Chapter and Verse

Blue Tick · #1 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 11:50 AM

Does anyone know when chapter and verses first appeared in Bible translations?
And who were the individuals who first started using chapter and verse.

I want to say it was between the 12th-13th century.

VirginiaHuguenot · #2 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 11:53 AM

Chapters and verses of the Bible - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

nleshelman · #3 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 12:10 PM

I prefer the Apostle Paul's method: Somewhere someone once said....

Semper Fidelis · #4 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nleshelman

I prefer the Apostle Paul's method: Somewhere someone once said....

It's funny because I've thought about that a lot.

Most people you meet have a "prooftext" mentality to the Scriptures and have a hard time comprehending, especially the Epistles, in a comprehensive manner. Commonly, somebody has an idea that they want to baptize and then they go to look for the verses that can support it, regardless of the context that the scripture is taken from. They'll even be so facile as to assume that simply because the same words are used in two places that the words are communicating the same concept.

The Book of Romans is a perfect example of a book where many of the conclusions of thoughts are interrupted by Chapter divisions. It's really only been the last several years that I've learned to try to focus on an author's overall presentation and ensure that I'm following the train of thought as it develops.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate how easy it is to find things but we also need to remind people that the divisions were not inspired and the necessity to not take shortcuts to our spiritual growth. It seems like everybody you meet these days has a "favorite verse" or a "life verse" and I can't personally decide how I could arbitrarily try to boil down what God left in its completeness down to a single verse.

Kim G · #5 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 02:32 PM

I've been looking for a Bible that doesn't have chapters and verses. Does anyone know of any? The only one I can find is a TNIV version, which I know NOTHING about. Is it much different than the NIV?

Gomarus · #6 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim G

I've been looking for a Bible that doesn't have chapters and verses. Does anyone know of any? The only one I can find is a TNIV version, which I know NOTHING about. Is it much different than the NIV?

TNIV is updated NIV with more modern wording and gender neutral where possible.

jambo · #7 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 05:38 PM

The bible was divided up into chapters by Stephen Langton (archbishop of Canterbury in the early 13th century). The division of the OT into verses was done by a Jewish Rabbi, Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus during the 16th century whilst Robert Stephanus, a Frenchman, completed the NT whilst travelling back and forward from Paris to Lyon on horseback. The fact that Beza used Stephanus' divisions in the Textus Receptus enshrined his divisions as the standard work.

Chapter and verse divisions are very handy but create artificial breaks in passages that were never intended. I have often thought how helpful it would be not to have them as then we would have to become muchmore familier with the bible in order to find things. here were no such divisions, you would need to memorise scripture more so you would know where to find things.