CHAPTERs AND VERSES

1.     The Bible was written in the same form we write today.

a.     Sentences

b.     Paragraphs

c.     Topic areas

2.     The chapter and verse divisions were an addition by men.

a.     Jews divided OT into 54 “sections” – one section read each week

b.     The present New Testament verses were introduced by Robert Stephens first in his Greco-Latin Testament published in 1551 A.D., and then later Stephens published the Latin Vulgate of 1555, the first whole Bible divided into the present verses.

3.     The purpose was to assist in locating a particular statement. For many years there were several different chapter and verse divisions.

4.     There is also a danger to these divisions.

a.     We often stop reading at the end of a chapter or a verse.

b.     We often miss the meaning or import of a passage because we stop before we should.

Statistics

Except where stated, the following apply to the King James Version of the Bible in its modern Protestant form, i.e. including the New Testament but none of the deuterocanonical books. The number of words can vary depending upon aspects such as whether the Hebrew Alphabet in Psalm 119 or the superscriptions listed in some of the Psalms and New Testament are included.

Chapters

• There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 chapters in the New Testament. This gives a total of 1,189 chapters (on average, 18 per book).
• Psalm 117 is the middle chapter of the Bible, being the 595th Chapter.
• Psalm 117 is also the shortest chapter of the Bible.
• Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the Bible.

Verses

• There are 23,145 verses in the Old Testament and 7,957 verses in the New Testament. This gives a total of 31,102 verses,^[9] which is an average of a little more than 26 verses per chapter.
• Contrary to popular belief, Psalm 118 does not contain the middle verse of the Bible. The King James Version has an even number of verses (31,102), with the two middle verses being Psalm 103:1-2.^[10]
• 1 Chronicles 1:25 ("Eber, Peleg, Reu") is the shortest verse in the Old Testament.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16 ("παντοτε χαιρετε", "Rejoice always") is the shortest verse in the original Greek of the New Testament.^[11]
• Isaiah 10:8 ("Dicet enim") is the shortest verse in the Latin Vulgate.^[12]
• John 11:35 ("Jesus wept") is the shortest verse in most English translations. Some translations — including the New International Version, New Living Translation, New Life Version, Holman Christian Standard Bible and New International Reader's Version — render Job 3:2 as "He said". However, this is a translators' condensation of the Hebrew which literally translated is "And Job answered and said."
• Esther 8:9 is the longest verse in the Masoretic Text. The discovery of several manuscripts at Qumran (in the Dead Sea Scrolls) has reopened what is considered the most original text of 1 Samuel 11; if one believes that those manuscripts better preserve the text, several verses in 1 Samuel 11 surpass Esther 8:9 in length.

Chapter Divisions

1.     2 Timothy 3:14-4:2

2.     Hebrews 11:39 – 12:2

a.     Chapter 11 – lists the great heroes of faith

b.     Chapter 12 – “a great cloud of witnesses”

3.     Acts 4:32 – 5:5

a.     Chapter 4 sounds like the ideal of “communism”

b.     Chapter 5 shows the weakness of this “utopia”

Verse Divisions

1.     Ephesians 2:8-10

a.     Many quote verses 8 – 9   saved by grace, not of works

b.     Fail to quote verse 10        workmanship, good works

2.     Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

a.     The dead know not anything – 5

b.     No reward, no portion with anything “under the sun” – 6

3.     Galatians 3:26-27

a.     We are children of God by faith – 26

b.     We are baptized into Christ – 27

4.     Ephesians 5:21-23

a.     We often begin at verse 22 – submit, husband is head

b.     We fail to connect verse 21 – submit to one another