East Shelby On-Line Bible Study - Using The Bible's Book, Chapter, Verse System

Using the Bible's Book, Chapter, Verse System:

The Bible was originally written in manuscript form with no divisions in each of the individual books. The epistles in the New Testament read exactly like what they are, namely letters. The Gospels were narrated accounts of Jesus' life. In the Old Testament the history of the children of Israel was recorded no differently than secular history is today. Unfortunately, due to the vast amount of material in the Bible, it was very difficult to converse or to discuss specific portions of scripture with anyone. While nearly everyone is familiar with the story of David and Goliath, how could anyone tell another person where to find the story so that they could read it? The need for a system of cross referencing the Bible is obvious.

The system now being used was developed in the middle of the thirteenth century by Cardinal Hugo. It was refined by a man named Stephens in 1551. Although it is not perfect by any means (after all, it is the work of a man not God), it has served well for hundreds of years. All Bibles being printed today use this plan. For lack of a better term we call it "the chapter and verse system." Let us see how it works.

Each book of the Bible is divided into portions called chapters. Some chapters are very long while others are rather short. Bible chapters are much shorter than chapters found in today's novels and books. Most Bible chapters can be read by the average reader in 15-30 minutes. The Word of God contains 1189 chapters, 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New Testament. Each chapter of the Bible is further divided into sections called verses. A verse is a single thought or statement in a chapter. Verses, like chapters, are numbered so that they are easy to find.

The chapter and verse system has its own notation that makes it possible for anyone to locate anything in the Bible. In this notation the book of the Bible that is being referenced is always written first. If there is more than one book by the same name, a numeral appears to indicate whether it is the first, second, or third book of that title, i. e. 1 Thessalonians or 2 Kings. If reading aloud, one would read this as "First Thessalonians" and "Second Kings." Occasionally, Roman numerals are used (I Thessalonians or II Kings), but this does not change its meaning or how it is read aloud.

Following the name of the book will be a number that indicates the chapter that is being referenced. For example: "Psalms 23" indicates the twenty-third chapter of Psalms. Finally, behind the chapter number will be a colon (:) and then another number which indicates the specific verse under consideration.

As one can readily see, this system is easily mastered. Sometimes, the notation will include a group of verses, like this: Genesis 12:1-5. This means one should look to the first five verses of the twelfth chapter of Genesis.

In the front of most Bibles there will be an index which tells the reader the page number for every book. This greatly simplifies locating the starting point for each reference. Although finding references in the Scriptures may be somewhat of a laborious process at this time, it will not be very long until a person can remember where various books are found and can zip right over to passages with great ease. If there are any further questions about how to look scriptures up in the Bible, please ask the one teaching this study to help you. Enjoy reading the Bible!