Scripture Permissions & Translation Notices
The copyright notices and quotation limits under which Truthscape uses each Bible translation.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations on Truthscape are from the New King James Version. Where another translation is quoted it is marked (for example ESV, NIV, NASB) and used according to that publisher’s stated quotation policy. This page gathers the required copyright notices in one place.
The limits we stay within
The ESV, NIV, and NASB may each be quoted without a formal license within the publishers’ “gratis use” guidelines. Those guidelines are broadly the same across publishers, and Truthscape follows the strictest reading of them:
- Quote only what is needed to make the point.
- Never quote an entire biblical book.
- Keep quoted Scripture under 25% of any one article or paper.
- Stay within each publisher’s free ceiling (generally up to 500 verses, and no more than half of any single book).
- Always include the required copyright notice.
- Do not build a searchable Bible tool or verse database, or publish a commentary/reference work with extensive verse text, without formal permission.
Anything beyond these limits — whole chapters posted repeatedly, a verse database, heavy quotation in a work for sale, or extensive use of the NIV 1984 edition — requires a formal permission request to the publisher.
By translation
New King James Version (NKJV)
Default · Thomas Nelson · used with attributionScripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Thomas Nelson permits up to 500 verses without written permission, subject to the usual not-a-whole-book and under-25% limits.
King James Version (KJV)
Public domain (United States)Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain in the United States.
No permission or notice is legally required in the U.S. In the United Kingdom the KJV is under perpetual Crown copyright (Cambridge University Press); if you publish for a UK audience, use their standard permission wording.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Crossway · gratis use up to 500 versesScripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Free up to 500 verses, not more than half of any one book, under 25% of the work, and not in a commentary or biblical reference work. Requests beyond that: Crossway permissions (separate print and digital forms).
New International Version (NIV)
Biblica / Zondervan · latest edition (2011) onlyScripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Free up to 500 verses under the same not-a-whole-book / under-25% / not-a-reference-work limits. Zondervan grants permission for the current text (NIV 2011) only — not the NIV 1984. Beyond the gratis guidelines, use the HarperCollins Christian permission request form.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Lockman Foundation · identify the editionScripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, NASB®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org
Free up to 500 verses under the usual limits. NASB 1995 and NASB 2020 are distinct editions — identify which one you are quoting (for example NASB95 or NASB2020) and confirm the exact required wording for that edition before publishing a permanent notice.
How Truthscape marks quotations
Each quotation carries a short inline marker naming the translation. Articles quoting more than one translation add a consolidated note at the foot of the piece.
— Romans 6:3–4, ESV
— John 3:5, NASB95
— Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV
Article footer: “Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Additional quotations are marked ESV, NIV, NASB95, or NASB2020 and are used according to the respective publishers’ quotation policies.”
The assessments
Truthscape’s interactive assessments quote only a small, fixed set of verses. The NKJV and public-domain KJV are embedded directly. Where the ESV, NASB, or NIV are offered, the text is retrieved live from the publisher’s own licensed API (Crossway for the ESV; the American Bible Society’s API.Bible for NASB and NIV) — not stored as a database — so the tools stay within each license and are not a “searchable Bible tool.”
This page is informational and is not legal advice. Publisher requirements change; verify each notice against the publisher’s current permissions page before relying on it.