---
title: "Get a paragraph by reference"
method: GET
path: "/paragraphs/{ref}"
tags: ["Paragraphs"]
---

# Get a paragraph by reference

`GET /paragraphs/{ref}`

Look up a paragraph using any of three ID formats:
- **globalId**: "1:2.0.1" (partId:paperId.sectionId.paragraphId)
- **standardReferenceId**: "2:0.1" (paperId:sectionId.paragraphId)
- **paperSectionParagraphId**: "2.0.1" (paperId.sectionId.paragraphId)

The format is auto-detected from the reference string.

Response includes a `navigation` envelope with the previous and next paragraph refs (within the same paper, ordered by sortId). Refs are `null` at paper boundaries.

Use `?include=entities` to include typed entity mentions in the response.

## Path parameters

- `ref` string, required

## Query parameters

- `include` string
- `format` 'default' | 'rag'
- `lang` 'eng' | 'es' | 'fr' | 'pt' | 'de' | 'ko'

## Response `200`

The paragraph

- object
  - `data` object, required
    - `id` string, required
    - `standardReferenceId` string, required
    - `sortId` string, required
    - `paperId` string, required
    - `sectionId` string, nullable, required
    - `partId` string, required
    - `paperTitle` string, required
    - `sectionTitle` string, nullable, required
    - `paragraphId` string, required
    - `text` string, required
    - `htmlText` string, required
    - `language` string
    - `labels` string[], nullable, required
    - `audio` object, nullable, required
    - `entities` object[]
      - `id` string, required
      - `name` string, required
      - `type` 'being' | 'place' | 'order' | 'race' | 'religion' | 'concept', required
    - `bibleParallels` object[]
      - `chunkId` string, required
      - `reference` string, required
      - `bookCode` string, required
      - `chapter` integer, required
      - `verseStart` integer, required
      - `verseEnd` integer, required
      - `text` string, required
      - `similarity` number, required
      - `rank` integer, required
      - `source` string, required
      - `embeddingModel` string, required
    - `urantiaParallels` object[]
      - `id` string, required
      - `standardReferenceId` string, required
      - `paperId` string, required
      - `paperTitle` string, required
      - `sectionTitle` string, nullable, required
      - `text` string, required
      - `similarity` number, required
      - `rank` integer, required
      - `source` string, required
      - `embeddingModel` string, required
  - `navigation` object
    - `prev` string, nullable, required
    - `next` string, nullable, required

## Other responses

- `400` — Invalid reference format
- `404` — Paragraph not found
- `500` — Internal server error

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/urantia/apis/urantia-papers-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/urantia/apis/urantia-papers-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/urantia/urantia-papers-api/versions/fc43de3e7ffc/schema)