What is bibel?

bibel (bee•bell) isn’t another all‑purpose Bible app. It’s a small CLI/TUI utility with one main job: showing today’s reading from the Gospels when you open your terminal. Think of it as a MOTD for Scripture: just 12 verses a day, based on the calendar, without menus, search, or bloat.

That is just the default configuration, most of which can be changed to suit one’s preferences.

How do I use bibel?

bibel [OPTIONS]...

By default, bibel shows an interactive TUI with today’s reading. The verses are selected by date: day of year * 12 verses, progressing through all four Gospels each day.

Options

-r, --reading        Reading mode: "evangelion" (four Gospels), "new_testament", 
                     "old_testament", "bible" (default: evangelion)
-p, --plain          Output plain text without formatting or TUI
-f, --formatted      Output formatted text with ANSI colours (no TUI)
-n, --numbered       Print each verse on a numbered line with verse number
-g, --paragraphs     Render pilcrows (¶) as blank lines instead of ignoring them
-l, --latin          Show time until Roman Catholic Easter instead of Orthodox
--generate-config    Generate a default configuration file and exit
-v, --verbose        Print additional runtime information to STDOUT

Examples

# Default TUI mode with interactive display (shows Orthodox Easter progress)
bibel

# Roman Catholic Easter progress bar instead of Orthodox
bibel --latin

# Plain text output
bibel --plain

# Formatted output with ANSI colours
bibel --formatted

# Numbered verses (each verse on its own line with verse number)
bibel --numbered

# Paragraph mode (pilcrows render as blank lines)
bibel --paragraphs

# Generate configuration file
bibel --generate-config

How does bibel work?

bibel reads Bible data from a JSON file (provided example: books/pol_nbg.json). It calculates today’s reading position by:

1. Getting the current day of year (1-366)
2. Multiplying by 12 verses per day: offset = (day_of_year - 1) * 12
3. Applying modulo with total Gospel verses (3779) to cycle yearly
4. Finding the corresponding verses in the Gospels

The program extends to the end of a chapter if less than 12 verses remain for the next day. Books 40-43 correspond to the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The TUI shows a progress bar counting down to the next Easter, with Orthodox Easter as default (calculated via Meeus Julian algorithm). Use -l/--latin for Roman Catholic Easter (Delambre and Butcher’s algorithm).

Configuration

bibel supports configuration via a TOML file at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bibel/config.toml (default: ~/.config/bibel/config.toml). macOS and Windows are also supported automatically (see here for more details). Settings include output mode, reading mode, border style, colours, and Easter type.

Generate a default configuration:

bibel --generate-config

How do I build bibel?

bibel is written in Go. External dependencies are bubbletea (TUI), lipgloss (styling), go-arg (argument parsing), viper (configuration), and xdg (XDG Base Directory support).

Build with:

go build ./cmd/bibel.go

And the Bible?

Though Bibles in the exact JSON format that bibel expects are not found lying around the web everywhere, I have compiled a collection of (mainly Protestant) Bibles in this exact JSON format over at the json_bibles repository. This has been helpfully provided by Bible SuperSearch.

Documentation

For more specific information, refer to the man page located at docs/bibel.1. It is recommended to put it in $MANPATH for easy access via man bibel on your Linux system.

Licence

This project is licensed under European Union Public Licence 1.2.