Bible cross-references.
Parallel passages for any verse in the Bible. Type a reference and see the verses that illuminate it — drawn from the openbible.info dataset (~340,000 cross-references across all 29,000+ verses, sorted by community-voted confidence). The same tradition behind every modern study Bible's cross-reference margin.
What is a cross-reference?
A cross-reference is a citation that links one Bible verse to another that echoes, develops, fulfils, or interprets it. Cross-references are the connective tissue of biblical study — they show how Old Testament prophecy is taken up in the New Testament, how Paul's epistles draw on the Gospels, how Hebrews reads the Psalms as messianic, and how one author's argument depends on passages from across the canon.
The most influential cross-reference collection is the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK), compiled by Reuben Archer Torrey in 1834. It catalogues roughly 340,000 cross-references across the Bible and remains the foundation of most modern study Bibles' cross-reference margins. The references in this tool draw from that tradition.
How to use this tool
Type a reference in standard Book Chapter:Verse format — John 3:16, Psalm 23, Romans 8:28. The tool shows the cross-references for that verse with a short note on each parallel. Tap any cross-reference to look up the actual verse text in the verse-lookup tool. If your verse isn't in the curated index yet, the tool suggests popular verses to start with.
What this tool covers
The full openbible.info cross-reference dataset — about 340,000 cross-references across more than 29,000 distinct Bible verses, sorted by community-voted confidence. That's near-complete coverage of every chapter and verse in the canon. Each lookup returns up to 40 cross-references for the queried verse (or a union across a verse range), sorted with the highest-confidence parallels at the top.
The dataset is the same one underlying many modern Bible-study tools, freely available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0) licence from openbible.info. The numbers next to each cross-reference are vote totals — the higher the number, the more strongly the community has affirmed the connection.
FAQ
What is the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge?
The TSK is the most comprehensive cross-reference collection in the Bible-study tradition, compiled by Reuben Archer Torrey and first published in 1834. It catalogues about 340,000 cross-references and is in the public domain. Most modern study Bibles' cross-reference margins (ESV, NIV, KJV) draw substantially from it.
How big is the dataset?
About 340,000 cross-references across 29,000+ distinct verses — near-complete coverage of the Bible. The dataset is the openbible.info cross-references corpus, sorted by community confidence votes and released under CC-BY 4.0. Each lookup returns up to 40 of the highest-confidence parallels for the verse you queried.
What's the difference between a cross-reference and a citation?
A citation is when one biblical author quotes another directly (e.g. Paul citing Genesis in Romans). A cross-reference is broader — it can be a citation, an allusion, a thematic parallel, a typological connection, or any verse that helps interpret the verse you're looking at. Most cross-references aren't direct quotations.
How do I know if a cross-reference is "good"?
The strongest cross-references share specific vocabulary or imagery, develop the same theological theme, or fulfil/quote each other directly. Weaker cross-references depend on more interpretive connections. Cross-references are tools for noticing — they suggest connections worth examining, not definitive interpretations.
What's the rate limit?
30 lookups per minute and 600 per day from any single IP. Plenty for normal study, tight enough to discourage bulk scraping. The dataset is freely downloadable directly from openbible.info if you need it offline.
Related tools
Read each verse, then play with it.
Kerygma's trivia rounds surface the same connective tissue cross-references trace — the verse beneath every answer, the commentary that links it to the rest of Scripture. Free for seven days.
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