Chapter and verse notations in Bibles are a relatively new development. Chapters were added in the 13th century by Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury, to help make a Bible commentary he was writing able to be more easily referenced.
Robert Estienne, a French scholar, developed the verse system for his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament to make it easier for studying.
When religious persecution caused Protestant scholars to escape from England to Geneva, Switzerland, this group developed the first English translation with chapters and verses — the 1560 Geneva Bible.
Chapters and verses do make studying and sharing the Bible easier. Modern-day Christians rely on having those citations, never having known another option.
But there are also cons.
It’s human nature to automatically pause slightly at the end of a verse and stop at the end of a chapter, breaking up the flow of reading into small chunks that can cause the reader to miss the overarching message.
In addition, this division into chapters sometimes distorts a book’s original layout. One example the Institute for Bible Reading discusses concerns Matthew’s gospel. As written, it had five natural sections meant to mirror the Jewish Torah, indicating that the gospel of Jesus became the new Torah. Chapters interfere with this connection.
The most important implication of these man-made divisions is that a portion of Scripture can be easily pulled from the rest. As a result, many false doctrines or teachings have been built around a verse or a few verses taken out of context.
New generation of Bibles
However, there is a new generation of Bibles without typical chapters and verses. They are known as Reader’s Bibles. These provide an effortless way to grasp the meaning of an entire passage or book.
“Having a Bible created for reading rather than reference will not only make reading the Bible more enjoyable; it’ll uncover things you’ve never seen before and allow you to experience the Bible in a different way,” the Institute for Bible Reading writes. “Many people report getting ‘lost in the story’ when they are able to just read without interruption.”
For years there were only a few Reader’s Bibles and a limited number of translations, but now one can be found in almost every major translation.
These include:
The Reader’s Bible — Christian Standard Bible, published by Holman Bible Publishers, https://readersbible.csbible.com/
Like traditional Bibles, upon opening there is a dedication page, copyright information and the books of the Bible with corresponding page numbers. Following is a one-page summary of the CSB translation, and then it gets right to Genesis.
The pages are set in a paragraph layout with an easy-to-read font, but there aren’t spaces between them. The bottom of each page lists its corresponding chapters in blue and the page number in black. The text is black (no red) and has a relatively large 10-point font.
The only reference materials included are several full-color maps in the back. There are no commentaries or footnotes.
The Reader’s Bible — English Standard Version, published by Crossway, https://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv-readers-bible-tru-4/
Crossway’s Reader’s Bible starts like the Holman publication. From there it differs slightly with a two-page summary of the ESV translation followed by an introduction and user’s guide.
Although also containing single-column paragraphs, the Crossway edition indicates chapters with the number in red on the outer edge of each page and has a 9.5-point type.
It also has no footnotes or commentaries. However, the maps are two-toned instead of full-color.
Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience — New Living Translation, published by Tyndale House Publishers, https://immersebible.com/
This one is the closest to being a Bible that can be read like a novel. Different from most Bibles — even other Reading Bibles — it is a paperback with the same type of paper currently used in popular paperbacks.
Like the others, paragraphs don’t have space between them. But with “Immerse,” sections of text are separated. Although it seems like this could affect fluency the way that chapters do, this layout allows more white space on the page, making it very reader-friendly.
Each page’s header states the chapter-and-verse citation range (for example, 5:3–6:2), making it feasible to use in a group. In fact, the publisher recommends “making this a community experience” but suggests likening it more to a book club than a Bible study.
The set includes six volumes: “Beginnings,” “Kingdoms,” “Prophets,”” Poets,” “Chronicles” and “Messiah” (the New Testament). There is also a separate “Luke and Acts” volume that describes the early Church. The six volumes can be bought as a set, or each of the seven can be purchased alone.
Each volume includes a card with a quick-start guide and an eight-week reading plan.
It differs from both traditional and Reading Bibles because the books of the Bible are sometimes reordered to make it a better “cover-to-cover reading experience.”
Each book of the Bible begins with a short summary and commentary. There is information in the back about the “Immerse” series, the NLT version and that volume, and it includes accompanying black-and-white maps.
Other Reading Bible options:
— The Lectio Bible — New International Version.
— The Bible Without Chapters and Verses — American Standard Bible.
—The Holy Bible: King James Version (Without Chapters, Verses & Footnotes).
— Holy Bible, NASB 1995 (Without Chapter or Verse Numbers) — New American Standard Bible (Kindle only).
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