Pastor's Message
February 2025
Chapter and Verse
Last month, we had some fun with 3:16 and some very special passages in Scripture that are chapter three verse sixteen. This month, I thought I’d share with you where those chapter and verse numbers came from.
Since early manuscripts of the Scriptures did not use punctuation, paragraph divisions, or even spaces to separate words, it should come as no surprise to learn that the chapter and verse divisions found in modern translations of the New Testament are not original. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul writing his epistles and stopping to include numbers in between some of his sentences? That’s silly. That made early reading the Bible challenging, but with a little work you could figure it out.
Let’s start with the Hebrew Old Testament. Early manuscripts did often divided sections of Scripture into a kind of paragraph by having some kind of division symbol written into the text. Furthermore, the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) was divided into 154 sections so that they could be read aloud in worship over a span of three years. In Babylon, it was divided into 53 or 54 sections so that it could be read within a year. So, even though there was not a chapter and verse delineation, there was a kind of internal break or division within the written text.
Around the 7th or 8th Century A.D., a group of Jews known as the Masoretes sought to protect the Hebrew text. They copied, edited and made meticulous notes about how to read the Hebrew. They started indicating verse divisions using the “:” symbol. Most of their notes became the basis of the later chapter and verse divisions.
As for the New Testament, different kinds of chapter division began showing up as early as the fourth century B.C., however, there was a great variety in style and division. That brings us to Stephen Langton, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton studied at the University of Paris and lectured in theology from 1180-1206 A.D. The many different chapter systems in various Latin Bibles caused great confusion in the classroom. Therefore, he developed what would become our modern chapter divisions.
An interesting footnote: Stephen’s son indicated that his father made these verse divisions while “on horseback” (i.e., on a journey) from Paris to Lyons. Presumably he meant that his father took the text along with him and worked on it at night during his layovers at inns along the way. Some wry observers have noticed, though, that in places our verse divisions make little sense (sometimes they occur right in the middle of a sentence) and have suggested that Stephanus literally worked “on horseback,” so that whenever his steed hit a pothole, it caused an inadvertent slip of the pen.
The first person to divide the New Testament chapters into verses was Santes Pagnino, an Italian Dominican monk, but his verses were much longer and never widely adopted. Instead, it is Robert Estienne, a Parisian printer who is credited with our modern verse division. He first used it in his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament and again in his 1553 French Bible. Both of these Bibles had the verse numbers in the margins. It was his 1555 Latin Vulgate that first integrated these verses into the text like we have today. The first English Bible to use chapter and verse was the Geneva Bible of 1557.
What about the Old Testament verses? The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into verses by a Jewish rabbi named Nathan in 1448 A.D. In 1555, Estienne essentially used Nathan’s verse divisions for the Old Testament. His chapter and verse designations have become the standard, accepted into nearly all the Bible versions.
So, why does this matter? On one hand, we can say it doesn’t. It doesn’t change the text. On the other hand, chapter and verse have been very helpful for students of the Bible. Could you imagine me asking a Bible class or Confirmation class to open up to Psalm, well, it’s kind of in the middle, you know a little past the suffering servant chapter? How much easier to say, “Please open to Psalm 119:105”?
Even though these chapter and verse divisions are not perfect, we remain thankful for those faithful servants who have gone before us, whose careful work has made our work easier. To God be the glory!
Pastor Ben Golisch
Chapter and Verse
Last month, we had some fun with 3:16 and some very special passages in Scripture that are chapter three verse sixteen. This month, I thought I’d share with you where those chapter and verse numbers came from.
Since early manuscripts of the Scriptures did not use punctuation, paragraph divisions, or even spaces to separate words, it should come as no surprise to learn that the chapter and verse divisions found in modern translations of the New Testament are not original. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul writing his epistles and stopping to include numbers in between some of his sentences? That’s silly. That made early reading the Bible challenging, but with a little work you could figure it out.
Let’s start with the Hebrew Old Testament. Early manuscripts did often divided sections of Scripture into a kind of paragraph by having some kind of division symbol written into the text. Furthermore, the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) was divided into 154 sections so that they could be read aloud in worship over a span of three years. In Babylon, it was divided into 53 or 54 sections so that it could be read within a year. So, even though there was not a chapter and verse delineation, there was a kind of internal break or division within the written text.
Around the 7th or 8th Century A.D., a group of Jews known as the Masoretes sought to protect the Hebrew text. They copied, edited and made meticulous notes about how to read the Hebrew. They started indicating verse divisions using the “:” symbol. Most of their notes became the basis of the later chapter and verse divisions.
As for the New Testament, different kinds of chapter division began showing up as early as the fourth century B.C., however, there was a great variety in style and division. That brings us to Stephen Langton, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton studied at the University of Paris and lectured in theology from 1180-1206 A.D. The many different chapter systems in various Latin Bibles caused great confusion in the classroom. Therefore, he developed what would become our modern chapter divisions.
An interesting footnote: Stephen’s son indicated that his father made these verse divisions while “on horseback” (i.e., on a journey) from Paris to Lyons. Presumably he meant that his father took the text along with him and worked on it at night during his layovers at inns along the way. Some wry observers have noticed, though, that in places our verse divisions make little sense (sometimes they occur right in the middle of a sentence) and have suggested that Stephanus literally worked “on horseback,” so that whenever his steed hit a pothole, it caused an inadvertent slip of the pen.
The first person to divide the New Testament chapters into verses was Santes Pagnino, an Italian Dominican monk, but his verses were much longer and never widely adopted. Instead, it is Robert Estienne, a Parisian printer who is credited with our modern verse division. He first used it in his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament and again in his 1553 French Bible. Both of these Bibles had the verse numbers in the margins. It was his 1555 Latin Vulgate that first integrated these verses into the text like we have today. The first English Bible to use chapter and verse was the Geneva Bible of 1557.
What about the Old Testament verses? The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into verses by a Jewish rabbi named Nathan in 1448 A.D. In 1555, Estienne essentially used Nathan’s verse divisions for the Old Testament. His chapter and verse designations have become the standard, accepted into nearly all the Bible versions.
So, why does this matter? On one hand, we can say it doesn’t. It doesn’t change the text. On the other hand, chapter and verse have been very helpful for students of the Bible. Could you imagine me asking a Bible class or Confirmation class to open up to Psalm, well, it’s kind of in the middle, you know a little past the suffering servant chapter? How much easier to say, “Please open to Psalm 119:105”?
Even though these chapter and verse divisions are not perfect, we remain thankful for those faithful servants who have gone before us, whose careful work has made our work easier. To God be the glory!
Pastor Ben Golisch