Did you know? Chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original Bible text but were added much later for reference sake. This is something of a mixed blessing. In one way, it is a very good thing because it enables people to find a specific text quickly (imagine a preacher today asking people to turn to a text in Isaiah or Jeremiah and the people having to read through each book until they came across the verse he was refering to). Yet in another way, it is not a good thing as it tends towards people reading only specific texts rather than seeing each verse in its original context. Nevertheless, the chapter divisions and verse numbers have become indispensable as technical references for Bible study.

CHAPTERS: Stephen Langton added what we use today as the chapter divisions in the 12th century. He did this into the Latin Vulgate. The tradition is that these divisions were later transfered to the Hebrew Bible. From manuscripts dating back to the fourth century, however, some form of chapter divisions were used.

There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 chapters in the New Testament. This gives a total of 1,189 chapters (on average, 18 per book).

Psalm 117 is the middle chapter of the Bible, being the 595th Chapter.
Psalm 117 is also the shortest chapter of the Bible.
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the Bible.

VERSES: In 1551, Robert Estienne (a.k.a. Stephanus) added verse divisions to his fourth edition of the Greek New Testament, while en route between Paris and Lyons, France. Some scholars, critical of the way he divided verses, suggested he did so while on horseback.

The first translation to employ his versification was the Geneva translation of 1557 (whole Bible, 1560).

There are 23,145 verses in the Old Testament and 7,957 verses in the New Testament. This gives a total of 31,102 verses, which is an average of a little more than 26 verses per chapter.