bible

A tiny command-line tool for fetching ESV or NET Bible passages.

bible luke 2:1-5
bible psalm 29:1-10
bible psalm 150
bible 'John 3:16; Romans 8:28'
bible -t net John 3:16

Installation

Requires Python 3 (standard library only — no pip install, no virtualenv).

git clone https://github.com/DerailleurAgile/bible-cli.git
cd bible-cli

Then put the bible script on your PATH. A symlink keeps it in sync with the repo, so git pull is all it takes to update:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -s "$PWD/bible" ~/.local/bin/bible

Make sure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH (add to ~/.bashrc if needed):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Check it works:

bible --help

The NET Bible (-t net) needs no setup. For the ESV (the default):

Get a free API key from https://api.esv.org/ (create an account, then Account → Create API Application).
Put it in your environment:
```
export ESV_API_KEY=your-key-here
```
Add that line to ~/.bashrc to make it permanent.

Flag	Effect
`-t`, `--translation`	`esv` (default) or `net`
`--no-verse-numbers`	hide verse numbers
`--no-headings`	hide section headings (ESV only)
`--footnotes`	include footnotes (ESV only)
`--no-copyright`	hide the trailing `(ESV)` / `(NET)` tag
`--width N`	wrap at N columns (default: terminal width, max 80)
`--no-cache`	bypass the local cache
`--raw`	print the raw JSON response

Responses are cached under ~/.cache/bible/ and never expire (the text doesn't change), so repeated lookups are instant and work offline.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible, copyright © Crossway. Usage is subject to the ESV API terms at https://api.esv.org/.
NET passages come from the NET Bible API at https://labs.bible.org/. It has no section headings, and it doesn't serve the NET's translators' notes, so --footnotes and --no-headings don't apply. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.