If you're a developer building a Bible app, church website, or Scripture-based tool, API.Bible gives you on-demand access to nearly 2,500 Bible versions across more than 1,600 languages — the largest collection available through a single API.^1 Whether you need text or audio, the KJV or a lesser-known translation in Swahili, it's all served through clean REST endpoints for search, books, chapters, verses, sections, and passages.^2
API.Bible is built and maintained by the American Bible Society (ABS), an organization with over 200 years of history dedicated to making Scripture accessible to everyone.^3 The service integrates directly with the Digital Bible Library (DBL), meaning developers who hold DBL licenses can access those translations seamlessly within the same API.^4 ABS partners with major publishers — including Lifeway, Tyndale, Biblica, HarperCollins, Holman, and the Lockman Foundation — to keep the collection growing, with popular translations like NIV, ESV, NASB, CSB, NKJV, NLT, and The Message all available.^5
The platform offers a free Starter plan (non-commercial, 5,000 monthly calls, pick 3 copyrighted translations) and a Pro plan with 150,000 monthly calls and commercial licensing options.^5 Individual copyrighted translations can also be licensed for commercial use. Fair Use Management System (FUMS) tracking helps ABS demonstrate to publishers how Scripture is being engaged digitally — building trust that keeps more translations available to developers.^6 For non-developers, embeddable web tools are available through webtools.bible, and Global.Bible provides the full searchable Bible in over 1,000 languages for church websites.^7
API.Bible is part of ABS's Digital Bible Lab, led by Bryce Allison — who studied Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic in Israel before dedicating his career to Scripture technology — alongside Director of Global R&D John Mark Mitchell.^7 The lab also builds the Digital Bible Library (used by YouVersion and others) and AVTT, an audio Bible translation tool currently piloting with 100 translation projects worldwide.^7
Notable- Trusted by organizations including BibleSearch, JourneyMaker, and BibleMinded^1
- Integrated with Runbear for AI-powered Bible workflows in Slack, Teams, and Discord^8
- Active developer forum monitored daily by the API.Bible team^1
- Partners with United Bible Societies, a global fellowship committed to Bible translation and distribution^3
- Part of the Every Tribe Every Nation collective impact alliance^7
- Digital Bible Lab actively hiring — team is growing^7
