BibleEx

This is a port of the Dart package https://github.com/joshpetit/reference_parser to Elixir.

An Elixir package that parses strings for bible references. You can parse single references or multiple references from a string in a variety of formats.

Really 99% of what you need to know will be found in Parsing References headers. But if you have more complicated needs this package can handle those!

• Usage
  • Parsing References
  • Objects and References
    • Reference
    • Verses
    • Chapters
    • Books
  • Constructing References
    • Invalid References

Usage

to include this in your Swift application:

import BibleEx

Parsing References

use the parse_references function to retrieve a single reference:

alias BibleEx.RefParser
refs = RefParser.parse_references("I like Mat 2:4-10 and 1john 3:16")

This will return two reference objects, one describing "Matthew 2:4-10" and the other "1 John 3:16"

Note: The word 'is' will be parsed as the book of Isaiah.

[
  %BibleEx.Reference{
    book: "Matthew",
    book_names: %{abbr: "MAT", name: "Matthew", osis: "Matt", short: "Mt"},
    book_number: 40,
    reference: "Matthew 2:4-10",
    reference_type: :verse_range,
    start_chapter: %BibleEx.Chapter{
      ...
    }
  ...
  },
  %BibleEx.Reference{
  book: "1 John",
  book_names: %{abbr: "1JO", name: "1 John", osis: "1John", short: "1 Jn"},
  book_number: 62,
  reference: "1 John 3:16",
  reference_type: :verse,
  start_chapter: %BibleEx.Chapter{
    ...
  }
  ...
]

Objects and References

Reference

Reference objects are the broadest kind of reference. You can directly construct one by following this format:

genesis_ref = Reference.new(book: "Genesis", start_chapter: 2, start_verse: 3, end_chapter: 4, end_verse: 5)

%BibleEx.Reference{
  book: "Genesis",
  book_names: %{abbr: "GEN", name: "Genesis", osis: "Gen", short: "Gn"},
  book_number: 1,
  reference: "Genesis 2:3 - 4:5",
  reference_type: :chapter_range,
  start_chapter: %BibleEx.Chapter{
    ...
  }
}

Their most important fields are these:

genesis_ref.reference # The string representation (osis_reference, short_reference, and abbr also available)
genesis_ref.start_verse_number
genesis_ref.end_verse_number
genesis_ref.start_chapter_number
genesis_ref.end_chapter_number
genesis_ref.reference_type # :verse, :chapter, :verse_range, :chapter_range, :book

Based on what is passed in, the constructor will figure out certain fields. For example, if you were to construct Reference('James') the last chapter and verse numbers in James will be initialized accordingly.

There are many other fields that may prove useful such as ones that subdivid the reference, look [here](#other-fun stuff)

---

Verses

Reference objects have a start_verse and end_verse field that return objects of the Verse type.

genbook = Reference.new(book: "Genesis")
first_verse = genbook.start_verse;

# same as first_verse above
first = Verse(book: "Genesis", chapter_number: 1, verse_number: 1)

%BibleEx.Verse{
  book: "Genesis",
  book_names: %{abbr: "GEN", name: "Genesis", osis: "Gen", short: "Gn"},
  book_number: 1,
  reference_type: :verse,
  reference: "Genesis 1:1",
  chapter_number: 1,
  verse_number: 1,
  is_valid: true
}

You can also construct References that 'act' like verses by using the named constructor

gen_11 = Reference.verse(book: "Genesis", chapter: 1, verse: 1)

%BibleEx.Reference{
  book: "Genesis",
  book_names: %{abbr: "GEN", name: "Genesis", osis: "Gen", short: "Gn"},
  book_number: 1,
  reference: "Genesis 1:1",
  reference_type: :verse,
  start_chapter: %BibleEx.Chapter{
    ...
  }
  ...
}

---

Chapters

james5 = RefParser.parse_references("James 5 is a chapter") |> List.first()

The james5 object now holds a Reference to "James 5". Despite this, start_verse_number and end_verse_number are initialized to the first and last verses in James 5.

james5.start_verse_number # 1
james5.end_verse_number # 20
james5.reference_type # :chapter

The Reference object also has start/end chapter fields

james510 = RefParser.parse_references("James 5-10 is cool") |> List.first()
james510.start_chapter_number # 5
james510.end_chapter_number # 10

Just like verses you can create chapter objects:

john1 = Chapter.new(book: "John", chapter_number: 1)

---

Books

ecc = RefParser.parse_references("Ecclesiastes is hard to spell") |> List.first()
ecc.start_chapter_number # 1
ecc.end_chapter_number # 12
ecc.reference_type # :chapter_range

Books are the equivalent of a Reference object.

Constructing References

Verses

matt24 = Reference.new(book: "Mat", start_chapter: 2, start_verse: 4)
matt24 = Reference.verse(book: "Mat", chapter: 2, verse: 4)
matt24 = Verse.new(book: "Matt", chapter_number: 2, verse_number: 4)

Note that the verse object has different fields than a Reference object. Check the API.

Verse Ranges

matt2410 = Reference.new(book: "Mat", start_chapter: 2, start_verse: 4, end_chapter: nil, end_verse: 10)
matt2410 = Reference.verse_range(book: "Mat", chapter: 2, start_verse: 4, end_verse: 10)

These are equivalents that create a reference to 'Matthew 2:4-10'.

Invalid References

All references have an is_valid field that says whether this reference is within the bible.

mcd = Reference.new(book: "McDonald", start_chapter: 2, start_verse: 4, end_chapter: 10)
print(mcd.is_valid) # false, as far as I know at least.

Notice that the other fields are still initialized!! So if needed, make sure to check that a reference is valid before using it.

mcd.reference # "McDonald 2:4-10"
mcd.book # "McDonald"
mcd.start_verse_number # 4
mcd.osis_book # nil, and so will be other formats.

The same logic applies to chapters and verse numbers.

jude2 = Reference.new(book: "Jude", start_chapter: 2, start_verse: 10)
jude2.is_valid # false (Jude only has one chapter)

Installation

If available in Hex, the package can be installed by adding bible_ex to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
      {
        :bible_ex,
        git: "https://github.com/mazz/bible_ex.git", branch: "main"
      }
  ]
end

Documentation can be generated with ExDoc and published on HexDocs. Once published, the docs can be found at https://hexdocs.pm/bible_ex.