If you are a developer the first, and most important thing you need to know is that the modules are not locked! many other Bible software applications use either Jet Database modules (.MDB type files) or some form of custom database file with a password which only the software Application knows. BibleDatabase modules are text files with no passwords.

The first version was actually written in Access 2000 and even used (the then) brand new ADO (instead of DAO) as the great Microsoft recommended. However, it was painfully slow and added massive overheads to the files. For example, a text Bible is about 4MB and the Access version around 10MB! So Access was tossed out the window in exchange for a simple text format which runs really quickly. By the way, the same text engine is used in a different [business] application for a multi-user, relational database and works exceptionally well.

Simple. BibleDatabase is freeware and you are welcome to use the modules in whatever way you see fit in your application. We do ask that you give BibleDatabase a mention as your source and especially that you tell us if you find a bug in a module so that we can fix it.

This site is growing rapidly. In February 2001 it consisted of two or three HTML pages and about five downloadable files. Currently (March 2003) this site has over 150,000 HTML pages and over 45,000 megabytes of downloadable files! By Subscribing  to the newsletter (you can of course unsubscribe anytime) you will be advised from time to time on what has been added to the site. More importantly, you will also be the first to know if we find a bug in a module. You can subscribe from the main page or the downloads page.

All modules have the same common format:

#ID TAB BOOK# TAB CHAPTER# TAB VERSE# TAB NARRATION

ID - Sequential number (Integer) beginning at 1
BOOK - The book of the Bible (1 for Genesis, 2 for Exodus etc)
CHAPTER - The chapter Number
VERSE - Verse Number
NARRATION - The text. NOTE Text may contain double quotes in some Translations.

Example from Genesis 1 (JPS) Bible
1 1 1 1 IN THE beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 1 1 2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
3 1 1 3 And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light.

You don't need to install the BibleDatabase modules to gain access to the module files. If you have Winzip or WinRAR (or similar), right click on the module and open it. Most modules are a single text file preceded with b_ e.g. b_kjv.txt for the King James.

Most people will use MS Access or something similar. Simply import the BibleDatabase text file as a TAB separated file without any text separators. I.e. without "quotes" around the text. If your application won't be coerced into doing this, you can import directly into an application like MS EXCEL and then save the file as a standard CSV (or whatever) file.

The Bibles on this website do not belong to us. We are not Bible Translators (although we do work closely with some) but merely facilitators in the sense that we make what we can find available for free. There are strings attached to certain Bibles and you would do well to know about these.

Please note that some of the Modules on this site are subject to Copyright. That's right, some folks make big bucks out selling Bibles. This is not the place to discuss the merits or evil of this. Suffice it to say different levels of Copyright apply to different Translations. For example, we may not distribute certain Bibles at all - these are password protected - whilst others may be distributed provided they are not sold for profit.

If you are planning to produce commercial Bible Software, please make sure you comply with the terms of copyright where they apply. On the other hand, if you plan on freeware, you must still publish the Copyright information next to the download link where applicable.

Lastly, please note that although we believe the Copyright information published on this site is accurate, we cannot be held responsible if information is incorrect. If in doubt, please go to the referring website and ask the folk there yourself before you carte blanche start marketing your software with these Bibles.

If you have any problems or questions please leave a message at the Help Desk and I'll get back to you.