Someone owns the text and sets the terms — modern Bible translations such as NIV, NLT or The Message, and most books, articles, songs and poems. Many Bible publishers allow limited quotation with a credit line; past their stated limits you ask for permission.

• Read the publisher’s permissions policy — the rights line names the publisher.
• Print their notice word for word on your copyright page.
• Keep any permission you’re given in writing.

Free to use under the licence’s conditions. BY — give credit. SA — adaptations share the same licence. NC — non-commercial only (a book you sell is commercial). ND — no adaptations. CC0 waives rights as far as the law allows.

• Follow every condition in the licence, not just credit.
• Use the credit format the licence asks for.
• Check for NC before you sell.

No permission is needed where a work is public domain — but status depends on the country. The KJV, for example, is public domain in the US while a Crown right applies to printing it in the UK. In the US, works published before 1931 are public domain as of 1 January 2026; later works depend on their dates.

• Confirm status for every country you’ll publish in.
• A modern edition’s notes, layout or revisions can carry their own copyright.
• Credit the source anyway.

Text7’s source has no rights line for it, or the translation isn’t in Text7’s catalogue. That says nothing either way.

• Treat it as copyright reserved until you’ve found the rights holder’s terms.

Quote, then give book, chapter:verse and the translation — (John 15:13 KJV). Text7’s Scripture tool inserts “…” — John 15:13 (KJV).

Using one main translation? Name it once on the copyright page (“Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from …”) and mark only the others in the text.

List each translation’s notice in the rights holder’s exact wording. Text7’s credit-line draft is a starting point with placeholders — not that wording.

Pick one style for book abbreviations (Chicago Manual of Style or the SBL Handbook of Style) and use it throughout.

Credit author, title, publisher and year (and page for a direct quote) in notes or a bibliography, in your publisher’s style. A paraphrase still needs credit.

Song lyrics and poems: music and poetry publishers commonly require permission even for a line or two.

A case-by-case defence weighed on four factors — purpose, the nature of the work, how much is used, and the effect on the market. It isn’t a word count, and other countries use different rules.

A similarity check shows overlap between your text and the sources it searched. “No matches” means none were found there — not that the text is original, and not a clearance.

Plagiarism is about credit; copyright is about permission. You can credit a source and still need permission, or copy public-domain text without credit and still plagiarise.

Uploads: you need the rights to every image you add. AI-generated images: check the image provider’s terms, and note the U.S. Copyright Office’s guidance on human authorship and AI-generated material.

You, as author — with the rights holder’s permissions department, your publisher’s rights & permissions team, or an attorney when it’s uncertain. Text7 informs; it doesn’t decide.