kjv
Search and display King James Bible verses
TLDR
Display books
Open a specific book
Open a specific chapter of a book
Open a specific verse of a specific chapter of a book
Open a specific range of verses of a book's chapter
Display a specific range of verses of a book from different chapters
Display all verses that match a pattern
Display all verses that match a pattern in a specific book
SYNOPSIS
kjv [-h] [-v] [-b] [book [chapter [verse]]]
PARAMETERS
-h
Display brief help message and exit
-v
Print program version number and exit
-b
List all available Bible books (1-66)
DESCRIPTION
kjv is a lightweight, command-line tool for reading the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible on Linux systems. It provides quick access to Bible verses without needing a graphical interface, ideal for servers or terminal users.
Invoke it with a book name (e.g., "John"), chapter, and verse for precise lookup, like kjv John 3 16. Without arguments, it displays Genesis 1:1 by default. Use -b to list all 66 books. The tool reads from pre-installed text files, typically in /usr/share/kjv, parsing them efficiently for instant results.
Perfect for scripting, quick references, or embedding in dotfiles. It's minimalist, with no dependencies beyond standard libc, making it ubiquitous in distros like Debian/Ubuntu via the kjv package.
CAVEATS
Requires KJV data files (install kjv package); book names case-sensitive; no search or cross-references; limited to English KJV.
DEFAULT BEHAVIOR
Without args, shows Genesis 1:1.
Book IDs: 1=Genesis, 66=Revelation.
DATA FILES
Uses plain-text files in /usr/share/kjv/text; each book in format 01.txt (Genesis).
HISTORY
Released around 2002 as open-source utility; maintained sporadically; included in Debian since early 2000s for console Bible access.
