Bible Citation - Common Formats

Common Formats

A common format for biblical citations is Book chapter:verses, using a colon to delimit chapter from verse, as in:

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).

Or, stated more formally,

Book chapter for a chapter (John 3);

Book chapter₁–chapter₂ for a range of chapters (John 1–3);

book chapter:verse for a single verse (John 3:16);

book chapter:verse₁–verse₂ for a range of verses (John 3:16–17);

book chapter:verse₁,verse₂ for multiple disjoint verses (John 6:14, 44).

The range delimiter is an en-dash, and there are no spaces on either side of it.

This format is the one accepted by the Chicago Manual of Style and is also the one used in most English-language writings on Judeo-Christian religion, and is also the format used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cite the Book of Mormon. The MLA style is similar, but replaces the colon with a period.

Citations in the APA style add the translation/version of the Bible after the verse. For example, (John 3:16, New International Version). Translation/version names should not be abbreviated (e.g., write out King James Version instead of using KJV). Subsequent citations do not require the translation/version unless that changes. In APA style, the Bible is not listed in the references at the end of the document.

Some Catholic sources, including the notes in most editions of the New American Bible, use the formats:

book chapter,verse (John 3,16)

book chapter,verse₁–verse₂ (John 3,16–17)

book chapter,verse₁.verse₂ (John 6,14.44).