bible-mcp

An MCP server for Christian scholarship and research. Non-commercial, aiming to become a public resource. Seecorpus-survey.mdfor the full source/license landscape andROADMAP.mdfor direction.

All in one SQLite file (db/bible.db, ~230MB) with FTS5 full-text search. Prose works are addressed asWORK.chapter.paragraph. See DESIGN.md for the architecture rationale.

- get_passage(reference, version="BSB")— Bible text for a reference, e.g.John 3:16,John 3:16-18,Genesis 1. Versions: BSB, WEB (Apocrypha requiresversion="WEB").
- search(query, version="BSB", book="", limit=20)— Full-text search, stemmed and ranked (BM25). Supports quoted phrases and AND/OR/NOT, e.g.faith AND works NOT law.versionalso takes any prose work id. Note: stemming conflates related surface forms (e.g. "desert" also matches "deserted") — quote exact phrases or add AND-terms to disambiguate.
- semantic_search(query, top_k=12, kind="", hybrid=True)— Meaning-based search across the whole corpus (scripture + prose), hybrid-fused with keyword search (RRF) by default. Finds passages on a theme even with no shared words, e.g. "divine self-emptying".kindoptional: verse | window | paragraph.
- find_similar(reference, top_k=10)— Nearest passages by embedding to a given verse or prose paragraph, across scripture, Apocrypha, and the classics. Powers parallel-finding across corpus layers.
- word_study(query, language="", limit=15)— Original-language word study by Strong's number (zero-padding optional), lemma (pointed or unpointed), Hebrew/Aramaic transliteration (e.g.miqweh, macrons optional), or English gloss. Returns occurrence counts, gloss range, book distribution, and sample verses. Lettered homograph variants (e.g. H4723 vs H4723a — same written form, different word) are surfaced together.languageoptional: grc | hbo | arc.
- get_interlinear(reference)— Word-by-word original language for a verse or short range: surface form, lemma, Strong's, gloss, morphology (Hebrew/Aramaic OT, Greek NT). Versemap-corrected across all books, not just Psalms. For OT verses also shows Septuagint Greek surface text where available (no lemma/Strong's/morphology in that source).
- get_cross_references(reference, limit=20)— Cross-references for a verse (OpenBible.info, ranked by community votes), with the target text included.
- get_citations(reference, limit=20)— Where a verse is cited by name in the patristic corpus, extracted from the translators' own footnotes (tier 1). Complementsget_cross_references(scripture→scripture); this is patristic text→scripture. Coverage is sparse by design — an empty result doesn't mean uncited; full-textsearchwithin the patristic works is the thorough probe.
- get_entity(name, entity_type="")— Look up a biblical person, place, event, or people group by name (Theographic knowledge graph); returns details and where they appear.entity_typeoptional: person | place | event | people_group.
- entities_in_passage(reference)— People, places, and events linked to a verse or chapter, e.g.Genesis 14.
- read_work(work, chapter=1, start=1, end=5)— Read a prose work by paragraph range (CONFESSIONS, IMITATION, PILGRIM, PRESENCE, JULIAN, ORTHODOXY, 1CLEMENT, BARNABAS, and others — seecorpus_info()for the full list). Usesearch(version=<WORK>)to find passages first.
- compare_versions(reference)— A verse or short range in BSB and WEB, side by side.
- corpus_info()— What's in the corpus: documents, layers, licenses, and counts.

The server also exposes the synthesis pipeline as MCP prompts, generated from.claude/skills/(the source of truth):corpus_survey(theme)— Layer 0 raw reading discipline;corpus_composer(theme)— Layer 2 research-brief composition. Any MCP client that installs bible-mcp gets the discipline bundled with the data.

pip install -r requirements.txt # core: just mcp pip install fastembed numpy # optional semantic tier (semantic_search, find_similar) python3 scripts/build_db.py # rebuild db from data/sources (optional; db ships built) python3 scripts/embed.py # regenerate embeddings (optional; ships built; resumable)

The first semantic query downloads the embedding model (~65MB, one time). Without fastembed/numpy installed, all non-semantic tools work normally. See DESIGN.md for architecture decisions (model choice, chunking, hybrid retrieval).

Claude Desktop / Cowork — add to MCP config:

{ "mcpServers": { "bible-mcp": { "command": "python3", "args": ["/path/to/bible-mcp/server.py"] } } }

data/sources/ raw acquired sources (immutable; re-derive, never edit) data/versemap.tsv derived MT/NA <-> English verse alignments data/additions-*.json prepared incremental ingestions (applied via scripts/ingest_additions.py) scripts/ schema.sql, lib_refs.py, build_db.py, build_versemap.py, align_splits.py, ingest_additions.py db/bible.db the built corpus (SQLite + FTS5) outputs/ synthesis-pipeline artifacts (Layer 0 surveys, Layer 2 briefs, reports) .claude/skills/ corpus-survey + corpus-composer (pipeline skills; source for MCP prompts) server.py MCP server (FastMCP, read-only on the db)

This is anon-commercial public resource. Licensing is layered — sources keep their own licenses (all PD / CC BY / CC BY-SA); the code is PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0; the compilation and derived data (versemap, citation graph, embeddings, outputs layer) are CC BY-NC 4.0. Full details:LICENSE.md, attributions inNOTICE.md.
- Remote (no install)— add the hosted endpoint as a custom connector in any MCP client (Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector):https://bible-mcp-server.fly.dev/mcp
- Local (stdio)— clone, downloaddb/bible.dbfrom the latest GitHub Release (or rebuild fromdata/sources/), add the config above.
- Self-host—Dockerfileships the Streamable-HTTP server; seeDEPLOY.md.

- Canonical addressing: OSIS-style refs (Gen.1.1) everywhere; every table keys on them.
- Provenance: every document row carries source, license, and license tier (A=free, B=share-alike, C=non-commercial, D=closed — we are non-commercial, so C is usable).
- The 16 verses "missing" from BSB (Matt 17:21, John 5:4, Acts 8:37…) are the standard critical-text omissions, not bugs.
- Versification:versemap(all books) +psalm_offsets(superscriptions) align MACULA's MT/NA numbering to English. Both derived empirically from the corpus's own two witnesses and validated by gloss-text overlap; the table schema is TVTMS-compatible so the STEPBible data can extend it to other traditions (LXX, Vulgate) later.
- Ignatius ships in the shorter (Middle) recension only; the ANF longer recension is a later expansion and would duplicate every chapter in search.
- The research outputs layer is generated, clearly tagged (layer='output'), and can never be confused with primary sources;draws_onlinks tie each artifact to its grounding refs.
- Next per ROADMAP.md: Irenaeus (source acquisition), tier-2 citation shingling (three confirmed footnote-index misses as fixtures), TVTMS proper.

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