Bibles without chapters or verses

Place for books, articles, and websites with content that connect or detail Anabaptist theology
Adam
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: Papua New Guinea
Affiliation: Kingdom Christian

Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Adam »

I recently received a copy of the ESV Reader's Bible, Six-Volume Set. If you are a fan of the ESV, I can't recommend this more highly. Having all chapter numbers, verse numbers, notes, references, and most section headings removed from the text draws you deep into the text and makes it come alive in a new way. Instead of reading a chapter at a time and then getting distracted by all the notes, you just read the text almost like a novel. And because it is printed in six volumes, the paper is very thick and has no ghosting. The section headings that do remain are major level headings (such as 'Sermon on the Mount'), and it helps you to see the major divisions in a book while also letting you see the connections between the smaller units that we often miss because of the minor section heading breaks. A similar set is put out by Bibliotheca using the ASV revised to remove archaic language. I imagine this same sort of formatting will be coming out for other translations in the not too distant future because of the great reception these two sets have received.

As many of you probably know, chapter numbers were added to the Bible in 1227 and verse numbers in 1551 (NT) and 1555 (OT). So when you read without verses at least, you are reading the same way the early Anabaptists read.

P.S. Hopefully Bibles without chapters and verses won't end up as a line item on the Christian Fads post! I hope they are here to stay, although I don't ever see them replacing chapter and verse Bibles.
0 x
lesterb
Posts: 1160
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:41 pm
Location: Alberta
Affiliation: Western Fellowship
Contact:

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by lesterb »

Adam wrote:I recently received a copy of the ESV Reader's Bible, Six-Volume Set. If you are a fan of the ESV, I can't recommend this more highly. Having all chapter numbers, verse numbers, notes, references, and most section headings removed from the text draws you deep into the text and makes it come alive in a new way. Instead of reading a chapter at a time and then getting distracted by all the notes, you just read the text almost like a novel. And because it is printed in six volumes, the paper is very thick and has no ghosting. The section headings that do remain are major level headings (such as 'Sermon on the Mount'), and it helps you to see the major divisions in a book while also letting you see the connections between the smaller units that we often miss because of the minor section heading breaks. A similar set is put out by Bibliotheca using the ASV revised to remove archaic language. I imagine this same sort of formatting will be coming out for other translations in the not too distant future because of the great reception these two sets have received.

As many of you probably know, chapter numbers were added to the Bible in 1227 and verse numbers in 1551 (NT) and 1555 (OT). So when you read without verses at least, you are reading the same way the early Anabaptists read.

P.S. Hopefully Bibles without chapters and verses won't end up as a line item on the Christian Fads post! I hope they are here to stay, although I don't ever see them replacing chapter and verse Bibles.
Dumb question probably, but do they use paragraphs?
0 x
Adam
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: Papua New Guinea
Affiliation: Kingdom Christian

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Adam »

lesterb wrote: Dumb question probably, but do they use paragraphs?
They do not do a new paragraph for each verse as is typical in most King James Bibles. Rather, paragraph breaks are inserted to follow the natural structure of the text. Poetry is formatted as poetry, and because it is a single column layout, it avoids most of the awkward line breaks that you get with poetry in double column layout Bibles.
0 x
MaxPC
Posts: 9044
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 9:09 pm
Location: Former full time RVers
Affiliation: PlainRomanCatholic
Contact:

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by MaxPC »

I've seen the leather bound single volume and thought it was a brilliant way to encourage regular Bible reading. How does this edition fare? Accurate?

The chapter and verse divisions are excellent for academic peer reviews and consistency between translators.

For the average non-academic however, I can see where those would interfere with the flow of reading the Bible. Hopefully other translations will pursue this as well.
0 x
Max (Plain Catholic)
Mt 24:35
Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
Adam
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: Papua New Guinea
Affiliation: Kingdom Christian

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Adam »

MaxPC wrote:I've seen the leather bound single volume and thought it was a brilliant way to encourage regular Bible reading. How does this edition fare? Accurate?

The chapter and verse divisions are excellent for academic peer reviews and consistency between translators.

For the average non-academic however, I can see where those would interfere with the flow of reading the Bible. Hopefully other translations will pursue this as well.
The main problem with the single volume is the very thin paper and ghosting. We don't read any other books that have paper that thin and ghosting. It really does make a big difference. My thought is: If you are going for a Reader's Edition, put out all the stops and make it a true reader's edition. The thicker paper makes quite a difference.

The great thing about removing chapters and verses is that it moves us away from proof texting and considering individual quotes out of context. But when doing detailed study and interacting with books and commentaries, obviously the chapter and verse references are a must. So when doing detailed study, the chapter and verse Bible is the way to go, but when reading, I would highly recommend this type of Bible. We get so caught up in the details of the text that we often miss the big picture of what it is trying to say to us. I would say that is true even for the academic--chapters and verses and notes and cross-references interfere with the flow of reading the Bible. It is visual clutter, which affects us all. (Not to say that the clutter doesn't have its use for detailed study.)
0 x
Valerie
Posts: 5309
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:59 am
Location: Medina OH
Affiliation: non-denominational

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Valerie »

The church we've been going to uses ESV so we purchased the giant print for my husband-
I have to admit it is hard for me as I read the ESV because I will read a passage that I was familiar with in the KJV or NKJV version and I get perplexed why the ESV changes the wording- it seems to give some passages a different meaning-
Admittedly I haven't researched about this translation- but ours still has chapter & verse-

Question- from time to time Jesus would quote passages from the OT- and also certain passages the disciples would recall, - I understand what people are saying about proof texting (which I didn't even learn of this until Mennodiscuss) but since the Lord & disciples would bring up certain passages themselves, is it wrong to do so?
0 x
Adam
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: Papua New Guinea
Affiliation: Kingdom Christian

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Adam »

Valerie wrote:Question- from time to time Jesus would quote passages from the OT- and also certain passages the disciples would recall, - I understand what people are saying about proof texting (which I didn't even learn of this until Mennodiscuss) but since the Lord & disciples would bring up certain passages themselves, is it wrong to do so?
Valerie, it is a good observation that Jesus and the disciples often quoted from the Old Testament in a way that we might be tempted to classify as proof texting. The difference is that they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak/write they way that they did. And even so, they never quote the Old Testament in such a way as to ignore the witness of Scripture as a whole or speak in contradiction to the bigger picture of what God was doing in history.

Generally those who offer proof texts today do so to the neglect of other Scripture references that would disprove their point. That is generally what I consider a proof text. When making a point regarding what Scripture teaches, we need to take into account the entirety of what Scripture teaches on the subject, giving priority to Jesus first, the rest of the New Testament second, and, finally, the Old Testament. So, we can cite just one Scripture so long as our interpretation of that Scripture is faithful to the testimony of Scripture as a whole and the bigger picture of what God is doing in history. I believe that is what Jesus and the disciples did, but that is not usually what happens these days when one Scripture is pulled out of context to prove a point.

For example, I could quote Proverbs 21:20a, "Previous treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling," and then argue that the Lord wants me to store up precious treasures for myself on earth because it is wise to do so, but that would be in direct conflict with the teachings of Jesus, who says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." If I quoted and interpreted Proverbs 21:20a in that way, it would be a prooftext. I would be relying on one Scripture taken in isolation to make it say what I want it to say even though my interpretation of that Scripture is out of line with what the whole of Scripture teaches. I don't think Jesus or the Apostles do that when they quote the Old Testament.
0 x
Adam
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: Papua New Guinea
Affiliation: Kingdom Christian

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Adam »

Valerie wrote:The church we've been going to uses ESV so we purchased the giant print for my husband-
I have to admit it is hard for me as I read the ESV because I will read a passage that I was familiar with in the KJV or NKJV version and I get perplexed why the ESV changes the wording- it seems to give some passages a different meaning-
Admittedly I haven't researched about this translation- but ours still has chapter & verse-
I have seen one recent edition of the NKJV that is a single volume Bible without chapters or verses. It is available on Amazon and Christian Book.
0 x
User avatar
ohio jones
Posts: 5221
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:23 pm
Location: undisclosed
Affiliation: Rosedale Network

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by ohio jones »

Valerie wrote:Question- from time to time Jesus would quote passages from the OT- and also certain passages the disciples would recall, - I understand what people are saying about proof texting (which I didn't even learn of this until Mennodiscuss) but since the Lord & disciples would bring up certain passages themselves, is it wrong to do so?
The written record in the Gospels is of course not a complete transcription of what Jesus said; it's quite possible in many cases that he quoted a larger portion to give more context, but the writer only included enough to identify the passage. The reader then could follow the cross reference in the center column to find the chapter and verse and read the context for themselves. If they had a Bible with those features, anyway. :)
0 x
I grew up around Indiana, You grew up around Galilee; And if I ever really do grow up, I wanna grow up to be just like You -- Rich Mullins

I am a Christian and my name is Pilgram; I'm on a journey, but I'm not alone -- NewSong, slightly edited
User avatar
Bootstrap
Posts: 14439
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:59 am
Affiliation: Mennonite

Re: Bibles without chapters or verses

Post by Bootstrap »

I first ran into a Bible without chapters and verses some decades ago, and I really like them. Not as the Bible you look things up in by chapter and verse, but for general reading.

There's a problem in the way most of us read Bibles - we read only a few verses at a time, then stop. That means we tend to read a lot of things out of context. We don't read any other book that way, just the Bible. Reading several chapters at a time, or reading entire books, can be extremely helpful. You'll miss things the first time around, but you'll pick up on them when you read it a few more times, and you'll be picking up on the context as you go.

Growing up, I was told that entire letters of Paul would be read in one sitting to a church. I haven't examined the evidence on this, but this is how I think of it still.
0 x
Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?
Post Reply