Build a scheduled reading plan — a whole-Bible track, a topical study, or the M'Cheyne one-year plan — then check off each day as you read it. Plans are saved on this device.
Devotionals
A short daily reading from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. Browse by date — there's one entry per calendar day, the same each year.
Share Tools
Settings
Lettered shows each book's abbreviation instead of an illustration.
Menus, buttons, and labels — everything except the Bible text above.
About
About IQ Bible
A free, open-source Bible reader — and a worked example of building a real app on the IQ Bible API. Every feature here comes from a real API call.
Version / book / chapter nav1,000+ languagesFull-text searchInline illustrationsAudio narrationCross-referencesCommentariesOriginal-language lookupsBible atlasReading plans
It runs as a plain static site with zero backend of its own — no server, no build step, no framework, just HTML/CSS and a handful of vanilla JavaScript files. On the hosted instance at app.iqbible.com you can start reading straight away; self-host a copy and each visitor supplies their own free API key, stored only in their browser.
Open Source
MIT-licensed and open on GitHub. Fork it, self-host it, or use it as a reference for your own app on the API.
IQ Bible is built to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Scripture should be readable by everyone, however you use the web — keyboard only, a screen reader, magnification, or a browser tuned for your own needs.
What we've done
Full keyboard operationVisible focus everywhereScreen-reader labellingFocus-managed dialogsContrast in light & darkReduced-motion supportResizable textReflows to a phone width
Every screen and control is reachable with the keyboard alone: press Tab to move, Enter or Space to activate, and Esc to close a dialog or dismiss a verse preview. A “Skip to reading” link appears the first time you press Tab. Dialogs keep focus inside them and hand it back where you were when they close. Verse numbers, Scripture references, and dictionary terms are all real controls that announce themselves to a screen reader, and the audio player’s progress bar takes the arrow keys. Motion follows your system’s “reduce motion” setting, and the interface adapts to Windows High Contrast.
How it was tested
Automated accessibility checks (axe-core, against WCAG 2.0 through 2.2, levels A and AA) across every screen, modal, and the narrow phone layout, plus a full keyboard-only walkthrough. Last reviewed September 2026.
Known limitations
We have not yet completed a review with screen-reader software (NVDA, VoiceOver, TalkBack) or an independent audit, so we describe the app as substantially conformant with WCAG 2.2 AA rather than certified against it.
The full-screen interactive place map is a third-party component and may not be completely operable by keyboard; the small embedded map previews are decorative and open the larger view.
Some historical illustrations carry only a short text description — the underlying public-domain source material never recorded a fuller one.
Adjusting the app to suit you
Text size — separate sliders for the Scripture text and the interface, in Settings or the Display panel (the “Aa” button in the top bar).
Day / night — the sun / moon button in the top bar, or the Appearance toggle in Display; the app also follows your system theme by default.
Notes — press N anywhere to open the notes drawer.
Search — press Ctrl/Cmd + K.
Found a problem?
Please tell us — it helps everyone. Open an issue on GitHub describing what you were doing, what got in the way, and the browser and assistive technology you were using.
Help
How can we help you read?
Everything below is a real feature, one call away from the IQ Bible API. New here? The tour walks you through the app in about two minutes.
Getting Started
01
Pick a translation
1,000+ translations across hundreds of languages, from the version picker in the top bar.
02
Choose a book and chapter
Tap the book or chapter in the reading header to open the navigator — pick a book, then its chapters, with a back arrow between. On a phone the same picker is the “Book Chapter ▾” button in the bar above the nav. Or deep-link straight to a verse like /gen/1/1 — or a range, /gal/5/14-16. The address bar keeps your translation (?v=…), so a copied link reopens in the same version.
03
Go deeper on any verse
Tap a verse for cross-references, commentary, original languages, notes and more.
Explore the Features
Read
Version, book and chapter navigation across 1,000+ languages.
Search
Full-text search with match modes, book/testament/chapter filters, a
translation selector independent of your reading version, and a People tab that searches Bible
characters by name instead of verse text.
Context cards
Beside each chapter (or, on a phone, from the icons just below the chapter title, or a swipe in from the right edge): an overview of what the chapter is about, the places and people it names, prophecies it touches, where it sits on the biblical timeline, and the book's own overview.
Explore
A Gospel harmony, topic browser, Bible atlas, genealogy explorer and curated collections. On a phone, Explore and Study Tools share the “Discover” tab.
Study Tools
Per-book guides, a Bible-dictionary lookup across all five sources, a word study across the Hebrew & Greek lexicons, verse-by-verse commentary for any chapter, and NT textual variants.
Share Tools
Turn any verse into an image, link or embeddable card.
My Library
Notes, bookmarks, highlights and history, all in one place. Notes can be grouped into notebooks and filtered by notebook or tag.
Notes drawer
The one place notes are written — a dockable panel you can open from anywhere with the N key, and where My Library's notes open to edit too. It shows a read view with every reference hover-previewable and a light Markdown subset (bold, italic, headings, lists, quotes) rendered; hit Edit (or click the text) for the formatting toolbar and Ctrl/Cmd+B / +I. Verse Tools ▸ Note drops a verse's reference and text into a new note, the current one, or one you pick. Assign a note to a notebook from the footer. On a phone, open it from the Notes tab in the bottom bar; it's a sheet you can drag by its grip to resize, and the passage stays readable behind it.
My Progress
A streak calendar, read counts and your active plan's progress, all in one place.
Reading Plans
Build, import or share a plan and track it day by day on a calendar.
Devotionals
A new reading each day, with its own progress tracking.
Settings
Font size, illustrations, book icons and other reading preferences (plus your API key, if you self-host).
Frequently Asked
Do I need an account or an API key?
No. At app.iqbible.com there's nothing to set up — just start reading. If you self-host your own copy, you'll add a free API key in Settings, stored only in your browser.
Why is a feature missing something I expected?
Every feature here is a direct call to the IQ Bible API — if the data isn't in the API's response, it isn't shown.
Does this include audio narration?
Versions with narration available show a player — inline under the chapter title on a wide screen, a bar above the nav on a phone. A "Voice" button lets you pick a different narrator when a version has more than one recorded.
How do I take notes?
Open the Notes drawer — press N anywhere, or the Notes button (the Notes tab in the bottom bar on a phone, a pill bottom-right on a wider screen). It autosaves as you type, keeps one note "active", and takes a light Markdown subset (bold, italic, headings, lists, quotes) that renders on the read view. To pull a verse in, select it and use Verse Tools ▸ Note, then choose a new note, the current one, or an existing one — its reference and text get dropped in and the verse shows a note icon in the margin. Group notes into notebooks, and search, tag, filter and export everything from My Library.
What are the cards next to the reading pane?
Per-chapter context, pulled live for whatever chapter you're reading — places (with maps), people, prophecy fulfillments and a timeline.
Can I use this on my phone?
Yes, the reader is fully responsive; the side rails hide below about 1180px wide. On a phone: swipe the page left or right to turn the chapter (or use the Previous/Next buttons at the end of it), tap one of the icons under the chapter title — Places, People, Prophecy, Timeline, About — (or swipe in from the right edge) for the chapter-context detail, and the topbar and bars tuck away as you scroll down (scroll back up or tap an empty spot to bring them back).
Is my data backed up anywhere?
Notes, bookmarks, highlights and progress live in local storage on this device only — export from My Library to back them up.
Is this open source?
Yes, MIT-licensed — see the About page for the repository link.
Can I run my own copy?
Yes — it's a static site with no backend. Fork it on GitHub, add a free API key, and host it anywhere. The README has the details.
Does it work with a keyboard or screen reader?
Yes. Everything is reachable by keyboard — press Tab to move, Enter or Space to activate, and Escape to close a dialog or dismiss a verse preview. A "Skip to reading" link appears when you first press Tab. Verse numbers are buttons (open Verse Tools), Scripture references in commentary and notes announce the verse when focused, and the audio player's progress bar takes the arrow keys. The app is built to WCAG 2.2 AA — see the for what's been tested, the known gaps, and how to report a problem.
My Progress
Your reading streak, chapter and verse counts, and how far along your active plan is — built from what you've marked read on this device.
Verse Tools
Choose a tool above.
Chapter Info
Explore
Study Tools
Add an API key to start reading
Set your API key in Settings to start reading — get one free at developer.iqbible.com. Want to see what the API can do first? Learn more at api.iqbible.com.
Choose a translation
Filter by language
Choose a book
Book
Choose a voice
Sleep timer
Formatting a note
Notes are plain text. These marks render on the read view (the toolbar drops them in for you):
**bold**
bold
*italic*
italic
`code`
code
# Heading
a heading (#–####)
- item
a bulleted list
1. item
a numbered list
> quote
a block quote
---
a horizontal rule
[text](https://…)
a link
Any Scripture reference you type — John 3:16, Rom 8:28-30 — becomes a hover preview automatically. No need to mark it up.
Display
API Error
Term
Places
Timeline
About Chapter
Prophecies
People
Share
Original Language
Welcome to IQ Bible
Want a two-minute tour of what's here — search, reading plans, notes and more?
Want to go deeper on Verse Tools?
Highlight, bookmark, notes, cross-refs, and more — see what each button does, one at a time.