About this library
This library exists because scripture should not cost money to read. Most free Bible websites today are paid for with ads, with email signup walls, or with a "premium" tier that gates the better tools behind a paywall. We believe a different model is possible.
Free Scripture is a project of Hope for Americans, a ministry of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Flagstaff, Arizona. We pay the hosting bill ourselves. There are no ads on this site, ever. There is no account required and no tracking. We are not collecting your data. We are not building a profile of you. We are not going to sell anything to you.
Every text in this library is in the public domain or is freely licensed for redistribution. Where a text is copyrighted (such as most modern English Bible translations), we do not host it. We will tell you so plainly and link out to a place where you can read it.
What is here today, and what is coming
The first phase of this library focuses on the King James Version of the Christian Bible, in its standard 1769 revision, together with the Apocrypha as it appeared in the original 1611 edition. The KJV is in the public domain in the United States and most of the world. It is, by a wide margin, the single most-read English Bible in human history. The Apocrypha — sometimes called the Deuterocanonical Books — has been read in Lutheran Bibles for nearly five centuries, and was included in the 1611 King James Bible as a separate section between the Old and New Testaments.
One small note about the Apocrypha as it stands today: it is sourced from two different public-domain digital editions stitched together. Books 1 Esdras through 2 Maccabees come from the Scrollmapper Deuterocanonical Project, while the Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch chapter 6 in the 1611 King James arrangement) comes from the Scrollmapper Bible Databases KJVA dataset. Both preserve the 1611 King James translation.
In future phases, we plan to add the World English Bible, the American Standard Version, and texts from other faith traditions, beginning with the Quran in public-domain English translation.
What this library is not
This is a reading library, not a study tool. We do not offer commentary, concordances, or cross-references. There are excellent tools elsewhere for that work. We are not a comparative-religion site. We do not argue which scripture is true. We do not offer reading plans, friend feeds, streak counters, or notifications. The goal here is simpler: a single warm room where the words can be read.
Source texts
The KJV canonical text on this site comes from public-domain digital editions, principally the aruljohn/Bible-kjv repository on GitHub, with verification against the openbible.com KJV text. The Apocrypha text comes from two public-domain sources combined: books 1 Esdras through 2 Maccabees from the Scrollmapper Deuterocanonical Project (2024 branch), and the Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch ch 6) from the Scrollmapper Bible Databases KJVA dataset (2025 branch). Both preserve the 1611 King James translation. If you find an error, please write to us at hello@hopeforamericans.net.
Stewardship
This project is a public good. It is American-stewarded because we believe a project this culturally significant should be built and maintained here. It is free because we believe scripture should not cost money. If you would like to help us keep it free, we welcome support at our support page, but you owe us nothing for the use of this library.
Built carefully, in Flagstaff Arizona at 7,000 feet.