The Bible has not always contained chapters and verses. The books of the Bible were written over a period of about 1500 years and the first divisions were those of the different books.

In the original Hebrew, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, and 1st and 2nd Chronicles were not in first and second parts but one book. When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into the popular Greek language of the day, known as the Septuagint, the translators separated the books mentioned above into two parts. Chapters and verses would not be divided until many years later.

A few years ago, I noticed something I had not observed in the past. While preaching in Acts 13:33, Paul refers to the “Second Psalm.” Here, we have our earliest record of some form of chapter division in a book of the Bible. What Paul said was in the second Psalm is in fact in the second Psalm of our English translations today: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Psalm 2:7).

The Bible was not divided into chapters as a whole Book until A.D. 1236 by Cardinal Caro. The Bible was not divided into verses until A.D. 1551 by Robert Stephens. The Geneva Bible of A.D. 1560 was the first English Bible to make use of chapters and verses.

So, now you know the rest of the story. It certainly makes it easier to find your way around the Bible when you learn your books, chapters, and verses. Let our preaching, teaching, and source of doctrine always be from book, chapter, and verse. “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God…” (1 Peter 4:11).