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Author
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: Bill Kochman
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Publish
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: Nov. 18, 2025
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Update
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: Nov. 18, 2025
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Parts
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: 02
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Synopsis:
Facts Behind Word Capitalization In The KJV, The History Of And The Factors Behind Introduction Of Numbers Chapters And Verses In The KJV, Latin Vulgate Bible, Geneva Bible And The Reluctance To Accept The KJV, Persecution Of Protestants By Henry VIII Blood Mary Et Al, King James I's Persecution Of The Puritans, Some Separatist Puritans Emigrated To America On The Mayflower In 1620, A Universal Standard, Unnecessary Chapter Breaks In Some Bible Books, Minimal Or No Spacing In Earliest Hebrew And Greek Texts, The Gradual Introduction Of Punctuation Marks, Early Hebrew Lacked Punctuation And Vowel Markings And Consisted Mainly Of Consonants, Oral Tradition, Additional Improvements By Masorete Scholars And The Masorah, Punctuation And Modern Bibles, Conclusion, Suggested Reading
Continuing our discussion from part one, and to reiterate the original point I made concerning the capitalization of words, insofar as capitalizing common nouns was concerned, the 1611 KJV Bible translators were not influenced by any specific theological criteria, personal biases, political views, or doctrinal leanings. They were simply adhering to the rather fluid and inconsistent linguistic and printing norms which were in existence during that time period in which they both lived and worked. However, please note that I am only referring to word capitalization here and NOT to actual word translation itself. I have considerably more to say regarding this issue in other articles I have written, which you will find listed at the end of this same article.
This also applies to the dividing up of the original Hebrew and Koine Greek texts into both chapters and verses as we all know the Bible today. That is to say, with numbered chapters, and with individual numbered verses as well. These divisions were a more recent development, and were clearly NOT a part of the original autographs and the manuscripts thereafter, in which each book was written in one solid block of text. These textual divisions were again done at the pure discretion of the translators for the sake of ease of reading, and other reasons.
For example, Bible chapter divisions are generally attributed to Stephen Langto, who was an Archbishop of Canterbury during the mid 12th to early 13th centuries. Langto was likewise a lecturer at the University of Paris. He developed his system of chapter divisions around the year 1205 AD for the purpose of assisting students and scholars in both navigating and referencing specific passages within the Latin Vulgate Bible. The Latin Vulgate was the standard Bible translation during that particular time period due to the obvious and powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Sadly, this practice kept God's Word out of the direct hands of the common people for literally centuries, as I explain in other BBB articles.
Concerning the Hebrew Bible -- which is the same thing as our Old Testament -- its division into single verses goes back to a much earlier time. According to my personal research, these divisions were based on a Jewish tradition to assist with oral reading and interpretation of the Torah. However, the modern verse numbering system of the Old Testament was standardized by a Jewish rabbi by the name of Nathan in the year 1448 AD.
Lastly, my research has revealed that the New Testament was not actually given a widely accepted verse numbering system until 1551 AD. This was accomplished by a Parisian printer and scholar by the name of Robert Estienne -- who was also known as Robert Stephanus -- who first introduced his New Testament verse numbering system in his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament.
Concerning the first complete English Bible which actually incorporated both the modern chapter and verse divisions as we know them today, this would be the well-known and very beloved Geneva Bible, which was published in English in the year 1560 AD. In fact, as I mention in a few other of my BBB articles, when the 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible was first published some fifty years later, it was NOT quickly adopted by the common people, who instead preferred to remain with the Geneva Bible. This was due in part to the fact that the Geneva Bible contained anti-Catholic marginal notes with which the people identified.
Strong animosity towards Roman Catholicism was due largely to the persecutions which were carried out by Catholic monarchs such as Henry VIII, Mary I -- a.k.a. "Blood Mary" -- and to a lesser degree by Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Even King James I -- who sponsored the Authorized King James Bible, and who was the son of Mary I -- persecuted the Protestants, even though he was raised as a Protestant and a Calvinist. In particular, he prosecuted those he considered nonconformists or "radical" Puritans, who refused to adhere to the rules of the Church of England. King James I believed strongly in the "divine right of kings" and the hierarchical structure of the Church of England, with the monarch as its head. As a result, he viewed any challenge to his authority in religious matters as also being a threat to his overall rule as king.
What is particularly interesting regarding these historical events is that the most extreme Puritans -- who were known as the Separatists -- completely broke away from the Church of England rather than conform to James I's mandates. They faced significant persecution, leading some -- such as the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 -- to emigrate to North America five years before James I's death in 1625. So while James I has been lauded by many Christians due to the Bible which was named in his honor, he was far from being a Saint.
At any rate, the chapter and verse divisions we discussed earlier have since become the universal standard for Bibles across many languages and versions. In some cases, I believe that the scholars who were involved in these textual changes and divisions could have done a little bit better job. I say this because there are a few places in the Scriptures where such divisions do seem to break the flow of the Spirit, and thus the flow of thought and what is actually being said. I believe that sometimes, readers lose the connection between one chapter and the next because of these division points.
For example, if a reader suddenly begins reading at the very beginning of the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, without having first read the eleventh chapter, he or she might not realize that when the author writes "so great a cloud of witnesses", he is referring back to all the individuals he just mentioned in chapter eleven. In a similar fashion, if the reader begins reading at the very beginning of Romans 8, he or she may not realize the connection to what the Apostle Paul had written previously in chapter 7 regarding his own personal struggles with sin and the flesh. You may or may not agree with me.
Another challenge with Bible translations concerns the proper placement of punctuation marks. Just as we discussed earlier regarding the capitalization of words in the Hebrew and Koine Greek manuscripts, we encounter a similar issue when it comes to punctuation. The fact of the matter is that neither the original Hebrew Old Testament or the Koine Greek New Testament manuscripts utilized any form of punctuation marks, such as the comma, for example. Both were written in a continuous flow of letters. In the Old Testament, this meant that there was minimal spacing -- or simple dots -- in the early Hebrew manuscripts. Regarding the Greek New Testament, as I mentioned earlier, aside from the fact that Koine Greek was written in all uppercase letters -- known as uncials -- it was also written without spaces between words, which was known as "scriptio continua".
As a result of this lack of visual cues, readers simply had to rely on their familiarity with the language, context, and the rhetorical flow in order to properly interpret the pauses and sentence divisions during oral reading. However, as the centuries passed, various scribes gradually began introducing aids to assist New Testament readers. There were three major developments in this area, as noted below:
1. Rudimentary dots were the earliest form of punctuation, and indicated short, moderate, or full pauses. However, the use of such dots was sporadic and unsystematic in the early Greek manuscripts.
2. Breath marks and accents were even later additions which became more common in Greek manuscripts after 800 AD. These marks and accents aided in proper pronunciation.
3. Modern-style punctuation -- including the comma, colon, and full stop -- became standard with the transition to minuscule -- or lowercase -- script in the ninth and tenth centuries AD. The term "full stop" is the equivalent of a period mark at the end of a sentence.
For modern readers, reading ancient Hebrew as we find in the Old Testament -- or Hebrew Bible -- would've been even more challenging. Not only did the early Hebrew manuscripts lack any kind of formal punctuation and vowel markings, but to make reading it even more difficult, Hebrew text primarily consisted of consonants. Furthermore, proper pronunciation and phrasing were simply passed down by means of strong oral tradition. As I briefly mentioned a moment ago, spaces and paragraph divisions were sometimes indicated by either a dot between words, or by a break in the line. However, a uniform system did not yet exist.
In addition to the above, cantillation marks -- which were musical notations for chanting the text in the synagogue -- and vowel points were later systematically added to the text by the Masoretes from the 6th to the 10th century AD. These marks helped clarify pronunciation, and did include symbols that served a function similar to punctuation by indicating pauses or connections between words within a verse.
Regarding the Masoretes, they were a group of Jewish scholars who contributed to the establishment of a recognized text of the Hebrew Bible, and also to the compilation of the Masorah. The Masorah was/is a collection of information and commentary on the text of the traditional Hebrew Bible. That is to say, the Tanakh or Miqra. On a side note, please realize that the Masorah and the Babylonian Talmud are NOT the same thing. The purpose of the Masorah is to ensure that the biblical text is accurately transmitted, while the Talmud interprets that text and applies it to Jewish life and law.
Moving up to our current times, as we all know, modern Bibles include various punctuation marks to make the text readable and understandable for a modern audience. And so, translators insert commas, periods, and other punctuation marks, based on the grammatical structure of the original language, and the interpretive tradition passed down through centuries. While these additions are interpretive aids, and NOT a part of the original, inspired text -- meaning the autographs -- they do help to communicate the intended meaning of the text to a contemporary audience.
In conclusion, my dear friends, I hope you can see that the translation of the ancient Hebrew and Greek texts into modern English was NOT such an easy task, and that how we understand the Holy Scriptures today is in fact directly influenced by the level of accuracy of the particular Bible translation we are using. That being the case, I urge all of you to choose wisely when it comes to determining which version holds the most truth.
With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!
For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.
Are You Flexible?
Controversy: Matthew 28:19 and the Trinitarian Phrase
Facebook False Prophets and Misguided Teachers
Have You Read the New Scriptures Yet?
History of the Authorized King James Bible
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
In Defense of the KJV Bible
Is the KJV Bible the Inerrant Word of God?
It Is Time to Wake Up!
King James Bible: Structure and Breakdown
My Evolving Theology
Please Stop Misinterpreting the Scriptures
Queen James Bible: Blasphemous Abomination Exposed!
Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?
The Parable of the Sower: Salvation and Service
Understanding the Bible in Context