Content Use & Sharing Rules

scripture.how content is protected by two things together: the "license (copyright terms)" and the "use & sharing rules (these terms)." The license defines what each piece of content may be used for; these rules define how you may fetch the content and how you may republish it. You must follow both. The sources and licenses for each piece of content are shown on the [Sources / Licenses] page. 1. Scope These rules govern how you access and use the scripture.how service, not copyright. Therefore, even for public-domain content, access methods such as automated harvesting or real-time proxying may be restricted by these rules. 2. Content tiers Because rights differ per content, we classify content into the following tiers, shown on the [Sources / Licenses] page. - Public domain: free to use, but please follow the fetching rules below (request rate, etc.). - Externally licensed material: follow the terms of the original license. - scripture.how self-produced and edited material: All Rights Reserved. Unless source material carries a separate license, prior permission is required for copying, redistribution, or derivative use. - Private or user-created content (e.g., Bible notes): sharing is not permitted. 3. Fetching (acquisition) rules [Allowed] - Viewing directly in a web browser by a person - Using official channels (API, data export, content packs). You must agree to these rules when a key is issued. - Search-engine bots within the scope allowed by robots.txt [Downloading a static copy at once — allowed material only] - Keep requests to 30 per minute and 2 concurrent connections or fewer. - Use an identifiable User-Agent and respect robots.txt. - Please use official channels where possible. [Prohibited — even if the license allows sharing] - Real-time scraping/proxying that calls scripture.how as a backend on every request and re-serves it as your own service - Circumventing rate limits (e.g., distributing across multiple IPs), ignoring robots.txt, disguising bots - Bypassing authentication or paid sections; bulk-mirroring the entire dataset outside official channels 4. Republishing (redistribution) rules [Attribution] - Show the clickable original scripture.how URL (https://scripture.how/...) at the item or page level. - For permitted use, state that it is "provided by scripture.how" and keep the applicable source-license and attribution requirements. - Do not hide or remove the attribution. [Static-copy principle] - Provide the content as a copy stored on your own server. - Do not call scripture.how servers in real time (hotlinking/embedding). [Other] - Do not distort the text, commentary, or definitions, or present content not written by scripture.how as if it were ours. - Content written by users or authors (e.g., Bible notes) may not be redistributed without permission. 5. Commercial and paid use Commercial use of scripture.how self-produced and edited material (including use in revenue-generating media, services, or apps; resale or sublicensing; and internal business use), bulk use, real-time integration, copying, redistribution, and derivative use require prior written permission. A separate agreement applies only when it is expressly made. Contact: [email protected] 6. Measures for violations We may apply technical measures such as rate limiting, access blocking, bot blocking, and token/IP suspension, and take necessary action regarding license/terms violations or copyright infringement. 7. Changes and contact These rules may change with prior notice; changes are recorded in [Updates]. The effective date is the official service launch date. Contact: [email protected]