Sources and licences
Every edition, named.
What each text is, where it came from, and under what terms it is shown. Rights holders can request changes at Contact@TheDivineReader.com.
The Torah (Judaism)
All 187 chapters of the five books.
- Translation
- JPS 1917 (The Holy Scriptures) — Jewish Publication Society (1917)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- Sefaria
- Note
- The 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation, in the public domain.
- Original text
- Hebrew (Miqra according to the Masorah) — Masoretic text, Leningrad Codex tradition
- Language
- Hebrew
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Source
- Sefaria
The Bible (Christianity)
All 66 books and 1,189 chapters.
- Translation
- King James Version — Church of England translators, 1611 (1769)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Public domain (outside the United Kingdom)
- Source
- King James Version, 1769 standard text
- Note
- Translators' marginal notes are shown as separate translator's notes, never as scripture.
The Qur'an (Islam)
26 of 114 surahs. The remaining surahs will be added as they are checked verse-by-verse.
- Translation
- Pickthall (English) — Marmaduke Pickthall (1930)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Public domain in the United States
- Source
- The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), via quran-api
- Note
- A translation is an interpretation; Muslims regard only the Arabic as the Qur'an itself.
- Original text
- Arabic (Uthmani script, Hafs)
- Language
- Arabic
- Licence
- Tanzil Project terms — text reproduced unmodified with attribution
- Source
- Tanzil Uthmani text via quran-api
Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism)
Selections — about 240 of roughly 700 shlokas. Passage numbers do not correspond to traditional verse numbers.
- Translation
- Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial — Sir Edwin Arnold (1885)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- The Song Celestial, or Bhagavad-Gîtâ (1885)
- Note
- A Victorian verse rendering; passage numbers are Divine Reader's, not the Sanskrit shloka numbers.
The Tipitaka (selections) (Buddhism)
Seven short readings. The Pali Canon runs to tens of volumes; this is an introduction, not the canon.
- Translation
- Plain-English retelling — Divine Reader editorial retelling, after public-domain and free-distribution translations (2026)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Retelling © Divine Reader; underlying translations acknowledged on the Sources page
- Note
- These are condensed retellings for orientation, not scholarly translations. Passage numbers are editorial.
Tao Te Ching (Taoism)
All 81 chapters. Chapter 1 restored from Legge's text (the previous file duplicated chapter 62).
- Translation
- James Legge (1891) — James Legge (1891)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 39 (Project Gutenberg #216)
The Kojiki (selections) (Shinto)
Eight condensed episodes from a much longer chronicle.
- Translation
- Condensed English retelling — Divine Reader editorial retelling, drawing on Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1882 translation (2026)
- Language
- English
- Licence
- Retelling © Divine Reader; Chamberlain (1882) is public domain
- Note
- Condensed retellings for orientation, not a complete translation.
Corrections log
| Date | Text | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-15 | Torah | English replaced with the public-domain JPS 1917 translation (was the 2023 Gender-Sensitive Edition, licensed for non-commercial use only). |
| 2026-10-15 | Qur'an | English replaced with Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 translation, public domain in the United States (Yusuf Ali's 1934 translation is still under copyright in the US). |
| 2026-10-15 | Sikh Daily Prayers | Taken offline until the English translation's rights are confirmed. |
| 2026-09-12 | Tao Te Ching | Chapter 1 restored from Legge's text; the previous file duplicated chapter 62. |
| 2026-09-12 | Sikh Daily Prayers | Collection renamed from “Guru Granth Sahib” to “Sikh Daily Prayers (Nitnem)”. Jaap Sahib and Chaupai Sahib are now attributed to the Dasam Granth; Japji Sahib and Anand Sahib to the Guru Granth Sahib. |
| 2026-09-12 | Torah | Text re-sourced from Sefaria so that JPS footnotes are separated from the verses; Hebrew Masoretic text added alongside. |
| 2026-09-12 | Bible (KJV) | Marginal notes separated from verse text into translator's notes; books placed in canonical order; stray line breaks and spacing artefacts removed. |
| 2026-09-12 | Qur'an | Surahs placed in canonical order with surah numbers; Bismillah shown as an unnumbered opening formula; Arabic Uthmani text added alongside. 26 of 114 surahs — labelled as incomplete. |
| 2026-09-12 | Bhagavad Gita, Tipitaka, Kojiki | Labelled as selections or retellings; chapters placed in order; translators named; Gutenberg footnote markers removed from the Gita. |
| 2026-09-12 | Kitáb-i-Aqdas | Removed from the library listing until an authorised text is available; listed under Coming soon. |