DavidCBaines/ebible_corpus

eBible Parallel Corpus

A verse-aligned parallel corpus of 1253 Bible translations across 997 languages, prepared from publicly redistributable texts hosted by eBible.org.

Generated: 2026-05-04

Dataset Description

Each row corresponds to one verse reference from the standard 41,899-verse reference list (vref.txt). Every translation occupies one column, identified by its translationId. Rows are positionally aligned: row N in every translation column refers to the same verse.

• Verse count: 41899
• Translations: 1253
• Languages: 997

Dataset Structure

Data Files

File	Description
main.parquet	Wide-format parallel corpus: one row per verse, one column per translation
metadata.parquet	Per-translation metadata: language, licence, coverage, versification

Fields in main.parquet

Column	Type	Description
vref	string	Verse reference, e.g. GEN 1:1
<translationId>	string	Translated text for that verse; "" = untranslated; <range> = verse merged into preceding range

Fields in metadata.parquet

Column	Description
translationId	Unique identifier matching column names in main.parquet
languageCode	ISO 639-3 language code
languageName	Language name in the vernacular
languageNameInEnglish	Language name in English
dialect	Dialect, if applicable
title	Full title of the translation
shortTitle	Abbreviated title
description	Description of the translation
textDirection	ltr or rtl
script	Writing script (e.g. Latin, Arabic)
inScript	Whether the text uses the language's native script
OTbooks / OTchapters / OTverses	Old Testament coverage
NTbooks / NTchapters / NTverses	New Testament coverage
DCbooks / DCchapters / DCverses	Deuterocanonical coverage
inferred_versification	Versification number inferred for this translation
licence_Licence_Type	Licence type (e.g. Creative Commons)
licence_Licence_Version	Licence version (e.g. 4.0)
licence_CC_Licence_Link	URL to the CC licence deed
licence_Copyright_Holder	Copyright holder
licence_Copyright_Years	Copyright year(s)
licence_Translation_by	Translating organisation or individual
licence_Vernacular_Title	Title as stated in the licence file
Copyright	Copyright statement from eBible.org
UpdateDate	Date last updated on eBible.org
sourceDate	Date of the source text
publicationURL	Publication page on eBible.org

Loading the Dataset

from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("your-org/ebible-parallel", split="train")

# Access a specific translation
kjv = ds["eng-engKJV"]

# Filter to New Testament
nt_start = ds.filter(lambda row: row["vref"].startswith("MAT"))

Licence Breakdown

All translations in this dataset are redistributable as confirmed by eBible.org. Individual licence terms vary by translation. For per-translation licence details — including licence type, version, CC link, copyright holder, and translating organisation — load metadata.parquet.

Citation

If you use this dataset in your work, please cite David Baines, SIL, PABNLP:

@misc{ebible,
  title  = {eBible Parallel Corpus},
  author = {David Baines SIL Global PABNLP},
  url    = {https://pabnlp.org/},
  year   = 2026-05-04
}