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Bible Gateway API: Search the Bible

Finds Bible verses on Bible Gateway that contain the search words or relate to a topic. Returns the verse text and links in Bible order.

biblegateway.com (opens in a new tab)Version 1ReadNo sign-inVerified Nov 2, 2026

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bible Gateway.

Inputs

Values from the run on Oct 23, 2026, shown under Output.

Part optionalpart

Part of the Bible to search, for example "new_testament".

old_testament

One of whole_bible, old_testament, new_testament. Default whole_bible.

Query, requiredquery

Words or a topic to search for, for example "love is patient".

forgiveness

Max Results optionalmax_results

Maximum verses to return, for example 25.

10

Whole number from 1 to 100. Default 25.

Translation optionaltranslation

Bible translation name or abbreviation, for example "King James Version" or "KJV".

King James Version

Default NIV.

Output

From a run on Oct 23, 2026.
{  "verses": [    {      "link": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20130%3A4&version=KJV",      "text": "But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.",      "reference": "Psalm 130:4"    },    {      "link": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%209%3A9&version=KJV",      "text": "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;",      "reference": "Daniel 9:9"    }  ],  "total_matches": 2}
Price
1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free.
Method
biblegateway.com/search_bible
Returns
total matches; verses with reference, text, link

Use it from your agent

Give your agent this line. It reads SKILL.md, gets a Fous API key and connects the Fous MCP server. Its run then takes the method biblegateway.com/search_bible with the inputs above.

Ask your agent

  • Find every verse that mentions the phrase "love is patient" in the New Testament, using the NIV, and show me the first 10 results with their references.
  • Search the whole Bible in the King James Version for verses about forgiveness and list the total number of matches.
  • I need Old Testament verses containing the word "shepherd" in the ESV, capped at 15 results, sorted in Bible order.
  • On biblegateway.com, look up verses on faithfulness in the New Living Translation and give me up to 50 results with links.
  • Pull up New Testament passages that relate to the topic of anxiety, using the NIV translation, and return the verse text along with each reference.
  • Reads up to one chapter of a Bible passage in a chosen Bible Gateway translation. Licensed translations may show only part of the requested passage.

    biblegateway.com/get_passage
  • Gets Bible Gateway's Verse of the Day in the requested translation (NIV by default). The date is the one Bible Gateway assigns, which may differ from the local date.

    biblegateway.com/get_verse_of_the_day
  • Finds Quran.com verses matching a word or topic, with Arabic text and a translation in the selected language, in Quran.com search order.

    quran.com/search_quran
  • Finds free public-domain Project Gutenberg books by title, author or topic, with authors, languages, subjects, recent downloads, and reading and download links. Public-domain status is based on the United States.

    gutenberg.org/search_free_books
  • Finds poems matching a topic or occasion, or poems by a named poet, in Poetry Foundation search order. Older magazine poems without public text have no first two lines; untagged poems have no themes or occasions.

    poetryfoundation.org/search_poems
  • Searches Britannica for encyclopedia articles and returns their titles, short descriptions, article links and images when shown. Excludes other search formats such as videos, questions and stories.

    britannica.com/search_articles
  • Finds Open Library books by search words, optionally narrowed by author and subject, sorted by relevance or publication age. Returns work-level results; free_online means at least one edition is marked public or borrowable, not that a loan is available now.

    openlibrary.org/search_books
  • Searches The Verge articles by keyword, with optional date filters, sorting and pagination. Only the first 100 matches from The Verge search are used.

    theverge.com/search_news