1. Ha. Mim.

2. By the Scripture that maketh plain

3. Lo! We revealed it on a blessed night - Lo! We are ever warning -

4. Whereon every wise command is made clear

5. As a command from Our presence - Lo! We are ever sending -

6. A mercy from thy Lord. Lo! He, even He is the Hearer, the Knower,

7. Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, if ye would be sure.

8. There is no God save Him. He quickeneth and giveth death; your Lord and Lord of your forefathers.

9. Nay, but they play in doubt.

10. But watch thou O Mohammed for the day when the sky will produce visible smoke

11. That will envelop the people. This will be a painful torment.

12. Then they will say: Our Lord relieve us of the torment. Lo! we are believers.

13. How can there be remembrance for them, when a messenger making plain the Truth had already come unto them,

14. And they had turned away from him and said: One taught by others, a madman?

15. Lo! We withdraw the torment a little. Lo! ye return to disbelief.

16. On the day when We shall seize them with the greater seizure, then in truth We shall punish.

17. And verily We tried before them Pharaoh's folk, when there came unto them a noble messenger,

18. Saying: Give up to me the slaves of God. Lo! I am a faithful messenger unto you.

19. And saying: Be not proud against God. Lo! I bring you a clear warrant.

20. And lo! I have sought refuge in my Lord and your Lord lest ye stone me to death.

21. And if ye put no faith in me, then let me go.

22. And he cried unto his Lord, saying: These are guilty folk.

23. Then his Lord commanded: Take away My slaves by night. Lo! ye will be followed,

24. And leave the sea behind at rest, for lo! they are a drowned host.

25. How many were the gardens and the watersprings that they left behind,

34 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.

Scripture is part of a suite of educational simulations at a9l.im. Explore particle physics with Geon, redistricting with Gerry, or cellular metabolism with Cyano.