1. The commandment of God will come to pass, so seek not ye to hasten it. Glorified and Exalted be He above all that they associate with Him.

2. He sendeth down the angels with the Spirit of His command unto whom He will of His bondmen, saying: Warn mankind that there is no God save Me, so keep your duty unto Me.

3. He hath created the heavens and the earth with truth. High be He Exalted above all that they associate with Him.

4. He hath created man from a drop of fluid, yet behold! he is an open opponent.

5. And the cattle hath He created, whence ye have warm clothing and uses, and whereof ye eat;

6. And wherein is beauty for you, when ye bring them home, and when ye take them out to pasture.

7. And they bear your loads for you unto a land ye could not reach save with great trouble to yourselves. Lo! your Lord is Full of Pity, Merciful.

8. And horses and mules and asses hath He created that ye may ride them, and for ornament. And He createth that which ye know not.

9. And God's is the direction of the way, and some roads go not straight. And had He willed He would have led you all aright.

10. He it is Who sendeth down water from the sky, whence ye have drink, and whence are trees on which ye send your beasts to pasture.

11. Therewith He causeth crops to grow for you, and the olive and the date-palm and grapes and all kinds of fruit. Lo! herein is indeed a portent for people who reflect.

12. And He hath constrained the night and the day and the sun and the moon to be of service unto you, and the stars are made subservient by His command. Lo! herein indeed are portents for people who have sense.

13. And whatsoever He hath created for you in the earth of divers hues, lo! therein is indeed a portent for people who take heed.

14. And He it is Who hath constrained the sea to be of service that ye eat fresh meat from thence, and bring forth from thence ornaments which ye wear. And thou seest the ships ploughing it that ye mankind may seek of His bounty and that haply ye may give thanks.

15. And He hath cast into the earth firm hills that it quake not with you, and streams and roads that ye may find a way.

16. And landmarks too, and by the star they find a way.

17. Is He then Who createth as him who createth not? Will ye not then remember?

18. And if ye would count the favour of God ye cannot reckon it. Lo! God is indeed Forgiving, Merciful.

19. And God knoweth that which ye keep hidden and that which ye proclaim.

20. Those unto whom they cry beside God created naught, but are themselves created.

21. They are dead, not living. And they know not when they will be raised.

22. Your God is One God. But as for those who believe not in the Hereafter their hearts refuse to know, for they are proud.

23. Assuredly God knoweth that which they keep hidden and that which they proclaim. Lo! He loveth not the proud.

24. And when it is said unto them: What hath your Lord revealed? they say: Mere fables of the men of old,

25. That they may bear their burdens undiminished on the Day of Resurrection, with somewhat of the burdens of those whom they mislead without knowledge. Ah! evil is that which they bear!

103 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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