While it may seem a simple matter to look up a specific book of the Bible and then find the appropriate chapter and verse, it can sometimes get quite complicated.
A Book By Any Other Name
Biblical citations consist of an abbreviation for the name of the book of the Old or New Testament, followed by numbers representing the chapter and the verse. These two numbers are separated either by a colon or a period.
Unfortunately, there’s no standard set of abbreviations for each biblical book. The Gospel of Matthew, for example, could be abbreviated as Matt or Mt. Also, some books have more than one name:
- Ecclesiastes is sometimes called Qoheleth
- Song of Songs is also known as Song of Solomon or Canticle of Canticles
- Sirach is also known as Ben Sira or Ecclesiasticus
- Revelation is also called The Apocalypse
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| A bookmark that was given to me years ago. I recall it took me a long time to identify this passage in the Bible. |
There are only
12 chapters in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach) has 51
chapters, but it is not a book found in the Protestant or
Jewish canon. You will only find it in Catholic or Ecumenical versions of
the bible. In an Ecumenical version, it will be in a special section between
the Old and New Testatments, but in a Catholic bible it will be listed with the other Wisdom books.
20 No thought escapeth him, and no word can hide itself from him.Here is the same passage in a modern Catholic translation (NABRE):
21 He hath beautified the glorious works of his wisdom: and he Is from eternity to eternity, and to him nothing may be added,
22 Nor can he be diminished, and he hath no need of any counsellor.
20 He lacks no understanding; no single thing escapes him.The older translation was made from the Vulgate (a Latin translation) while the newer translation was made from the original languages. In this instance the Vulgate seems to be something of a paraphrase, transposing ideas from v. 22 into v. 21 and vice-versa. We’ll discuss more about translations in my next article.
21 He regulates the mighty deeds of his wisdom; he is from all eternity one and the same, with nothing added, nothing taken away; no need of a counselor for him!
22 How beautiful are all his works, delightful to gaze upon and a joy to behold!
Chapter Break
Even once you have identified the right book, you’re still not home-free.
Let’s say you want to look up the verse “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet” and the citation is Mal 3:23. You know that “Mal” is an abbreviation for the book of Malachi in the OT, but when you turn to chapter 3 in that book, you see that it ends at v. 18. It turns out that the verse cited is actually v. 5 of chapter 4 of Malachi in your bible. Is the citation wrong?
First you need to understand that the original scripture writings were not divided by chapter and verse. Those were medieval Christian inventions (chapter divisions were introduced in the 13th century and verses date from the 16th century) to make it easier to find a specific passage in the Bible. Jews later adopted the system for the same purpose, but it wasn’t 100% the same. That’s why there are four chapters of Malachi in the bibles that follow the English numeration and three chapters in the Hebrew Bible (and translations that follow the Hebrew numeration). A bible with good annotations will point this out (that is, it will provide a note at Mal 4:1 that says something like “Ch 4:1-6 are Ch 3:19-24 in Hebrew”).
Many times the chapter breaks seem rather arbitrary. For example, Gen 1 gives the story of the six days of creation, but the seventh day is covered at the beginning of Gen 2. A modern reader would expect that the first three verses (it is debatable whether Gen 2:4a belongs with the first creation story or the second) of Gen 2 should have been included in Gen 1 to complete the story.
Second Verse, Same as the First
The English translations most used by Protestant denominations (KJV, NRSV, NIV, etc.) follow the English numeration. Catholic (NABRE, NJB) and Jewish (NJPS) translations follow the Hebrew numeration. You can see how this could lead to confusion.
Let’s say a Catholic author wants to cite “Create in me a clean heart, O God” in Ps 51 and references Ps 51:12. A Protestant reader looks up the verse in their bible, only to find “Restore to me the gladness of your salvation.” The Protestant may then suspect that Catholics are using a different Bible.
Indeed, the most likely place you can expect to find a discrepancy in scripture citation between English versions (EV) and Hebrew-numeration is in the Psalms. In the English versions, titles like “To the leader. A psalm of David” are not given a verse number, but they are in the Hebrew Bible. As many of the psalms have such a title line, the verse enumeration in EV bibles will frequently be off by one or two from the Hebrew enumeration. A biblical scholar would cite the passage above as Ps 51:12 [51:10 EV] so you could easily find the passage no matter which translation you are using.
An author unaware of the versification differences will only quote the English or Hebrew numeration, depending on which bible version that author happens to be using. Understanding alternate names for biblical books and chapter/verse numeration differences can help you find the right verse if the author happens to be using a different bible version from yours.
Even once you have identified the right book, you’re still not home-free.
Let’s say you want to look up the verse “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet” and the citation is Mal 3:23. You know that “Mal” is an abbreviation for the book of Malachi in the OT, but when you turn to chapter 3 in that book, you see that it ends at v. 18. It turns out that the verse cited is actually v. 5 of chapter 4 of Malachi in your bible. Is the citation wrong?
First you need to understand that the original scripture writings were not divided by chapter and verse. Those were medieval Christian inventions (chapter divisions were introduced in the 13th century and verses date from the 16th century) to make it easier to find a specific passage in the Bible. Jews later adopted the system for the same purpose, but it wasn’t 100% the same. That’s why there are four chapters of Malachi in the bibles that follow the English numeration and three chapters in the Hebrew Bible (and translations that follow the Hebrew numeration). A bible with good annotations will point this out (that is, it will provide a note at Mal 4:1 that says something like “Ch 4:1-6 are Ch 3:19-24 in Hebrew”).
Many times the chapter breaks seem rather arbitrary. For example, Gen 1 gives the story of the six days of creation, but the seventh day is covered at the beginning of Gen 2. A modern reader would expect that the first three verses (it is debatable whether Gen 2:4a belongs with the first creation story or the second) of Gen 2 should have been included in Gen 1 to complete the story.
Second Verse, Same as the First
The English translations most used by Protestant denominations (KJV, NRSV, NIV, etc.) follow the English numeration. Catholic (NABRE, NJB) and Jewish (NJPS) translations follow the Hebrew numeration. You can see how this could lead to confusion.
Let’s say a Catholic author wants to cite “Create in me a clean heart, O God” in Ps 51 and references Ps 51:12. A Protestant reader looks up the verse in their bible, only to find “Restore to me the gladness of your salvation.” The Protestant may then suspect that Catholics are using a different Bible.
Indeed, the most likely place you can expect to find a discrepancy in scripture citation between English versions (EV) and Hebrew-numeration is in the Psalms. In the English versions, titles like “To the leader. A psalm of David” are not given a verse number, but they are in the Hebrew Bible. As many of the psalms have such a title line, the verse enumeration in EV bibles will frequently be off by one or two from the Hebrew enumeration. A biblical scholar would cite the passage above as Ps 51:12 [51:10 EV] so you could easily find the passage no matter which translation you are using.
An author unaware of the versification differences will only quote the English or Hebrew numeration, depending on which bible version that author happens to be using. Understanding alternate names for biblical books and chapter/verse numeration differences can help you find the right verse if the author happens to be using a different bible version from yours.
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