Bible API

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 - 17 at the time of writing, every one of them public domain. The default is the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain modern English translation. To read another, either pass its identifier in the translation query parameter on a reference lookup, as in /john+3:16?translation=kjv, or walk the /data/{translationId} tree.

How do I get a random verse through Jentic?

Install self-hosted Jentic One and add the Bible API from the API Directory. Your agent then searches for 'random Bible verse', gets back the GET /data/{translationId}/random operation with its input schema, and calls it with translationId 'web' for the default. There is no credential step, because the API is public.

Is Bible API free?

Yes. The maintainer's terms read 'This service is free for anyone to use as long as you don't abuse my server', with the 15-requests-per-30-seconds ceiling per IP address and a request not to use the API to download an entire bible - the open bible data is on GitHub for that. He also warns 'I make no guarantees about this service's availability, quality, or correctness', so if your agent depends on it, cache aggressively or run the open-source app yourself.

Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Bible API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Bible API operations and paths the agent may call, so you can allow only reference lookups like /John+3:16 or the random-verse endpoint while blocking the rest. Since the translation id sits in the path (/data/{translationId}/{bookId}/{chapter}), a rule can also pin the agent to a single translation such as the World English Bible. Every Bible API operation is read-only verse lookup, so no matter which set you permit, the agent can only read scripture and never write.

Is there a Bible API MCP server?

You don't need an MCP server to give your agent Bible API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: add it once and your agent calls it, with no credential to store because every endpoint is public.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Bible API?

Bible API is a single-maintainer free service documented as one HTML page on bible-api.com, and the GitHub repository it points to holds the Ruby application and the open bible data rather than a machine-readable API description. Jentic built this specification from that documentation, validates it, and publishes it in the API Directory so an agent can discover and call the API from a schema.