Chapter and verse divisions
act like stop and yield signs for Bible readers. They slow down at
verse markers and come to a full stop at chapter divisions. While they are very
useful for locating specific texts, they often destroy the contexts in which verse
and chapter divisions were inserted. One example is the first story in the
Bible.
●
The story begins at Genesis 1:1 and ends
at Genesis 2:4a.
●
The first sentence of the story begins in
verse 1 and ends at the end of verse 2.
●
The first chapter ends with the work done
by the Creator on Day Six.
●
The insertion of the chapter 2 division
separates Day Seven from the other six days.
●
The end of the first story in the Bible
is in the middle of a verse (2:4a).
●
Verse 2:4b is actually the beginning of
the second story in the Bible.
With
the insertion of chapter and verse divisions, the first story is viewed as “The Creation of the Heavens and the Earth,”
but when we view it in its original context it is “The Story of the Creation of the Kingdom of the Unnamed God.” Those
are two very different stories and most Bible readers have never heard “The Story of the Creation of the Kingdom of
the Unnamed God.” So, who inserted chapter and verse divisions and when did
they do it?
Chapter Divisions
Stephen Langton (c. 1150 – 9 July
1228) was a Roman Catholic and Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his
death in 1228. He is credited with having divided the Bible into the standard modern
arrangement of chapters used today.
Hugh of Saint-Cher (c. 1200 – 19 March
1263) was a French Dominican cardinal and noted biblical commentator. He
developed a different system of chapter division, but Langton’s system is the
one found in most Bible translations today.[i]
Verse Divisions
Rabbi
Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus wrote the first Hebrew Bible concordance around 1440 and it played a major role in
determining verse locations after the invention of the printing press. The
concordance was first printed in 1523, and its system became the standard for
the Old Testament.[ii]
Santes Pagnino (1470–1541), an
Italian Dominican friar, leading philologists and Biblical scholar, divided the
New Testament chapters into verses.[iii]
Robert
I Estienne (1503 – 7 September 1559), a 16th-century printer and
classical scholar in Paris, was the first to print the New Testament divided
into standard numbered verses. He was a former Catholic who became a Protestant
late in his life. His system became the standard for the New Testament.
Identify the Context First
Before
reading your Bible, scan the words and identify the flow of the story. Stories
usually have beginnings and endings that are pretty easy to find.
●
The first story in Genesis is about the
acts of an unnamed god.
●
The second story is about the acts of
Yahweh the god.
●
The first story is about the creation of
the heavens and the earth.
●
The second story is about the making of
the earth and the heavens.
When
you read the story, ignore verse markers, and let the flow of the story guide
you. If you are studying a text that is very important to you, go online, find the
translation you like, copy it, paste in your word processor and then literally
remove the chapter and verse divisions. This makes it much easier to
concentrate on the story as it unfolds right before your eyes.
Thank
you for reading this. Please share and discuss it with others.
May
your life be blessed with an abundance of TOV,
Jim Myers
Jim Myers
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