Who divided the Bible into chapters and verses ?

Question

The original writers did not break up their writings into chapter and verse, so who did it?

Who had the Authority to do that?

Do you or I have the Authority to break up the current chapters/verses into more chapters/verses?

Answer 1

True, at least for the Hebrew Scripture, which are written without any punctuation...although it does use white space to differentiate between topics.

As for arranging it into the current chapter and verse format, that was the Catholic Church, who did so to be able to universally quote the same passage with no misunderstanding.

Later, the Masoretes, using Jewish Oral Traditions, did the same for the Hebrew Scriptures. For the most part, the chapters and verses coincide between tHe Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian OT, but there are some difference....and there are cases where the Church overrode the Masoretes to force compliance to their view. Later Jewish commentator often note when a particular verse 'belongs' to the adjacent chapter.

The problem that this created is that, in many places, the insertion of a 'chapter break' was done to imply a change of topic, and thus meaning to the text.

Answer 2

It depends what version of the bible you have. The Hebrew Bible was broken up by the Masoretes. The Greek Old testament (septuagint) is broken up differently, not just in chapters or verses but in books. (In Hebrew for example, there is no 1 and 2 Kings, etc. but just one big book. Also Ezra and Nehemiah are one big book).

Most English translations of the bible also have different book and verse divisions than the Hebrew version.

The New Testament was broken up into verses by scholars, but the books themselves were all individual scrolls. However, depending on which copy you have, the verses are different and so the numbers won't match up. Modern Scholars have attempted to arrive at an official version by comparing the differing manuscripts. Most likely, the bible you have is the patterned after the King James Version.

As to authority. Hm. I don't know. I guess they used logic (like, a new story or section is a new chapter, and each verse is a sentence) so I don't see the harm. It just makes it easier to navigate and discuss the text. I can't think of a reason why breaking up sentences into numbers and different sections into chapters would corrupt the meaning. What are you worried about? I mean, by your logic you should probably learn Greek Hebrew and Aramaic like I have.

Answer 3

The Old Testament was originally divided into fifty-four sections by the Jews. One section was read in the synagogue every Sabbath day (Acts 13:15). These sections were subdivided by the Masoretes into 669 “orders.” The divisions or sections found in the Greek and Latin manuscripts are different from those of the Hebrew books, they are of unequal and arbitrary length, and very different from the chapters in our modern printed Bibles.

The books of the New Testament were divided at an early period into certain portions, which would appear under various names. There were originally two kinds of sections called “titles” and “chapters.” The “titles” were portions of the Gospels, with summaries placed at the top or bottom of the page. The “chapters” were divisions, with numeral notations, chiefly adapted to the Gospel harmony of Ammonius. Other sectional divisions are occasionally seen in manuscripts, which appear to have varied at different times and in different churches.

The numerical division of the Old and New Testament is ascribed to a number of individuals. Some scholars believe that the chapter divisions should be attributed to the students of Cardinal Hugo of Saint Cher in 1240 AD. Cardinal Hugo was organizing a concordance of the Bible and utilized the help of his eager students to reference the verses in the Bible in a way to locate individual words quickly. Others believe that Stephen Langton, archbishop of Cantebury (1228 AD) is responsible for the chapter divisions.

It should be noted that before the invention of printing the Bible had already passed from Latin manuscripts to many other languages and after the invention of printing many of the earlier established divisions became accepted. Chapters in early printed Bibles were subdivided into seven portions, marked in the margin by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, reference being made by the chapter number and the letter under which the passage occurred. This subdivision continued long after the present verses were added, but by the seventeenth Century was modified.

The present verses differ in origin for the Old Testament and the New Testament. The earliest printed Hebrew Bibles marked each fifth verse only with a Hebrew numeral. Arabic numerals were first added for the intervening verses by Joseph Athias in 1661 A.D. The first portion of the Bible printed with the Masoretic verses numbered was published in 1509 A.D. In 1528 A.D. a new Latin version of the whole Bible with the Masoretic verses marked and numbered was published. The verses in this Bible were three or four times as long as the verses in our present Bibles.

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. Legend has it that Robert Stephens numbered the verses of the Bible while on horseback on a trip. His son testifies that his father did indeed number the verses of the Bible while on a trip from Paris to Lyons, but that the work was done while resting at the inns along the road.

Answer 4

That's just a convenience so you can find individual scriptures.

In So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, by Doug Adams, it says, "The floor was old, stained concrete, excitingly cracked."

Now how am I supposed to find that randomly picked phrase again, and how can you hope to find it at all if you have a different edition? See the problem? Chapter and verse provides the solution.

Answer 5

Who ever put the Bible together they could only go by biblical dates, but, what about the writings long before Jesus was born?

Not Adam nor Eve could write, speak or do any kind of art in the early beggining....so that can never be written only assumed because there is no facts to prove otherwise.

Answer 6

Take a guess evangelical Book worshippers:

THE CATHOLIC FREEKING CHURCH

you should thank them for the book you hail to...

Take a wild guess what kind of "monks" translated all the books?
any guesses?
it is the Catholic church who debated whether to put ANY ancient writings into the book and include them as "canon" _Catholic word_
and it is they who debated whether to stick that crazy shabam ending revelations in even though it was written very long after Jesus died.

I think the Catholic Church should have left it out just to save us all from you Evangelical Protestant American nutters with your end times garbage.

Answer 7

The translators did to try and make it easier to read. Sometimes you have divisions with some translations that try to make a thought according to doctrine. Read it all together and ignore the breaks and you'll be fine. Keep in mind the breaks in modern translations are more accurate than they used to be.

Answer 8

People who take the Bible literally believe the whole Bible was inspired by God. In Greek inspired literally means, "breath out". So that means every dot, coma, and chapter was designed by God through those who edited and wrote the Bible.

Answer 9

It makes it much easier to reference I would hate to have to read an entire book to find a simple little verse. Also It gives the Christians a chance to say you are taking it all out of context. When you reference one of the many bad passages of the bible. BB

Answer 10

Someone intelligent who wanted it to be organized and in a form that would reveal some pretty amazing things, if studied correctly.