bible-mcp

Bible corpus MCP server: scripture, Greek/Hebrew interlinear data, cross-refs, semantic search.

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What it can do

    What data it sees

    Do you need an account

    No: the server works without sign-in

    Bible corpus MCP server: scripture, Greek/Hebrew interlinear data, cross-refs, semantic search.

    How to connect

    How to connect bible-mcp to Claude

    The server address to paste into Claude settings:

    https://bible-mcp-server.fly.dev/mcp

    1. Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
    2. Go to Settings → Connectors.
    3. Click Add custom connector.
    4. Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
    5. In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

    Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

    Authorization

    After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

    How to connect bible-mcp to ChatGPT

    The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

    https://bible-mcp-server.fly.dev/mcp

    1. Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
    2. Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
    3. Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
    4. Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
    5. Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
    6. In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

    OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

    Authorization

    On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

    How to connect bible-mcp to Cursor

    The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

    https://bible-mcp-server.fly.dev/mcp

    Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

    Manually:

    1. In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
    2. Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
    3. Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

    Authorization

    If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

    Server tool list (13)

    Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

    get_passageGet Bible text for a reference like 'John 3:16', 'John 3:16-18', 'Genesis 1', or 'Tobit 4:5' (Apocrypha requires version='WEB'). Versions: BSB, WEB.
    searchFull-text search (stemmed, ranked). Supports phrases in quotes, AND/OR/NOT, e.g. 'living water', 'faith AND works NOT law'. Optional book filter e.g. 'Psalms'. NOTE: porter stemming conflates related surface forms — 'desert' also matches 'deserted' and 'deserts' (as merits) in prose layers; quote exact phrases or add AND-terms to disambiguate.
    get_cross_referencesCross-references for a verse (OpenBible.info, ranked by community votes), with the target text included. E.g. reference='Romans 5:12'.
    get_entityLook up a biblical person, place, event, or people group by name (Theographic knowledge graph). Returns details and where they appear. entity_type optional: person | place | event | people_group.
    entities_in_passageList the people, places, and events linked to a verse or chapter, e.g. 'Genesis 14' or 'John 3:16'.
    compare_versionsShow a verse or short range in both BSB and WEB side by side.
    word_studyOriginal-language word study across the whole Bible. Query by Strong's number ('G26', 'H2617', zero-padding optional — 'H953' works), lemma (pointed or unpointed: 'חֶסֶד' or 'חסד', accented or bare Greek), Hebrew/Aramaic transliteration ('miqweh' finds מִקְוֶה, macrons optional), or English gloss ('lovingkindness'). Returns occurrence counts, gloss range, book distribution, a full scholarly lexicon entry for the top-matching word (BDB and/or Strong's for Hebrew/Aramaic, Abbott-Smith for Greek, when available — richer than the gloss, truncated to ~700 chars), and sample verses. NOTE: homographs are split by letter-suffixed Strong's variants (e.g. H4723 'hope' vs H4723a 'gathering of waters' — same written form) — when a gloss range looks too narrow for a word you suspect is richer, probe the lettered variants; the output lists every variant lemma it finds under your query. Gloss-keyed queries match substrings and may conflate lemmas — prefer Strong's or lemma queries for exact counts. language optional: grc | hbo | arc.
    get_interlinearWord-by-word original language for a verse or short range: surface form, lemma, Strong's, gloss, morphology (Hebrew/Aramaic OT, Greek NT). For OT verses also shows Septuagint Greek surface text where available (Swete edition — Genesis-Malachi plus Apocrypha, Theodotion Daniel/Susanna/Bel; no lemma/Strong's/ morphology in that source, surface form only). E.g. 'John 1:1' or 'Genesis 1:1-3'.
    read_workRead a prose work from the corpus by paragraph range. Works: CONFESSIONS (Augustine), IMITATION (à Kempis), PILGRIM (Bunyan), PRESENCE (Brother Lawrence), JULIAN (Julian of Norwich), ORTHODOXY (Chesterton), 1CLEMENT (Clement of Rome), BARNABAS (Epistle of Barnabas). Chapters = books/chapters of the work; use search(version=<WORK>) to find passages first, or corpus_info() for the full list.
    semantic_searchMeaning-based search across the whole corpus — scripture AND prose works — using embeddings, optionally fused with keyword search (hybrid, recommended). Finds passages about a theme even with no shared words, e.g. 'divine self-emptying', 'the soul's dark night'. kind optional: verse | window | paragraph.
    find_similarFind passages semantically similar to a given verse or prose paragraph ref — across scripture, Apocrypha, and the classics. E.g. 'Philippians 2:7' or 'JULIAN.27.2'. Powers parallel-finding across corpus layers.
    get_citationsWhere a Bible verse is cited by name in the patristic corpus, extracted from the translators' own footnotes (tier 1). E.g. reference='Ephesians 5:21'. Complements get_cross_references, which links scripture to scripture; this links patristic text to scripture. COVERAGE NOTE: footnote extraction has known recall gaps — an empty result is normal and does NOT mean the verse is uncited; full-text `search` within the patristic works is the thorough probe (verbatim quotations are regularly found that the footnote index missed).
    corpus_infoWhat's in the corpus: documents, layers, licenses, and counts.