1. When the hypocrites come unto thee O Mohammed, they say: We bear witness that thou art indeed God's messenger. And God knoweth that thou art indeed His messenger, and God beareth witness that the hypocrites indeed are speaking falsely.

2. They make their faith a pretext so that they may turn men from the way of God. Verily evil is that which they are wont to do,

3. That is because they believed, then disbelieved, therefore their hearts are sealed so that they understand not.

4. And when thou seest them their figures please thee; and if they speak thou givest ear unto their speech. They are as though they were blocks of wood in striped cloaks. They deem every shout to be against them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. God confound them! How they are perverted!

5. And when it is said unto them: Come! The messenger of God will ask forgiveness for you! they avert their faces and thou seest them turning away, disdainful.

6. Whether thou ask forgiveness for them or ask not forgiveness for them is all one for them; God will not forgive them. Lo! God guideth not the evil-living folk.

7. They it is who say: Spend not on behalf of those who dwell with God's messenger that they may disperse and go away from you; when God's are the treasures of the heavens and the earth; but the hypocrites comprehend not.

8. They say: Surely, if we return to Medinah the mightier will soon drive out the weaker; when might belongeth to God and to His messenger and to the believers; but the hypocrites know not.

9. O ye who believe! Let not your wealth nor your children distract you from remembrance of God. Those who do so, they are the losers.

10. And spend of that wherewith We have provided you before death cometh unto one of you and he saith: My Lord! If only thou wouldst reprieve me for a little while, then I would give alms and be among the righteous.

11. But God reprieveth no soul when its term cometh, and God is Informed of what ye do.

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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