Midvash Bible References — WordPress plugin

🌐 English · Português (BR) · Español

Auto-detect Bible references in your WordPress posts and turn them into hover-tooltip links — no API key, no signup, no setup beyond installing the plugin.

Download and docs at midvash.com/wordpress-plugin

What it does

• Recognizes references like John 3:16, Jo 3.16, Salmos 23, Rom 8:28-30 — in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, with accents and book abbreviations.
• Replaces them with subtle links to midvash.com on the frontend, opening the full verse in a hover tooltip.
• 48 openly licensed Bible versions to pick as your site default (ONBV, Almeida Livre, BSB, KJV, RVR1909, and more), each shown with its licence attribution.
• Customizable link color, underline style, and tooltip behavior.
• Free forever, no account required.

Install

From the midvash.com/wordpress-plugin site

1. Download the latest .zip from midvash.com/wordpress-plugin
2. WordPress admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → select the zip
3. Activate, configure under Settings → Midvash Bible References

From source (this repo)

cd wp-content/plugins/
git clone https://github.com/midvash/bible-wordpress-plugin.git midvash-bible-references

Then activate in the WordPress admin.

Updates

Once the plugin is listed in the WordPress.org directory, updates arrive through WordPress like any other directory plugin. Until then, new versions are attached to each GitHub Release.

Architecture

• midvash-bible-references.php — main plugin file, hooks, AJAX endpoints, transient cache cleanup
• includes/class-mvbr-parser.php — reference detection (regex + book-name dictionaries per locale)
• includes/class-mvbr-api.php — calls the Midvash public API (read-only, no auth) with rate-limit handling and transient cache
• includes/class-mvbr-admin.php — settings screen
• includes/class-mvbr-books.php — book metadata (names, abbreviations, chapters) per language
• assets/js/mvbr-tooltip.js — frontend tooltip rendering
• translations/ — .po files for import into translate.wordpress.org (not shipped in the ZIP)

Security

Standard WordPress security hygiene applied:

• All AJAX endpoints protected by wp_nonce (check_ajax_referer)
• All file entry points guarded by ABSPATH
• All user input sanitized (sanitize_text_field + wp_unslash)
• All output escaped (esc_html, esc_attr, esc_url)
• Admin settings require manage_options capability
• No external code execution, no eval, no shell calls
• HTTPS-only API calls with sslverify = true

The plugin only reads from the Midvash public API — it doesn't send any post content, user data, or telemetry.

Contributing

PRs welcome — especially for:

• New language support (book names + regex tweaks in class-mvbr-books.php and class-mvbr-parser.php)
• Translations — on translate.wordpress.org once the plugin is listed (source .po files in translations/)
• Performance improvements

Open an issue first for larger changes.

License

GPL v2 or later — see LICENSE.

Related projects

• bible-data — the public-domain Bible dataset (33 versions, 22 languages) behind the Midvash reader
• bible-data-js — TypeScript SDK for the dataset
• bible-cross-references — 453 curated thematic cross-references
• Midvash — the online Bible reader this plugin links to

The Midvash ecosystem

Part of Midvash — a free Bible reading & study platform. Everything is open and interlinks:

📖 Reader (web)	midvash.com — 9 languages
📱 iOS app	midvash.com/ios
🔌 API	api.midvash.com · bible-api
🤖 MCP server	mcp.midvash.com · bible-mcp
🧩 WordPress plugin	midvash.com/wordpress-plugin · bible-wordpress-plugin
🧩 EmDash plugin	midvash.com/emdash-plugin · emdash-plugin-bible
🌐 Chrome extension	midvash.com/chrome-extension · bible-chrome-extension
📦 Open data	bible-data · bible-data-js · bible-cross-references

_{Free & open, built by Midvash · midvash.com}