Truth you can trace
Sources & credits
Every source behind Bubble Bible, with its license. Where a fact isn’t straight from the Bible, history, original languages, context, you can see where we got it. Our own explainers are written in our words and cite these sources; we show the sources, and each Bible quotation traces to the verse.
Bible translations
The public-domain and openly-licensed Bibles we display in full.
- Berean Standard Bible (BSB)CC02023
A modern-English Bible with every word tagged to its Hebrew/Greek original.
Bible Hub
- King James Version (KJV)Public Domain1611 / 1769
The classic 1611 English Bible, in its standardized 1769 form.
- American Standard Version (ASV)Public Domain1901
A precise, formal early-1900s American revision.
- World English Bible (WEB)Public Domainongoing
A free modern-English update of the ASV. (“WEB” is an eBible.org trademark; the text is public domain.)
Rainbow Missions
- Literal Standard Version (LSV)CC BY-SA2020
A modern, very literal word-for-word translation.
Covenant Press
- Free Bible Version (FBV)CC BY-SA2018
A clear modern-English translation from the Hebrew and Greek.
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher
- Brenton's English Septuagint (LXX)Public Domain1851
The first full English of the Greek Old Testament, the Bible the NT writers often quoted.
Sir L. C. L. Brenton
Original languages & word tools
The tagged Hebrew/Greek texts, lexicons, and people/places data behind tap-a-word study.
- STEPBible Hebrew & Greek texts + lexiconsCC BY
The word-tagged Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament, with plain-language meanings for every word.
STEPBible / Tyndale House, Cambridge
- Strong's numbersPublic Domain1890
The standard numbering that links each English word to its original. (Carried inside the tagged texts.)
James Strong
- TIPNR: Bible people & placesCC BY
Tells apart every distinct person and place in the Bible (e.g. the many men named Joseph).
STEPBible / Tyndale House
- Jastrow's Dictionary (Targumim, Talmud & Midrash)Public Domain1903
The standard dictionary for rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic words; powers the Aramaic word taps.
Marcus Jastrow
- Nave's Topical BibleCC BY
A subject index gathering the verses on any topic (~5,300 topics).
Orville J. Nave (1897); data by Brady Stephenson
- Hitchcock's Bible Names DictionaryCC BY
The meanings of biblical proper names (“Daniel: judgment of God”).
Roswell D. Hitchcock (1869); data by Brady Stephenson
- Bible cross-references + OT-in-NT quotationsCC BY
The links between related verses, and every place the NT quotes the OT.
openbible.info (from Torrey's Treasury of Scripture Knowledge)
Reference works
The Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias.
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)Public Domain1915
Our headline reference, a large, multi-author Bible encyclopedia (~9,300 A–Z entries).
James Orr, general editor
- Easton's Bible DictionaryPublic Domain1897
A classic, compact single-author Bible dictionary (kept as a dated secondary).
Matthew George Easton
Historical & Jewish sources
Primary and classic works about the world of the Bible.
- Josephus: Antiquities, Wars, Against Apion, LifePublic Domain
The first-century Jewish historian's account of the period, our chief non-biblical witness.
Flavius Josephus, trans. William Whiston (1737)
- The Church Fathers (Ante-Nicene + Nicene & Post-Nicene)Public Domain1885–1896
The writings of the early church (Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, Chrysostom…), the complete 38-volume set.
eds. Schaff, Wace, Roberts, Donaldson & Coxe
- R. H. Charles: Apocrypha & PseudepigraphaPublic Domain1913
The “between-the-Testaments” Jewish writings themselves (1 Enoch, Jubilees, the Maccabees, Sirach…).
R. H. Charles, ed.
- Schürer: History of the Jewish People in the Time of JesusPublic Domain1885–1890
A foundational reference on the Second-Temple period (complete, 5 volumes).
Emil Schürer
- Edersheim: Life & Times of Jesus, Sketches, The TemplePublic Domain1874–1883
Detailed studies of Jewish daily life, the Temple, and the Gospel world.
Alfred Edersheim
- Philo of Alexandria: The Works of PhiloPublic Domain
The complete works of the Jewish philosopher who was a contemporary of Jesus.
trans. C. D. Yonge (1854–55)
- The Jewish EncyclopediaPublic Domain1901–1906
Landmark early-1900s Jewish scholarship, selected NT-era articles (sects, rulers, Temple, festivals).
eds. Singer, Adler et al.
- The Mishnah (all 63 tractates)CC BYc. AD 200
The foundational rabbinic law code, the “tradition of the elders.”
trans. Dr. Joshua Kulp, via Sefaria
- The Babylonian Talmud: En Jacob (aggadah)Public Domain1916–1921
A public-domain selection of the Talmud's famous stories and ethical teachings.
trans. Rabbi S. H. Glick
- The Targums (Onkelos, Pseudo-Jonathan, Jonathan on the Prophets)Public Domain
The ancient Aramaic translations of the Torah and Prophets, with public-domain English.
Aramaic via Sefaria; Etheridge / Pauli English where shipped
Bubble Bible's own explainers
Original explainers written in our own words, citing the sources above. The facts are attributed to the named sources and scholars; the synthesis is ours.
- Church history (after the New Testament)Our synthesis
Constantine → Nicaea → the 1054 split → the Reformation → the branches today. Backbone: Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church (PD).
- The Dead Sea ScrollsOur synthesis
What the scrolls are and why they matter, the 1947 discovery, the Great Isaiah Scroll, what they do and don't change.
- Why there are different BiblesOur synthesis
The translations explainer. Backbone: the ISBE (1915, PD); modern versions described from each publisher's stated philosophy.
- Is the Bible reliable? (the evidence)Our synthesis
The classic lines of evidence and the honest counter-case to each; a neutral “how old is the earth?” note.
- What the spade found (archaeology)Our synthesis
The major finds that touch the Bible, finds-are-facts kept apart from what they're claimed to prove.
- Life of Jesus & “their world”Our synthesis
The life and times of Jesus, the empires, law & covenant, the intertestamental period, and daily-life cards, from the sources above.
How we handle sources
- We show our sources, not a black box. On contested points we present every major view, attribute each, and pick no winner.
- We credit the licensed sources by name. The STEPBible texts, openbible.info cross-references, Nave’s & Hitchcock’s data, and the Kulp Mishnah are CC BY; the LSV and FBV are CC BY-SA, these require attribution, and we give it here.
- We only display what we’re free to. We can describe any work, but we display or quote at length only public-domain or openly-licensed text; copyrighted Bibles (NIV, ESV, NASB…) need a licence to reproduce.
- “Our synthesis” means our own words, not our own facts. Our explainers are written by us from the established, named sources above (and the Bible), the facts come from those sources; we write the explanation in plain English and say where it came from. It is not opinion, and not copied from any one book. Each explainer names its sources, and every Bible quotation traces to the verse.
Bubble Bible reads a curated slice of a research library; this is the full set of sources whose content can reach the app. Reading about translations? See why there are different Bibles.