1. Alif. Lam. Ra. This is a Scripture the revelations whereof are perfected and then expounded. It cometh from One Wise, Informed,

2. Saying: Serve none but God. Lo! I am unto you from Him a warner and a bringer of good tidings.

3. And bidding you: Ask pardon of your Lord and turn to Him repentant. He will cause you to enjoy a fair estate until a time appointed. He giveth His bounty unto every bountiful one. But if ye turn away, lo! then I fear for you the retribution of an awful Day.

4. Unto God is your return, and He is Able to do all things.

5. Lo! now they fold up their breasts that they may hide their thoughts from Him. At the very moment when they cover themselves with their clothing, God knoweth that which they keep hidden and that which they proclaim. Lo! He is Aware of what is in the breasts of men.

6. And there is not a beast in the earth but the sustenance thereof dependeth on God. He knoweth its habitation and its repository. All is in a clear Record.

7. And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days - and His Throne was upon the water - that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct. Yet if thou O Mohammed sayest: Lo! ye will be raised again after death! those who disbelieve will surely say: This is naught but mere magic.

8. And if We delay for them the doom until a reckoned time, they will surely say: What withholdeth it? Verily on the day when it cometh unto them, it cannot be averted from them, and that which they derided will surround them.

9. And if we cause man to taste some mercy from Us and afterward withdraw it from him, lo! he is despairing, thankless.

10. And if We cause him to taste grace after some misfortune that had befallen him, he saith: The ills have gone from me. Lo! he is exultant, boastful;

11. Save those who persevere and do good works. Theirs will be forgiveness and a great reward.

12. A likely thing, that thou wouldst forsake aught of that which hath been revealed unto thee, and that thy breast should be straitened for it, because they say: Why hath not a treasure been sent down for him, or an angel come with him? Thou art but a warner, and God is in charge of all things.

13. Or they say: He hath invented it. Say: Then bring ten chapters, the like thereof, invented, and call on everyone ye can beside God, if ye are truthful!

14. And if they answer not your prayer, then know that it is revealed only in the knowledge of God; and that there is no God save Him. Will ye then be of those who surrender?

15. Whoso desireth the life of the world and its pomp, We shall repay them their deeds herein, and therein they will not be wronged.

16. Those are they for whom is naught in the Hereafter save the Fire. All that they contrive here is vain and all that they are wont to do is fruitless.

17. Is he to be counted equal with them who relieth on a clear proof from his Lord, and a witness from Him reciteth it, and before it was the Book of Moses, an example and a mercy? Such believe therein, and whoso disbelieveth therein of the clans, the Fire is his appointed place. So be not thou in doubt concerning it. Lo! it is the Truth from thy Lord; but most of mankind believe not.

18. Who doeth greater wrong than he who inventeth a lie concerning God? Such will be brought before their Lord, and the witnesses will say: These are they who lied concerning their Lord. Now the curse of God is upon wrong-doers,

19. Who debar men from the way of God and would have it crooked, and who are disbelievers in the Hereafter.

20. Such will not escape in the earth, nor have they any protecting friends beside God. For them the torment will be double. They could not bear to hear, and they used not to see.

21. Such are they who have lost their souls, and that which they used to invent hath failed them.

22. Assuredly in the Hereafter they will be the greatest losers.

23. Lo! those who believe and do good works and humble themselves before their Lord: such are rightful owners of the Garden; they will abide therein.

24. The similitude of the two parties is as the blind and the deaf and the seer and the hearer. Are they equal in similitude? Will ye not then be admonished?

25. And We sent Noah unto his folk and he said: Lo! I am a plain warner unto you.

98 more verses…

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

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