Ezra - Hebrew & Greek Bible Reader

A modern web application for reading the complete Bible in its original languages (Hebrew and Greek) with integrated Text-to-Speech, word-by-word translations, and AI-powered explanations.

Live Demo: https://ezra-zeta.vercel.app

✨ Features

📖 Complete Bible in Original Languages

• 66 Books: Full Hebrew Tanakh (39 books) + Greek New Testament (27 books)
• ~31,102 verses across ~1,189 chapters
• Word-by-word display with proper RTL support for Hebrew

🔊 Text-to-Speech

• Google Cloud TTS Integration: High-quality voice synthesis
• Hebrew (he-IL) and Greek (el-GR) voices
• Listen to individual verses or full chapters
• Hover-to-speak: Hear individual words on hover
• Adjustable playback speed

📝 Word-by-Word Translation

• English gloss displayed under each Hebrew/Greek word
• Click any word for AI-powered detailed explanation
• Grammatical analysis and contextual meaning

🎨 Modern UI

• Clean, responsive design with Tailwind CSS
• Dark mode support
• Smooth navigation between books and chapters

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Google Cloud account with Text-to-Speech API enabled
• OpenAI API key (for word explanations)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ezra.git
cd ezra

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.local.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local with your API keys

# Run development server
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 to see the app.

📚 Documentation

Document	Description
DEVELOPMENT.md	Local development setup, testing, and deployment
ARCHITECTURE.md	Technical architecture and codebase guide

🌐 Deployment

The app is deployed on Vercel. For deployment setup:

1. Connect your GitHub repository to Vercel
2. Add environment variables in Vercel dashboard:
   • GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_JSON - Google Cloud service account JSON
   • OPENAI_API_KEY - OpenAI API key for word explanations
3. Deploy!

See DEVELOPMENT.md for detailed instructions.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• TTS: Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
• AI: OpenAI GPT-4o-mini (word explanations)
• Validation: Zod
• Testing: Vitest
• Deployment: Vercel

📁 Project Structure

ezra/
├── src/
│   ├── app/                 # Next.js App Router pages
│   │   ├── api/             # API routes (tts, voices, word-explanation)
│   │   └── bible/           # Bible reader pages
│   ├── components/          # React components
│   ├── data/
│   │   └── bible/           # Bible JSON data (hebrew/, greek/)
│   ├── lib/                 # Utilities and services
│   │   ├── tts/             # TTS client, cache, chunking
│   │   └── openai/          # Word explanation service
│   └── types/               # TypeScript type definitions
├── data/                    # Source XML files
├── scripts/                 # Build and utility scripts
└── public/                  # Static assets

📖 Available Books

Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) - 39 Books

Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Writings: Ruth, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1-2 Chronicles

Greek New Testament - 27 Books

Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
History: Acts
Pauline Epistles: Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
General Epistles: Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude
Apocalyptic: Revelation

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Bible text data from public domain sources
• Google Cloud for Text-to-Speech API
• OpenAI for word explanation capabilities