoded.
  • .invalidURL(_:) if a request URL can't be built.

Errors from the transport (such as URLError for network failures) are thrown as they are.