kjv-compare

A command-line tool to compare Bible translations side by side and analyze their reading difficulty.

Supports 40+ translations, multiple readability strategies, caching, and both text and GUI output.

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What it does

• Fetches a Bible verse from multiple translations at once
• Scores each translation using readability formulas (Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG, and more)
• Finds the simplest and most complex verse for a given translation across the entire Bible
• Renders results as text or a bar chart GUI
• Caches results locally so repeated lookups are instant

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Stack

• Python, textstat, matplotlib (GUI output), sqlite (local cache)

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Setup

pip install textstat matplotlib

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Usage

Compare a verse across translations:

kjv-compare john3:16

Use a specific readability strategy:

kjv-compare john3:16 --strategy flesch_kincaid_grade
kjv-compare john3:16 --strategy gunning_fog

Show results as a bar chart:

kjv-compare john3:16 --output gui

Grade all verses for a translation (finds simplest and hardest):

kjv-compare --all-for kjv
kjv-compare --all-for asv

List all available translations:

kjv-compare --all-for

Show all available readability strategies:

kjv-compare --show-strategies

Flush cache for current action:

kjv-compare john3:16 --flush

Show bash tab completion setup:

kjv-compare --tab

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Readability strategies

• flesch_kincaid_grade
• smog_index
• gunning_fog
• automated_readability_index
• coleman_liau_index
• linsear_write_formula
• dale_chall_readability_score
• spache_readability
• text_standard (default -- aggregated)

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Data sources

Verses can be fetched from:

• code -- bundled local data
• biblehub -- scraped from BibleHub
• db -- local SQLite cache

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Supported translations

40+ translations including KJV, ASV, ESV, NIV, WEB, Geneva, Tyndale, Wycliffe, LXX, and many more.

Run kjv-compare --all-for to see the full list.

Demo

Compare Complexity of John 3:16:

Graph it:

Possible translations avaiable from my local mysword installation:

Find simplest and most complex verses (in kjv):

Other possibilities: