Bible is a native Bible reader for the Mac, written in Rust by Michael Shimeles. It opens straight to the text and stays out of the way: no accounts, no feeds, nothing between you and the page. Full-text search runs as you type, returning results from the whole Bible in under two milliseconds.^1
The text is typeset for long reading in Literata serif, with a comfortable measure, superscript verse numbers, section headings, and poetry set with hanging indents. You can read in paragraphs or verse per line, turn on red letters for the words of Christ, and switch between light, sepia, and dark themes. Scrolling is continuous through all 1,189 chapters, and the app remembers where you stopped.^1
Seven public-domain translations are built in: KJV, WEB, BSB, ASV, YLT, Darby, and Webster. Read them side by side in parallel columns, or compare one verse across all of them. The NLT and the NET Bible can be added free in one click, fetched from the publishers' own APIs under their terms, with each publisher's credit line shown under the chapter. The ESV works the same way with a free Crossway API key, and you can import translation files you own in USFM, OSIS, Zefania, or SWORD formats.^2
It is keyboard-first. Cmd-K jumps to any reference, even with a misspelled book name. Arrow keys turn chapters, and Cmd-F searches with exact phrases, exclusions, and scopes. Verses can be highlighted in six colors, noted, and bookmarked. Highlights, notes, and bookmarks live in a local file on your Mac and export to Markdown or JSON.^1
Bible is free and open source. It runs on macOS only, as a signed and notarized universal app, downloaded from the project's website.^3
Notable- Seven public-domain translations built in, with parallel columns and a compare view for a single verse across translations.^1
- Copyrighted translations are never bundled. The NLT, NET, and ESV arrive through the publishers' own APIs, with their notices shown as their terms ask.^2
- No accounts, and no network use unless you add an online translation. Your study data stays on your Mac.^1
- Written in Rust with Metal rendering, built to stay smooth on 120 Hz displays.^1
