If you've ever wondered how the Bible gets translated into a language that doesn't yet have it, Scripture Forge is one of the tools making it happen. Built by SIL International — the organization behind Paratext, the world's leading Bible translation software — Scripture Forge is a free, open-source web application that helps translation teams draft, edit, and check Scripture collaboratively, from anywhere in the world.^1
At its core, Scripture Forge does three things. First, it offers AI-powered draft generation — once a project has enough previously translated Scripture (roughly a complete New Testament), the system can generate rough drafts for new books, giving translators a meaningful head start.^2 Second, its collaborative editing environment integrates directly with Paratext, keeping everyone on the same page without the headache of reconciling conflicting versions.^1 Third, its Community Checking tool lets translation teams invite non-Paratext users — including heart-language speakers in diaspora communities around the globe — to review translations, leave comments, and answer comprehension questions via text or audio recording.^3
The results speak for themselves: Paratext data from September 2024 to September 2025 showed that projects using Scripture Forge's draft generation were able to draft and review an average of 1,000 more verses than projects that didn't.^2 A field experiment by ETEN Innovation Lab found that AI-generated drafts served as "valuable resources that helped translators improve their Bible translation" when paired with model texts of similar translation styles.^4
Why Translators Love It"It was so easy! All I had to do to get started was log in using my Paratext registration and boom! It was all there. Right away I chose a verse and wrote a checking question for it. Then I also recorded myself asking that checking question. It's so great that feedback can be gathered either way." — Trevor Deck, SIL Global Diaspora Specialist^1
"Community Checking allows translation teams to engage more easily with more participants from the language community. It gives the whole community a way to be more confident in the final translation by participating in discussions about translation decisions." — JoEllen Magnus, Scripture Forge Business Analyst^3
"Scripture Forge Back Translation is uniquely equipped to provide the precision Bible translators need. The Scripture Forge AI machine learning algorithm is able to 'learn' the patterns of a team's existing back translation in relation to the translated text." — Bethany Moore, Linguist and Engineer, SIL Scripture Forge Team^5
Notable- Built and maintained by SIL International (the organization behind Paratext and Wycliffe's technical arm)
- Fully open source under the MIT license on GitHub^6
- Works on mobile and desktop; supports offline functionality with automatic sync
- Help documentation available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, and Indonesian^7
- Actively maintained with frequent updates — most recent release notes from March 2026^8
- Listed as a resource by ETEN Innovation Lab for Bible translation technology^4
