Bible citation

A citation from the Bible is usually referenced with the book name, chapter number and verse number. Sometimes, the name of the Bible translation is also included. There are several formats for doing so.

For example, The Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 5, of The Living Bible (TLB) could be cited as:

Genesis 3:5, TLB

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

Or, stated more formally,

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 format used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cite scriptural standard works. 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.

When citations are used in run-in quotations, they should not, according to The Christian Writer's Manual of Style, contain the punctuation either from the quotation itself (such as a terminating exclamation mark or question mark) or from the surrounding prose. The full-stop at the end of the surrounding sentence belongs outside of the parentheses that surround the citation. For example:

The Christian Writer's Manual of Style also states that a citation that follows a block quotation of text may either be in parentheses flush against the text, or right-aligned following an em-dash on a new line. For example:

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