Copyright & licenses

Source usage by feature

How to read this map

The source map links sources to feature areas. A status describes BibleBot’s current product use or review state; it does not change a source’s license or create permission to use it. Active sources can surface in Passage, Workbench, Explore Map, or Composer when deployment configuration and data permit. Staged or internal-only sources are listed for transparency and may not appear as primary rows in the main UI until reviews complete. Runtime display always depends on configuration, availability, and feature gates.

Active product-visible when configured Staged gated or sparse-fill only Internal-only diagnostics, provenance, or review Candidate not promoted until source review finishes

Source families by BibleBot feature area
Feature area	Sources	How BibleBot uses them	License / posture
Scripture reading and comparison	World English Bible; King James Version where configured; ESV API where enabled; API.Bible-backed translations such as NIV, CSB, and NKJV where enabled	Passage reading, comparison rows, Composer handoff, and Workbench scripture lookup.	Active WEB and KJV use public-domain posture; ESV and API.Bible translations use provider/publisher terms.
Native BSB Scripture	Berean Bible publisher's current Berean Standard Bible download, updated to the third printing; official USJ and independent USX source archives	Native Passage reading, translation comparison, and search.	Active The publisher dedicates the Berean Bible text to the public domain. Companion translation tables and other assets are separately scoped and are not used to claim English-to-original-word alignment.
Native TR Scripture	BYZTXT's pinned text-only Scrivener 1894 Greek New Testament transcription	Native Passage reading and translation comparison, New Testament only; unaccented, without punctuation or apparatus.	Active New Testament only. The upstream README identifies the text as public domain; this is recorded as the maintainer's claim, not a Creative Commons license.
References and related passages	BibleBot curated cross-reference rows; World English Bible native USFM cross-reference markers; Treasury of Scripture Knowledge research rows; OpenBible Cross References staging dataset	Passage References, Workbench reference lists, Composer gathered sources, and compact Ask grounding. OpenBible Cross References are excluded from reader and research results after quality review.	ActiveStaged Reader/default references use curated rows plus public-domain WEB USFM markers. TSK is public-domain research/full-list fallback. OpenBible Cross References remain retained staging data, not a reader or research source.
Original-language tools and clause outlines	MACULA Greek; MACULA Hebrew; STEPBible data; Strong-linked lexical sources	Passage Language, Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic word-study routes, morphology, occurrence browsing, and MACULA clause outlines.	Active Greek clause outlines cover all 27 New Testament books (260 chapters). Ordinary Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic access already exists; source edition boundaries remain visible in the UI. MACULA and STEPBible are tracked as CC BY 4.0.
Lookup, topics, and entities	Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary; Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary; Easton's Bible Dictionary; Smith's Bible Dictionary; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia; Nave's Topical Bible	Workbench and Passage lookup/topics, entity matching, and Composer source inserts.	Active Tyndale and Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary rows are CC BY-SA 4.0 with source-specific attribution; the historical dictionary and topical editions are public domain.
Source-direct Context	Tyndale Open Study Notes release 1.25; unfoldingWord English Translation Notes v90 plus the pinned working-branch supplement for ten books absent from v90	Optional verse, chapter, and book notes and introductions in Passage and Workbench Context. Notes load only when a reader opens the named source.	Active Tyndale and unfoldingWord materials remain separately identified under their CC BY-SA 4.0 terms, with publisher/source links, attribution, and change notices. The Tyndale notes were written alongside the NLT; no NLT Bible translation is activated by this source view.
Maps, places, and geography	BibleBot curated places; OpenBible Bible Geocoding and OpenBible GitHub geography data; reviewed Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary map previews; Biblica Open Bible Maps supplied through Aquifer	Passage Maps, Explore Map (including journeys), place profiles, Workbench map links, Composer map handoff, and approved managed-map previews when runtime catalog fields are available.	Active OpenBible geography is CC BY 4.0. Tyndale and Biblica managed-map material is CC BY-SA 4.0 with source-specific attribution and availability gates.
Section headings and reading guides	Berean Standard Bible v5.2 section headings; OpenBible Bible Section Counts; pinned WEB Classic verification	Translation-independent section titles organize Passage reading across all 66 books; brief summaries are limited to reviewed Genesis 11 overrides.	Active BSB v5.2 source titles provide the whole-canon baseline under CC0 1.0; three Genesis 11 summaries are BibleBot-reviewed overrides. OpenBible counts are corroboration only under CC BY 4.0, and WEB is verification only.
Red-letter and speech cues	Trusted translation markup such as bundled WEB USFM; candidate speech/quotation diagnostics	Trusted translation markup where the selected source provides it.	ActiveCandidate Uses trusted source markup only; candidate speech datasets remain gated until source-specific review is complete.
Ask (guided questions)	Deployment-configured model providers; grounded scripture and tool payloads supplied with each request	Passage Ask and Workbench Ask assemble answers from retrieved context and user questions; output is assistance layered on scripture, not a replacement translation.	Active Follow the hosting deployment’s provider terms, model choice, and data-handling posture; inline UI distinguishes assistance from sourced dataset rows.

On a narrow screen, swipe horizontally across the table. The table region is keyboard-focusable for horizontal scrolling.

Public Studies are currently unavailable. Composer links into Explore Map (including Journeys) use the maps and geography sources described below.

English Standard Version® (ESV®)

How BibleBot uses the ESV: When ESV is enabled for a deployment, passage text is retrieved from Crossway’s servers using the ESV API (HTTP requests with an application API key; text is shown in the BibleBot interface, not bulk-stored as a replacement Bible module). General information about the translation: ESV.org.

Crossway describes API access as follows:

“Crossway allows you to access the ESV Bible text from our server and include it on your website or app, free of charge for non-commercial use. To learn more or register for the API, visit api.esv.org.”

Crossway’s published notice of copyright for digital works quoting the ESV reads:

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Limits on copying or downloading ESV text: Crossway’s Terms of Service for ESV.org (which governs use of Crossway’s ESV-related web services) state in part:

“You may download or print information from the Website, but you may not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses or more than one-half of any book of the Bible or their equivalent measured in bytes.”

See the full Terms of Service for definitions (including what Crossway means by the “Website”), the rest of the license grant, and other conditions.

For broader context only: Crossway’s Guide to Permissions also describes standard-use rules for quoting the ESV in print, digital, and audio formats (for example when preparing your own publications or media). Those guidelines can include additional conditions—such as how much of your overall work may consist of quoted Scripture—that are distinct from viewing passages through an API-integrated app. Consult Crossway’s site for authoritative, up-to-date wording.

Authoritative policies and permission requests: Crossway — Guide to Permissions.

World English Bible (WEB)

BibleBot’s default English translation is typically the World English Bible Classic, served from this project’s own database copy. The WEB project’s official rights statement places the text in the public domain, allowing it to be copied, shared, and reused freely.

The same official statement explains that “World English Bible” is an eBible.org trademark and asks that a text changed from the official WEB not be distributed under that name. BibleBot’s optional section headings and summaries are a separate editorial layer; they do not modify WEB verse text and are not presented as part of the World English Bible.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

The native Passage and search integration uses the Berean Bible publisher's current official download, identified by the publisher as updated to its third printing. The publisher's official terms state that Berean Bible texts were dedicated to the public domain on April 30, 2023, and attribution is appreciated but not required. BibleBot preserves the BSB name for verbatim official text.

Current product status: native BSB reading, comparison, and search are deployed. The BSB v5.2 section-heading baseline is documented separately; translation tables, footnotes, and cross-references are not part of the native Bible-text integration and do not establish English-to-original-word alignment.

Attribution: The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.

Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus (TR)

The native TR source is the BYZTXT repository's pinned, text-only 27-book New Testament transcription, based on the Scrivener 1894 text and transcribed by Maurice A. Robinson. BibleBot converts the source's ASCII transliteration to unaccented Greek script with a reversible letter map. The source contains no punctuation or apparatus, and BibleBot does not add either. The upstream README at the pinned commit identifies it as public domain; this is the maintainer's statement, not a Creative Commons license. BibleBot preserves the source's edition and coverage identity in reading and comparison.

Current product status: native TR reading and comparison are deployed. Coverage is New Testament only; Old Testament requests return unavailable and do not substitute WEB text.

Passage section headings and summaries

What this layer is: BibleBot may display optional section titles and brief summaries above groups of verses. This editorial layer is independent of the selected translation. It is not part of the biblical text and can be turned off.

Source baseline: BibleBot uses section markers from the Berean Standard Bible v5.2 structured release across all 66 books. The Berean Bible’s official terms dedicate the text to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Source titles remain source-attributed; they are not presented as individually BibleBot-authored wording.

Boundary corroboration: BibleBot uses reference-and-count data from OpenBible.info’s Bible Section Counts project under CC BY 4.0. BibleBot extracts and transforms aggregate section-placement counts for editorial review. It does not import heading wording or verse text from the surveyed translations.

Scripture verification and reviewed overrides: BibleBot checks references and summary fidelity against its pinned public-domain World English Bible Classic source. WEB headings are not imported for this feature. Three Genesis 11 summaries are BibleBot-reviewed overrides; all other baseline titles remain attributed to BSB. Neither source-derived titles nor BibleBot summaries are part of the World English Bible or any other displayed translation.

Section-placement counts derived from OpenBible.info’s Bible Section Counts dataset, used under CC BY 4.0. BibleBot extracts and transforms reference/count rows; no surveyed translation’s heading wording or verse text is included.

New International Version 2011 (NIV)

How BibleBot uses the NIV: When enabled for a deployment, BibleBot retrieves passage text on demand from API.Bible. Bible text remains served from the upstream provider rather than redistributed here as a replacement Bible module.

“The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.”

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

How BibleBot uses the CSB: When enabled for a deployment, BibleBot retrieves passage text on demand from API.Bible.

“© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers”

New King James Version (NKJV)

How BibleBot uses the NKJV: When enabled for a deployment, BibleBot retrieves passage text on demand from API.Bible.

“New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.”

Other translations

Additional translations may appear if configured in a given deployment. Refer to the publisher or license associated with each translation in your environment.

Bible geography dataset

OpenBible Bible Geocoding is the first provenance-backed source BibleBot now exposes on map/place rows where dataset provenance is available. OpenBible describes the project as “the location of every identifiable place mentioned in the Bible” and publishes the dataset for reuse at openbible.info/geo.

OpenBible’s published usage statement says the geography dataset as a whole is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). BibleBot therefore preserves attribution to OpenBible.info when this dataset is surfaced in the product.

Primary source pages used for attribution and data access:

Some BibleBot place rows still rely on the project’s existing curated summaries and references while provenance-backed coverage expands. When provenance is shown in the UI, BibleBot is intentionally distinguishing sourced coordinate confidence from its own product copy.

Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary map previews are adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. BibleBot serves only reviewed, source-labeled managed files where the active runtime provides the approved preview fields.

Biblica Open Bible Maps © 2023–2025 Biblica, Inc. are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. BibleBot serves reviewed managed files only; the active API must also provide the approved media registry before they appear in Workbench.

Reference and study sources

BibleBot also uses or stages structured source data for cross references, original-language tools, context diagnostics with source metadata, and lookup features. Some of these source families are visible in the product today; others are internal, diagnostic, or staged only until product and license guardrails are complete.

Cross references

BibleBot reader-facing cross-reference data uses curated rows and public-domain World English Bible USFM marker rows. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge remains public-domain research/full-list fallback data. OpenBible Cross References are retained as staging data but are excluded from reader and research results after quality review. OpenBible Cross References are published by OpenBible.info under CC BY 4.0.

Original-language and lexical aids

Current language coverage: Passage offers an optional, selected-verse original-script reading mode where source numbering is verified, plus the existing Language detail view. Selecting a source word opens its lexical detail. Source tokens are not mapped to English words without reviewed alignment for the exact translation. Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic data remain identified by their own text and annotation provenance; MACULA Greek clause outlines cover all 27 New Testament books: 260 chapters.

SBL Greek New Testament, edited by Michael W. Holmes and represented within the MACULA SBLGNT corpus, is copyright © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software and licensed under CC BY 4.0. The MACULA annotation layer has separate provenance and attribution.
Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) is the Masoretic base text represented in the local MACULA Hebrew corpus. The Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB) license identifies the WLC base text as public domain and the OSHB annotations as CC BY 4.0; these terms do not establish rights for manuscript images or other annotation layers.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at Clear-Bible/macula-greek, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets, available at Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
STEPBible Data, available at stepbible.github.io/STEPBible-Data, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit to “STEP Bible” linked to STEPBible.org.

External manuscript and older-witness resources

Passage Language and Isaiah book Context include links to selected manuscript catalogs, a museum introduction, and an older inscription reference. BibleBot links to these external resources; it does not host their images, transcriptions, or apparatus, and the links are collection- or book-level rather than verse-specific evidence.

Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library: fragmentary manuscript catalog and images; site text and images require permission for reuse.
ETCBC Dead Sea Scrolls Text-Fabric corpus: fragmentary transcriptions and annotations under CC BY-NC 4.0; that dataset license is separate from the software license and does not authorize commercial redistribution.
New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room: manuscript catalog, images, and research tools with access and rights varying by witness and custodian.
Great Isaiah Scroll introduction: an Israel Museum overview of one witness, not a verse-level transcription or apparatus; the publication and images are copyrighted.
Ketef Hinnom silver amulets: a scholarly article about short inscriptions related to the Priestly Benediction, not a copy of Numbers; article and catalog materials have separate rights.

Lookup and dictionary sources

BibleBot lookup features use source-separated views for Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers and the Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary, an adaptation of that dictionary created by Mission Mutual. Both are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and retain source-specific attribution; BibleBot formatting, sanitization, and display adaptation are BibleBot changes. BibleBot may also use public-domain sources such as Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Smith’s Bible Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, and constrained exact-reference topic labels from Nave’s Topical Bible. These sources remain separate, attributed rows rather than BibleBot-authored conclusions.

Source-direct Context

Tyndale Open Study Notes (release 1.25), © 2022 Tyndale House Publishers, and unfoldingWord English Translation Notes (the official v90 release where available, plus a separately pinned unpublished working-branch supplement for the ten books absent from v90), © 2022 unfoldingWord, are separate named-source readers under CC BY-SA 4.0. The supplement is not a numbered upstream release.

Adapted from Tyndale Open Study Notes. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at Tyndale Open Resources. The original work by unfoldingWord is available from unfoldingword.org/utn.

BibleBot converts the source files into formatted paragraphs and Scripture links for safe display; source wording is not intentionally changed. These display adaptations remain under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source notes and their perspectives remain separate from Scripture and AI assistance.

Internal and staged source inventory

These source families are retained for provenance, diagnostics, or future review. Their presence here does not indicate public activation.

For operators using a repository checkout: diagnostics CLI inventory for npm run report:* is documented at docs/batch-summaries/source-diagnostics-cli-inventory.md.

OpenBible Bible Section Sankey section counts are stored internally as boundary diagnostics only. The data is from OpenBible.info Bible Section Sankey Diagrams and is treated as CC BY 4.0. BibleBot normalizes the rows for section-boundary diagnostics and does not use them as generated section titles or interpretation.

UBS Open License Resources dictionaries are staged internally under CC BY-SA 4.0 obligations. Runtime display remains gated until attribution, ShareAlike, field selection, and presentation rules are approved.

OpenText contextual annotation, available at OpenText-org/context-annotation, is a high-value New Testament discourse/context candidate licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is not currently a whole-Bible pericope replacement, and any future use must preserve OpenText attribution and avoid turning discourse labels into BibleBot-authored interpretation.

Additional candidate attribution

SemanticBible metadata from SemanticBible / Sean Boisen is tracked as a metadata-only candidate source family for reference structures, semantic indexes, and gospel-harmony/pericope diagnostics such as the Composite Gospel Pericope Index. SemanticBible-origin metadata is attributed to SemanticBible / Sean Boisen under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0; see the SemanticBible license page. BibleBot does not bundle, copy, transform, or display the ESV or RSV scripture text shown on SemanticBible pages; those Bible translations remain separate third-party rights. If SemanticBible metadata is promoted into a public feature, rows must retain SemanticBible / Sean Boisen attribution, license links, provenance, change notices, and NonCommercial/ShareAlike markers.