A Bible for the terminal

Read in a quiet, fast terminal app. Keep notes, open Matthew Henry, look at the Hebrew and Greek behind every verse, and ask your own Claude or Codex about what you are reading.

curl -fsSL https://selah.hallelx2.com/install | sh

irm https://selah.hallelx2.com/install.ps1 | iex

git clone https://github.com/hallelx2/selah && cd selah && bun install && bun run build && mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && cp dist/selah ~/.local/bin/

Linux, macOS and Windows. Version 0.3.1. The installer checks every download against its SHA-256, then the first launch fetches the King James and the Berean Standard (16 MB). After that, Selah works offline.

selah

A real session, recorded frame by frame from the app. The answer in Ask is Claude Code answering live, shown at three times speed.

What is Selah?

Selah is an open source Bible reader for the terminal. Everything you need to read closely is one key away.

[*]ReadFive public-domain translations, side by side if you like, with prose or verse layout
[*]WriteA note on any verse and a journal for every chapter, saved as you type
[*]CommentaryMatthew Henry's complete commentary, opened at the verse you are on
[*]Hebrew and GreekEvery original word, its meaning and grammar, and every verse that uses it
[*]AskQuestions answered by your own Claude Code or Codex, citing the text
[*]EngravingsGustave Doré's 100 Bible engravings, each at the passage it shows
[*]StreaksA reading streak that only counts chapters you actually read
[*]SearchEvery verse, ranked, with phrases and book filters

Read the docs

Made for reading slowly

[*]Selah means a pause. The app stays out of the way: no ads, no account, nothing to sign in to.

Fig 1. A year of reading (an example)

Fig 2. 447,744 Hebrew and Greek words, by book

Fig 3. 100 engravings by Doré

Yours, on your machine

[*]Your notes, highlights and reading history live in a file on your computer and nowhere else. Selah has no telemetry and reports nothing about you; it only downloads what you ask it to install. Ask uses the Claude Code or Codex you already have, with your own login, and Selah holds no keys.

FAQ

Is it free?

Yes. Selah is open source under the MIT license, and the Bible texts are in the public domain.

How do I use it if I have never used a terminal app?

Run selah, type a passage like john 3 and press enter. The arrow keys move through the text, tab opens the study tools, and ? shows every key in plain words. The first time you open the reader, it shows you the ones that matter.

Which translations are there?

The King James Version and the Berean Standard Bible come with it. The American Standard Version, Young's Literal Translation and the New Heart English Bible are one command away: selah install ASV YLT NHEB.

Does it need the internet?

Only to download things once: the translations, and if you want them, the commentary (14 MB), the Hebrew and Greek (108 MB) and the engravings (17 MB). Ask uses your agent's own connection.

Does Ask cost anything?

Selah charges nothing. Ask runs the Claude Code or Codex you already have, under your own plan, so it costs whatever that does. Without either, everything else works and Ask says how to get one.

Does it work on Windows?

Yes, from version 0.3.1, on x64 and ARM64. Install it from PowerShell with the command above, and use Windows Terminal for the best colours.

Can my own coding agent use it?

Yes. selah mcp serves Selah's tools (passages, search, Henry, the original words and your notes) to Claude Code, Codex or any MCP client: claude mcp add selah -- selah mcp.

How do I remove it?

Delete the selah binary (in ~/.local/bin, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\selah on Windows). Your notes stay in Selah's data folder until you delete that too; selah --help prints where it is.