Chapter and verse divisions

Chapter divisions were added (and chapters numbered) in the Middle Ages in the 13th century. Later, in 1551, in the Middle Ages, verse divisions were added (and verses numbered).

It is best to always check surrounding verses and, when appropriate, verses in the previous or next chapter, to see if those verses have important meaning for the context.

The common KJV (King James Version) Bible has 66 books, 40 in the OT (Old Testament) and 26 in the NT (New Testament).

In the 13th century, the books were divided into chapters. With small variations, there are 1,189 chapters in the Bible, 929 in the OT and 260 in the NT.

In the 16th century, the chapters were divided into verses. There are about 31,000 verses in the Bible, 23,000 in the OT and 8,000 in the NT.

There are some Greek manuscripts that appear to have some divisions, say into paragraphs, etc. This was not formalized until the Middle Ages.

Here are some interesting chapter divisions in the Bible, where one should study both before and after the division to get the full impact of what is being said.

1 John 1 Top down purpose of life (1 John 2:1 is the start of the backward-chaining reasoning used by John from 1 John 1)
Melchisedec and the slaughter of the kings

The context is always important.

Whenever studying excerpts of the Bible (or any book for that matter), one should always look at the context in which that excerpted segment is taken. Every part of a document has been "woven" together with "texture", like a garment without a seam.

John 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. [kjv]

οι ουν στρατιωται οτε εσταυρωσαν τον ιησουν ελαβον τα ιματια αυτου και εποιησαν τεσσαρα μερη εκαστω στρατιωτη μερος και τον χιτωνα ην δε ο χιτων αραφος εκ των ανωθεν υφαντος δι ολου [gnt]

… contexta … [v]

The word "context" comes from the Latin "contextus" ≈ "joining together, weaving together" which comes from the Latin "texere" ≈ "to weave, to make". The English word "texture" is from the Latin word "textura" ≈ "weaving, web, texture".

More: Selective evidence fallacy: Verse context matters