1. Ta. Ha.

2. We have not revealed unto thee Mohammed this record that thou shouldst be distressed,

3. But as a reminder unto him who feareth,

4. A revelation from Him Who created the earth and the high heavens,

5. The Beneficent One, Who is established on the Throne.

6. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, and whatsoever is between them, and whatsoever is beneath the sod.

7. And if thou speakest aloud, then lo! He knoweth the secret thought and that which is yet more hidden.

8. God! There is no God save Him. His are the most beautiful names.

9. Hath there come unto thee the story of Moses?

10. When he saw a fire and said unto his folk: Lo! Wait! I see a fire afar off. Peradventure I may bring you a brand therefrom or may find guidance at the fire.

11. And when he reached it, he was called by name: O Moses!

12. Lo! I, even I, am thy Lord, So take off thy shoes, for lo! thou art in the holy valley of Tuvah.

13. And I have chosen thee, so hearken unto that which is inspired.

14. Lo! I, even I, am God, There is no God save Me. So serve Me and establish worship for My remembrance.

15. Lo! the Hour is surely coming. But I will to keep it hidden, that every soul may be rewarded for that which it striveth to achieve.

16. Therefor, let not him turn thee aside from the thought of it who believeth not therein but followeth his own desire, lest thou perish.

17. And what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?

18. He said: This is my staff whereon I lean, and wherewith I bear down branches for my sheep, and wherein I find other uses.

19. He said: Cast it down, O Moses!

20. So he cast it down, and lo! it was a serpent, gliding.

21. He said: Grasp it and fear not. We shall return it to its former state.

22. And thrust thy hand within thine armpit, it will come forth white without hurt. That will be another token.

23. That We may show thee some of Our greater portents,

24. Go thou unto Pharaoh! Lo! he hath transgressed the bounds.

25. Moses said: My Lord! relieve my mind

110 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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