Bible XML Parser

A Python package for parsing Bible texts in various XML formats (USFX, OSIS, ZEFANIA). This package provides both direct parsing and database-backed approaches for handling Bible data in your Python applications.

Features

• 📖 Parse Bible texts in multiple formats (USFX, OSIS, ZEFANIA)
• 🔍 Automatic format detection
• 🚀 Memory-efficient streaming XML parsing using defusedxml
• 🗄️ SQLite database caching for improved performance
• 🔎 Full-text search functionality (FTS5)
• 📝 Bible reference parsing - Parse references like "John 3:16-18" or "Genesis 1:1-2:3"
• 🔒 Secure XML parsing (protected against XXE attacks)
• 📝 Type hints throughout for better IDE support
• 🐍 Python 3.8+ support

Installation

pip install bible-xml-parser

Development Installation

git clone https://github.com/Omarzintan/bible_parser_python.git
cd bible_parser_python
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Quick Start

Direct Parsing Approach

Parse a Bible file directly without database caching:

from bible_parser import BibleParser

# Parse from file (format auto-detected)
parser = BibleParser('path/to/bible.xml')

# Or parse from string with explicit format
xml_content = open('bible.xml').read()
parser = BibleParser.from_string(xml_content, format='USFX')

# Iterate over books
for book in parser.books:
    print(f"{book.title} ({book.id})")
    print(f"  Chapters: {len(book.chapters)}")
    print(f"  Verses: {len(book.verses)}")

# Or iterate over verses directly
for verse in parser.verses:
    print(f"{verse.book_id} {verse.chapter_num}:{verse.num} - {verse.text}")

Database Approach (Recommended for Production)

For better performance, use the database approach:

from bible_parser import BibleRepository

# Create repository
repo = BibleRepository(xml_path='path/to/bible.xml', format='USFX')

# Initialize database (only needed once)
repo.initialize('my_bible.db')

# Get all books
books = repo.get_books()
for book in books:
    print(f"{book.title} ({book.id})")

# Get verses from a specific chapter
verses = repo.get_verses('gen', 1)  # Genesis chapter 1
for verse in verses:
    print(f"{verse.num}. {verse.text}")

# Get a specific verse
verse = repo.get_verse('jhn', 3, 16)  # John 3:16
if verse:
    print(verse.text)

# Search for verses containing specific text
results = repo.search_verses('love')
print(f"Found {len(results)} verses containing 'love'")

# Don't forget to close
repo.close()

Using Context Manager

from bible_parser import BibleRepository

with BibleRepository(xml_path='bible.xml') as repo:
    repo.initialize('my_bible.db')
    
    # Use the repository
    verses = repo.get_verses('mat', 5)  # Matthew chapter 5
    for verse in verses:
        print(f"{verse.num}. {verse.text}")
    
    # Search
    results = repo.search_verses('faith hope love')
    for verse in results:
        print(f"{verse.book_id} {verse.chapter_num}:{verse.num}")

# Database automatically closed

Bible Reference Parsing

Parse Bible references in various formats and retrieve verses:

from bible_parser import BibleReferenceFormatter, BibleRepository

with BibleRepository(xml_path='bible.xml') as repo:
    repo.initialize('bible.db')
    
    # Parse a simple verse reference
    ref = BibleReferenceFormatter.parse("John 3:16", repo)
    print(f"Book: {ref.book_id}, Chapter: {ref.chapter_num}, Verse: {ref.verse_num}")
    
    # Get verses directly (convenience method)
    verses = BibleReferenceFormatter.get_verses_from_reference("John 3:16-18", repo)
    for verse in verses:
        print(f"{verse.chapter_num}:{verse.num} - {verse.text}")
    
    # Extract first verse from complex references
    first = BibleReferenceFormatter.get_first_verse_in_reference("Genesis 1:1-2:3")
    print(first)  # "Genesis 1:1"
    
    # Validate book names
    is_valid = BibleReferenceFormatter.is_valid_book("John")  # True

Supported Reference Formats:

• Single verse: "John 3:16"
• Verse range: "John 3:16-18"
• Multi-chapter: "Genesis 1:1-2:3"
• Chapter only: "Psalm 23"
• Multi-chapter range: "Ruth 1-4"
• Complex patterns: "John 3:16,18,20-22"
• Semicolon-separated: "Genesis 1:1-3;2:3-4"
• With descriptions: "1 Samuel 17:1-58 (David and Goliath)"

Supported Formats

USFX (Unified Standard Format XML)

<usfx>
  <book id="gen">
    <c id="1"/>
    <v id="1">In the beginning...</v>
  </book>
</usfx>

OSIS (Open Scripture Information Standard)

<osis>
  <osisText>
    <div type="book" osisID="Gen">
      <verse osisID="Gen.1.1">In the beginning...</verse>
    </div>
  </osisText>
</osis>

Zefania XML

<XMLBIBLE>
  <BIBLEBOOK bnumber="1" bname="Genesis">
    <CHAPTER cnumber="1">
      <VERS vnumber="1">In the beginning...</VERS>
    </CHAPTER>
  </BIBLEBOOK>
</XMLBIBLE>

API Reference

BibleParser

Main parser class with automatic format detection.

Methods:

• __init__(source, format=None) - Initialize parser
• from_string(xml_content, format=None) - Create from XML string
• books - Property that yields Book objects
• verses - Property that yields Verse objects

BibleRepository

Database-backed repository for efficient Bible data access.

Methods:

• __init__(xml_path=None, xml_string=None, format=None) - Initialize repository
• initialize(database_name) - Create/open database
• get_books() - Get all books
• get_verses(book_id, chapter_num) - Get verses from a chapter
• get_verse(book_id, chapter_num, verse_num) - Get a specific verse
• get_chapter_count(book_id) - Get number of chapters in a book
• search_verses(query, limit=100) - Full-text search
• close() - Close database connection

BibleReferenceFormatter

Utility class for parsing Bible references.

Methods:

• parse(reference, bible_repository) - Parse a reference string into a BibleReference object
• get_verses_from_reference(reference, bible_repository) - Parse and retrieve verses in one call
• get_first_verse_in_reference(reference) - Extract the first verse from a complex reference
• is_valid_book(book_name) - Check if a book name is valid

Data Models

Verse:

• num (int) - Verse number
• chapter_num (int) - Chapter number
• text (str) - Verse text
• book_id (str) - Book identifier

Chapter:

• num (int) - Chapter number
• verses (List[Verse]) - List of verses

Book:

• id (str) - Book identifier (e.g., 'gen', 'mat')
• num (int) - Book number
• title (str) - Book title (e.g., 'Genesis', 'Matthew')
• chapters (List[Chapter]) - List of chapters
• verses (List[Verse]) - Flat list of all verses

BibleReference:

• book_id (str) - Book identifier
• chapter_num (int) - Starting chapter number
• verse_num (int) - Starting verse number (None for chapter-only)
• end_chapter_num (int) - Ending chapter for multi-chapter ranges
• end_verse_num (int) - Ending verse for verse ranges
• is_chapter_only (bool) - True if reference is chapter-only
• additional_verses (List[VerseRange]) - Additional verses for complex patterns

VerseRange:

• chapter_num (int) - Chapter number (optional)
• start_verse (int) - Starting verse number
• end_verse (int) - Ending verse number (None for single verse)

Performance Considerations

Direct Parsing

Pros:

• Simple implementation
• No database setup required
• Always uses the latest source files

Cons:

• CPU and memory intensive
• Slower for repeated access
• Repeated parsing on each run

Database Approach

Pros:

• Much faster access once data is loaded
• Lower memory usage during queries
• Efficient full-text search with FTS5
• Works offline without re-parsing

Cons:

• Initial setup time
• Requires disk space
• Additional complexity

Security

This package uses defusedxml for secure XML parsing, protecting against:

• XXE (XML External Entity) attacks - Prevents reading local files or making network requests
• Billion Laughs attack - Prevents exponential entity expansion
• Quadratic blowup - Prevents memory exhaustion

All database queries use parameterized statements to prevent SQL injection.

Examples

See the examples/ directory for complete working examples:

• direct_parsing.py - Direct parsing example
• database_approach.py - Database caching example
• search_example.py - Full-text search example

Testing

Run tests with pytest:

pytest

With coverage:

pytest --cov=bible_parser --cov-report=term-missing

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by the Ruby bible_parser library
• Flutter bible_parser_flutter implementation
• Bible XML files from the open-bibles repository

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

Support

• 📫 Issues: GitHub Issues
• 📖 Documentation: GitHub Wiki