OpenScripture is a customisable, translation-aware Bible app that shows where published translations agree and differ, helps you study the original languages, and lets you build your own personalised reading text.
We span multiple translations across Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Ecumenical, Jewish, and Independent traditions — giving you one of the broadest views of any free Bible tool.
Every word connects back to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek — with Strong's numbers, morphology, and definitions available at a tap.
Hebrew Strong’s dictionary entries: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project (CC-BY-4.0).
Greek Strong’s dictionary glosses and definitions include adapted excerpts from Liddell & Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, provided by Perseus Digital Library via Greek Reference (CC BY-SA 3.0 US).
The default reading experience. Shows a base text built from your enabled translations, with Translation Difference Symbols where wording differs. Tap a circled number to compare different translations side by side. Use Verse Locks and Word Locks to keep your preferred wording, and save setups as Personalised Bibles (for example "My Personalised Bible" or "Devotional Reading"). In Reading Options, adjust translation difference sensitivity to turn symbols off, show only major meaning-level differences, or include subtler ones.
Read one translation as originally published. Select your translation from the dropdown in the header bar (tap the translation badge next to the book name). Publisher footnote markers shown in chapter text belong only to the selected translation, while Translation Difference Symbols can still appear if enabled.
Generate a translation by selecting your preferred style and emphasis. These translations are generated using Claude Opus from the original-language text to provide a unique and independent take on what the original authors may have intended to communicate.
A word-by-word view showing three rows for each word: the original Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek script, its transliteration, and the English equivalent with Strong's number. Tap any word to open the word study strip for detailed morphology, frequency data, and definitions. Best for in-depth language study.
OpenScripture uses two types of symbols. Circled numbers (for example, ) show where translations make different wording choices. Publisher footnote markers use each translation's own letters, numbers, or symbols inside a small square outline in a muted blue-grey so they stay separate from translation-difference colours. In chapter text, publisher markers are scoped to the active reading version; in the verse drawer, notes and cross-references are aggregated across all available versions.
Tap any marker, verse number, or word to open the comparison drawer. A persistent word strip sits above four tabs: Translations (how each version renders the verse, grouped by tradition), Interlinear (word-by-word original language breakdown), Study Notes (commentary from multiple sources), and Cross-References (related passages from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge). Navigate between verses with the prev/next arrows.
Learn the original language as you read! Tap any word in the scripture text to open the word study strip. It shows the original language word, pronunciation (transliteration), Strong's number, grammatical analysis (morphology), how often the word appears in the Bible, and a concise definition. You can open the same word in Blue Letter Bible or BibleHub from the strip. Available in all reading modes.
The Study Notes tab in the verse drawer aggregates commentary from multiple trusted sources, including the REV Commentary (regularly updated), NET Bible Translators' Notes, the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Matthew Henry's Commentary, Gill's Exposition, the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, and Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament. Each source is clearly attributed and collapsible.
The Cross-References tab shows related passages from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — one of the most comprehensive cross-reference collections ever compiled. Tap any reference to navigate directly to that verse.
Textual certainty shows how confident scholars are about the manuscript reading behind each English word. It is useful when you want to see, at a glance, where the underlying text is very stable versus more debated. Toggle it in Reading Options and pick a colour scheme (Scholar, Warm, Cool, or Monochrome): higher-certainty wording stays closer to normal text colour, while lower-certainty wording shifts to mid or lighter tones. Translation Difference Symbols sometimes appear near those colour shifts, because translations often diverge when the source text is less settled. Where certainty data has not been imported for a passage, no colouring is applied.
A Personalised Bible is a named setup (for example "My Personalised Bible" or "Devotional Reading") that saves your Verse Locks and Word Locks together. Switch between them from the mode pill popover in the header so each context keeps its own preferred wording.
In Composite mode, you can lock your preferred translation at either the verse level or the phrase level. In the comparison drawer, choose the translation you want and tap "Lock it in" to lock the entire verse, or tap a specific variation marker to lock just that phrase. Locked text uses a clear letterpress-style treatment so your choices stand out from the surrounding verse. By default, verse locks take precedence over word locks when both apply to the same verse; you can change that and the colours for each lock type under Profile, Account.
Lock a specific original-language word to your preferred English rendering everywhere it appears in Composite mode. Tap any word, open Word Study, and lock your preferred translation for that word. For example, lock the Greek word λόγος (logos, G3056) to always display as "Word" throughout the New Testament. Manage all word locks from the Word Locks tab on your profile page.
Bookmarks mark whole chapters (not individual verses). Open the Bookmark control in the chapter header—on smaller screens it sits beside the chapter navigation—then tap a colour to add this chapter to that named collection, or tap again to remove it. You can create several collections (each has its own colour) for different tracks of reading. Margin stripes and the book picker show where you have saved chapters. On each collection row, the scope control decides when those stripes appear: Universal shows them in every mode and every Personalised Bible; This Personalised Bible Only limits them to one named Personalised Bible (the profile that is active when you set that scope); This Mode Only limits them to the reading mode you are in (for example Composite). Manage everything from My OpenScripture (profile), Bookmarks tab.
Write your own rendering for any verse. In the verse drawer's Translations tab, tap "Add custom translation" to enter your own text. Your custom rendering appears at the top of the translation list; tap "Lock it in" to lock the verse to your text. All custom translations are visible and editable from the Custom Translations tab on your profile page.
Use the Select button in the header to choose a range, then open Notes to add a note/highlight. Highlights and notes are handled together — choosing no note text saves a pure highlight. View and manage all your notes and highlights from your profile page with filtering by colour and sorting by date, colour, or book order.
Customise your reading experience via the settings cog in the header. Choose from six text sizes (XS to XXL), four line spacing levels (Compact to Spacious), four font families (System Default, Crimson Pro, Inter, or Noto Serif), and light, dark, or system-matched themes.
From My OpenScripture (profile), open the Translations tab to choose which translations appear throughout the app, reorder them, and toggle visibility. Translations are grouped by tradition — Ecumenical, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, and Independent — so you can quickly focus on the traditions most relevant to your study. At least one translation must remain enabled.
Translations are colour-coded by tradition throughout the app: Protestant (blue), Catholic (purple), Orthodox (gold), Ecumenical (green), Jewish (teal), and Independent (grey). This helps you see at a glance which tradition each rendering comes from when comparing translations in the verse drawer.
The reader currently offers 10 readable published translations for day-to-day reading. The list below covers 30 titles we track for licensing, attribution, and future releases — including editions that are not yet available to read in the app.
Ecumenical
The latest revision of the NRSV, widely used in academia and across traditions.
Protestant (Evangelical)
A widely-used modern English translation balancing readability with fidelity to the original languages.
Protestant (Evangelical)
An essentially literal translation in the tradition of the Tyndale-KJV legacy.
Protestant (Evangelical)
Modern evangelical translation with translator notes; app text is aligned to the licensed Second Edition XML (paragraph titles stored separately from verse bodies).
Protestant
Known for its literal accuracy and fidelity to the original languages.
Protestant
An extremely literal translation by Robert Young, preserving Hebrew/Greek verb tenses.
Protestant
A highly literal revision of the KJV, valued for its accuracy and the basis for many modern translations.
Catholic
A revision of the original Douay-Rheims Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate.
Orthodox
Sir Lancelot Brenton's English translation of the Greek Septuagint (Codex Vaticanus).
Independent
A living translation by Spirit & Truth Fellowship International, regularly updated with ongoing scholarship.
Orthodox
An English translation reflecting Eastern Orthodox interpretive tradition, using the Septuagint for the OT.
Ecumenical
A modern translation created by scholars from multiple denominations for broad accessibility.
Protestant (Historic)
The most influential English Bible in history. Translated from the Textus Receptus and Masoretic Text, its language has shaped English literature and worship for over four centuries.
Protestant (Evangelical)
A thought-for-thought translation prioritizing natural English readability while maintaining accuracy to the original texts.
Catholic
The standard Catholic liturgical Bible in the United States, used at Mass and in Catholic education. Translated from the original languages with reference to the Nova Vulgata.
Protestant (Evangelical)
A modern translation using "Optimal Equivalence" — balancing word-for-word precision with natural English readability. Successor to the HCSB.
Jewish
Public-domain Jewish translation of the Tanakh (OT only), sourced from the 1917 JPS edition.
Jewish
The definitive modern Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible, reflecting Jewish scholarship and interpretive tradition.
Scholarly / Eastern Orthodox
A deliberately literal, defamiliarising translation by Eastern Orthodox philosopher David Bentley Hart. NT only.
Jehovah's Witnesses
The official Bible translation of Jehovah's Witnesses, known for distinctive rendering choices reflecting their theology.
Catholic
A Catholic translation rooted in the French Bible de Jérusalem, using the divine name "Yahweh" throughout the Old Testament.
Independent
A Biblical Unitarian NT translation by Anthony Buzzard emphasising the distinct personhood of God the Father and Jesus the Messiah.
Ecumenical
A translation designed for clear, simple English accessible to readers of all ages and backgrounds.
Protestant (Evangelical)
A modern evangelical translation aiming for accuracy with natural English readability.
Orthodox
An Eastern Orthodox NT translation based on the Patriarchal Text of 1904, the official text of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Messianic Jewish
A Messianic Jewish translation of the complete Bible, using Jewish naming conventions and ordering for the Old Testament.
Independent
Dr. Jay Winter’s 2015 Standard English Version of 1 Enoch, translated from the Ethiopic and logically organised into five books. Made freely distributable by the translator. Single-book translation; original-language alignment, AI generation, and most composite features do not apply.
Protestant
A careful modernization of the KJV preserving its literary cadence while updating vocabulary and grammar. Tracked for licensing; not yet readable in-app.
Protestant (Evangelical)
Eugene Peterson’s contemporary paraphrase in everyday English cadence. Tracked for licensing; not yet readable in-app.
Catholic
Current Catholic edition superseding the 1985 NJB, from the same editorial line as the Jerusalem Bible tradition. Tracked for licensing; not yet readable in-app.
Hebrew, Greek, and transliteration in NET study notes use fonts from SIL Global, loaded only when you open a note: Ezra SIL, Galatia SIL, and Charis SIL — each © SIL Global, used under the Open Font License 1.1. Full license files ship with the app under public/fonts/net/.