The division of chapters, verses, and paragraphs in the Holy Scriptures is not inspired but rather added by men to improve the ability to find and identify passages. This gradual process began in the third century and finished in the seventeenth century.

Early divisions

In the third century, Ammonius of Alexandria divided the Gospels into small sections to make it easier to compare parallel passages, and his system was improved by Eusebius of Caesarea, a fourth-century theologian. At the beginning of the fifth century an unknown writer divided the Pauline Epistles into chapters, and Euthalius, a deacon of Alexandria, extended this division to the remaining Epistles and Acts.

Euthalius divided the text into stichoi or lines each containing one clause or idea, in order to help reading aloud and memorisation. This method met with general approval and was applied by others to the Gospels. This ‘stichometric’ writing was in general use until the eighth century. While it was probably not invented by Euthalius, it was first used by him for the New Testament.

However, over time, in order to save space this method was given up, and copyists contented themselves with marking the ends of the ‘stichoi’ with points or other signs. This gave rise to the more elaborate system developed in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. Another method was colometry, where the text was fragmented into phrases or short lines.

Stephen Langton’s contribution

Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury in the thirteenth century, played a pivotal role in the organisation of the Bible by creating the system of chapter divisions. He divided the Bible into chapters to facilitate reading, study, and reference. This system was not only adopted by the Latin Vulgate but also became the standard for future Bible translations in various languages.

Cardinal Hugo de Santo Caro

In around A.D. 1248 Cardinal Hugo de Santo Caro, a theologian from the Dominican order, while preparing a concordance to the whole Bible, divided it into its present chapters, subdividing these into several parts by placing the letters A, B, C, D, etc. in the margin at equal distances from each other. These divisions were later introduced into many printed editions such as Stephens’ Greek New Testament of 1550, but still without verse numbers.

Cardinal Hugo’s divisions were used in many manuscript copies of the Latin Vulgate, and gradually found a place also in later Greek manuscripts written in Western Europe, and in the earliest printed and all later editions of the Greek New Testament.

Division into verses

The divisions made by Hugo with the letters of the alphabet, and then those adopted by Pagninus in his Latin Bible of 1528, were inconveniently large, and Robert Estienne (better known to us as Stephens) introduced a system of numbered verse divisions in his Greek New Testament published at Geneva in 1551. For this he used as his model the short verses into which the Hebrew Bible had been divided by Rabbi Nathan in 1508, first printed in Venice in 1524. Henry Stephens, Robert’s father, had introduced verse numbers in his 1509 edition of the Psalms.

Stephen’s verse divisions did not just have an impact on Greek editions, but also on translations into other languages. In subsequent years, the verse divisions appeared in:  

• 1552 French New Testament (Calvin’s revision of Olivetan’s NT)
• 1553 Italian New Testament (Paschale’s translation)
• 1555 Latin Vulgate (produced by Stephens and published in Geneva)
• 1556 Dutch Bible
• 1556 Latin version (Beza’s translation from the Greek)
• 1557 Geneva English New Testament

The 1557 Geneva New Testament was the precursor of the English Geneva Bible of 1560, which included a revision of the New Testament. From these, the verse divisions found their way to the Bishop’s Bible of 1568, and thence to the Authorised Version of 1611, and are still in use today.

In some instances, Beza improved upon Stephens’s verse divisions. In places where they differ most subsequent versions, and the Elzevir editions of the Greek New Testament in 1624 and 1633, follow Beza.

Estienne’s innovation of verse divisions not only transformed the Bible reading of his time but set a standard that has stood the test of time. His inclusion of his verse numbering system became the standard practice in modern Scripture, present in virtually every version of the Bible today.

Conclusion

Structuring the Bible into chapters and verses is a valuable tool that makes it easier to find and reference specific passages. However, we must remember that these divisions are the work of man. God gave us His Word without these divisions, and both the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles quoted Scripture with the phrase ‘it is written’, giving authority to the text without the need for chapters or verses. It is important that, as we read, we remember that these divisions are helpful conventions, but they are not part of the Spirit-inspired text. By keeping this in mind, we can approach Bible study more objectively, allowing the Lord’s guidance to determine how to interpret and apply His Word in its entirety, beyond these added divisions.