IVP - Addenda & Errata - June 2008 Archives

The abc's of Verse Citations

Biblical scholars, in an effort to be precise in their citations of chapter and verse, will sometimes append a letter to a verse number to indicate what part of a verse they have in mind. So we might have Psalm 23:4c. But why?

A draconian editorial response might be that these references should never be employed since there is no 4a or 4b or 4c designated in the text! In your effort to be precise, we precisely don’t know what you are indicating! Does each letter indicate a clause? Would this be in English translation or in Hebrew? (Depending on the translation, it might make a difference.) What are the rules for this designation and where may we go to find them? Are we all agreed on these rules? Or do we make them up as we go along? One does not have to be a pedant to find this annoying. (Or does one? Have I been in this business too long? That's a rhetorical question!)