A complete Bible website in one small PHP upload.
Try it risk-free in under a minute. Upload the zip, visit /setup, type a name, and your Bible website is live. If it's not for you, delete the folder — nothing changes. Works on standard shared hosting with PHP 7.4+.
You can have your Bible website live before you finish your cup of coffee.
Live Demo · Download · Install Guide
Beautiful typography, cross-references, topics, and reading plans in one lightweight PHP install.
94–99 mobile Lighthouse on real chapter pages across US, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
95 topics connected by the verses they share — structural doctrine, Tier A study themes, and Tier B pastoral care. Open the interactive map →
Perfect for church websites, ministries, Christian blogs, Bible study apps, and any PHP site that needs a complete Bible without rebuilding scripture infrastructure.
Adding a Bible to a website sounds simple until you start.
First you need the text. So you find a SQL dump or CSV somewhere, import it, and immediately discover:
- Verses are missing — Psalm 119 cuts off at verse 150, 3 John is incomplete
- Pilcrow marks (
¶) and zero-width characters scattered through the text - Double spaces, curly quotes mixed with straight quotes, inconsistent punctuation
- Book names don't match across translations — is it "Psalms" or "Psalm"? "1 John" or "I John"?
- The schema is different for every source — some split book/chapter/verse into columns, some mash them into one string
So you normalize all of that. Then you need a second translation. Different source, different schema, different encoding problems. Repeat for every translation you want to support.
Now you have clean data and a normalized database. You still need:
- A reference parser that handles
John 3:16,1 Cor 13,Rev 21:1-4,Jn 3,1Cor13,Ps 23,Gén 1:1,Jean 3:16,Römer 8— every abbreviation, shorthand, numbered book format, and foreign book name your users might type - Full-text search that actually feels instant across 31,000+ verses
- Cross-references linking scripture across 66 books (and displaying them without overwhelming the reader)
- Reading plans with progress tracking and day-by-day navigation
- Topic modeling that shows how theological ideas relate to each other
- Bookmarks, highlights, notes, verse sharing, cloud sync, dark mode
- Offline support, automatic updates, mobile layout, URL routing, page speed
That's months of edge cases and data plumbing. Most projects stall somewhere between the database import and the reference parser.
You do not need to build any of this.
BibleBridge gives you 11 full Bible translations, cross-references, search, topics, and guided reading plans — already cleaned, normalized, and served through an API. No database on your end. No data imports. No parsing pilcrows at 2 AM.
Upload one small PHP package, visit /setup, and your website instantly has:
- 11 Bible translations, cleaned and normalized — customize which ones appear in settings
- Smart verse and phrase search across 31,000+ verses
- Cross-references with explanations of why verses relate
- Guided reading plans with progress tracking
- Topic Explorer with 89 connected theological paths
- Notes, highlights, and bookmarks
- Cloud sync with no login
- Verse sharing (text and image cards)
- Offline chapter caching
- Automatic remote updates
- 9 color themes — choose accent and navigation colors in settings
- Dark mode and mobile support
The full Bible website installs in under 1 MB.
Option A — Download
- Download the latest release
- Upload to your web host
Option B — Clone
git clone https://github.com/ZeroCoolZiemer/biblebridge.git- Upload the folder to your web host
Then:
3. Upload into its own folder on your host (e.g. yoursite.com/biblebridge/) — don't merge it into your site root
4. Visit yoursite.com/biblebridge/setup — type a name and you're done
5. Your Bible website is live
Everything connects automatically — no signup, no API keys, no configuration. When your church grows, upgrade for higher limits.
Also available as a WordPress plugin.
- PHP 7.4+
mbstringextension (most hosts have this — a polyfill is included as fallback)mod_rewrite(Apache) or equivalent URL rewriting- Outbound HTTPS allowed
- No database required
Does it work on shared hosting? Yes, if your host supports PHP 7.4+, mod_rewrite, and outbound HTTPS. Most do — check with your provider if you're unsure.
Do I need a database? No. BibleBridge connects to the BibleBridge API for scripture data. Nothing to install or maintain on your end.
Is it free? The free plan covers most small churches and personal sites. If your site grows, affordable plans start at $9/month.
/setup returns 404?
Your host doesn't have mod_rewrite enabled. Try visiting yoursite.com/biblebridge/setup.php directly instead. If that works, ask your host to enable URL rewriting.
Blank page after install? Check that your PHP version is 7.4+. Check your host's error log for details.
mbstring error on install?
A polyfill is bundled as a fallback, but enabling the native mbstring PHP extension is recommended. Most hosts have it — check your control panel or ask support.
Search not working? Make sure your server can make outbound HTTPS requests. Some hosts block this by default.
Pages return 404 after the homepage loads?
BibleBridge needs mod_rewrite (Apache) or equivalent URL rewriting enabled.
Moved to a different folder? Clear your browser cache. Old links may still point to the previous location.
GPLv3. See LICENSE for details.