Catalogued passages
147
A note on framing
This is an analytical exercise demonstrating the textual scope of the AAMA’s criteria when applied evenhandedly to a widely-recognized text. It is not a recommendation that the Bible be removed from any library, nor a critique of scripture. Its purpose is to test whether the law’s own standards — applied without exception — would produce results consistent with how those standards have been applied to other titles, such as Alex Haley’s Roots, removed by Knox County Schools on May 14, 2026.
At a glance.
Verses flagged
754
of 31,102 KJV verses
% of the KJV
2.42%
Books affected
31
of 66 in the KJV
Nudity
24 passages · 59 verses
Sexual content
27 passages · 155 verses
Sexual abuse
16 passages · 91 verses
Excessive violence
93 passages · 521 verses
Methodology.
Source text
King James Version (1611, Authorized Version) — public domain. Machine-readable text retrieved from Project Gutenberg eBook #10. Parsed into 31,102 verses across 66 books; verse counts verified against canonical KJV totals with zero discrepancies.
AAMA criteria
Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act (T.C.A. § 49-6-3803), as amended in 2024, restricts school library materials containing nudity; descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse; or excessive violence. Materials covered may still be used in classroom instruction but cannot remain available in school library collections.
Operational definitions — strict reading
- Nudity
- Explicit references to a person being naked, exposed, having their nakedness uncovered, or being stripped. Excludes metaphorical uses (e.g., “nakedness of the land” meaning military vulnerability).
- Sexual content
- Explicit descriptions of sexual acts. Excludes euphemistic mentions of marital relations (“knew his wife,” “lay with his wife”) unless the surrounding narrative provides graphic detail. Includes the Song of Solomon’s erotic blazons, Ezekiel’s extended sexual metaphors, and the Levitical catalogs of forbidden sexual practices.
- Sexual abuse
- Rape, forced sexual acts, sexual violence, abduction for sexual purposes, coerced sexual servitude, and laws sanctioning these acts.
- Excessive violence
- Extended graphic violence spanning three or more consecutive verses. Excludes isolated single-verse mentions of killing, ritual sacrificial blood, and metaphorical or covenantal uses of violence-related language.
Unit of analysis
Passages, not individual verses. A passage is a range of consecutive verses sharing the same triggering content. This mirrors how the Knox County Schools review committee actually evaluated Roots — the district’s own statement specified that the book was elevated to the district review committee “for consideration of a passage in chapter 84.”
The catalog.
Filter by category, book, or search by reference or keyword. Click any passage to expand the full KJV text.