1. Ha. Mim.

2. A'in. Sin. Qaf.

3. Thus God the Mighty, the Knower inspireth thee Mohammed as He inspired those before thee.

4. Unto Him belongeth all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.

5. Almost might the heavens above be rent asunder while the angels hymn the praise of their Lord and ask forgiveness for those on the earth. Lo! God, He is the Forgiver, the Merciful.

6. And as for those who choose protecting friends beside Him, God is Warden over them, and thou art in no wise a guardian over them.

7. And thus We have inspired in thee a Lecture in native, that thou mayst warn the mother-town and those around it, and mayst warn of a day of assembling whereof there is no doubt. A host will be in the Garden, and a host of them in the Flame.

8. Had God willed, He could have made them one community, but God bringeth whom He will into His mercy. And the wrong-doers have no friend nor helper.

9. Or have they chosen protecting friends besides Him? But God, He alone is the Protecting Friend. He quickeneth the dead, and He is Able to do all things.

10. And in whatsoever ye differ, the verdict therein belongeth to God. Such is my Lord, in Whom I put my trust, and unto Whom I turn.

11. The Creator of the heavens and the earth. He hath made for you pairs of yourselves, and of the cattle also pairs, whereby He multiplieth you. Naught is as His likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer.

12. His are the keys of the heavens and the earth. He enlargeth providence for whom He will and straiteneth it for whom He will. Lo! He is Knower of all things.

13. He hath ordained for you that religion which He commended unto Noah, and that which We inspire in thee Mohammed, and that which We commended unto Abraham and Moses and Jesus, saying: Establish the religion, and be not divided therein. Dreadful for the idolaters is that unto which thou callest them. God chooseth for Himself whom He will, and guideth unto Himself him who turneth toward Him.

14. And they were not divided until after the knowledge came unto them, through rivalry among themselves; and had it not been for a Word that had already gone forth from thy Lord for an appointed term, it surely had been judged between them. And those who were made to inherit the Scripture after them are verily in hopeless doubt concerning it.

15. Unto this, then, summon O Mohammed. And be thou upright as thou art commanded, and follow not their lusts, but say: I believe in whatever scripture God hath sent down, and I am commanded to be just among you. God is our Lord and your Lord. Unto us our works and unto you your works; no argument between us and you. God will bring us together, and unto Him is the journeying.

16. And those who argue concerning God after He hath been acknowledged, their argument hath no weight with their Lord, and wrath is upon them and theirs will be an awful doom.

17. God it is Who hath revealed the Scripture with truth, and the Balance. How canst thou know? It may be that the Hour is nigh.

18. Those who believe not therein seek to hasten it, while those who believe are fearful of it and know that it is the Truth. Are not they who dispute, in doubt concerning the Hour, far astray?

19. God is gracious unto His slaves. He provideth for whom He will. And He is the Strong, the Mighty.

20. Whoso desireth the harvest of the Hereafter, We give him increase in its harvest. And whoso desireth the harvest of the world, We give him thereof, and he hath no portion in the Hereafter.

21. Or have they partners of God who have made lawful for them in religion that which God allowed not? And but for a decisive word gone forth already, it would have been judged between them. Lo! for wrong-doers is a painful doom.

22. Thou seest the wrong-doers fearful of that which they have earned, and it will surely befall them, while those who believe and do good works will be in flowering meadows of the Gardens, having what they wish from their Lord. This is the great preferment.

23. This it is which God announceth unto His bondmen who believe and do good works. Say O Mohammed, unto mankind: I ask of you no fee therefor, save lovingkindness among kinsfolk. And whoso scoreth a good deed We add unto its good for him. Lo! God is Forgiving, Responsive.

24. Or say they: He hath invented a lie concerning God? If God willed, He could have sealed thy heart against them. And God will wipe out the lie and will vindicate the truth by His words. Lo! He is Aware of what is hidden in the breasts of men.

25. And He it is Who accepteth repentance from His bondmen, and pardoneth the evil deeds, and knoweth what ye do,

28 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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