Will you be regularly quoting and referencing the Bible in your book? These pointers will save easily avoidable busywork for you, your editor, and your proofreader–and if you’re self-publishing, they could save you a little money.
1. Decide whether you’ll use one primary Bible translation and, at your discretion, one or more secondary translations, or whether you’ll use a mix in which no one translation figures prominently. The norm is to select a primary translation, and that’s usually your best bet. But the second approach is certainly viable if it makes better sense for your book.
2. Unless you have an excellent reason not to, pick a popular modern version for your primary translation. The New International Version (NIV), New Living Translation (NLT), English Standard Version (ESV), New English Translation (NET), and even the New King James Version (NKJV) are all good choices. There are others as well. The point is to choose a trustworthy translation that your readers can easily read and understand.
3. With rare exceptions, avoid the King James Version (KJV) and other archaic Bibles for your primary translation. Most modern readers find them stuffy and hard to understand–and even you may not understand them as well as you think you do. The King James Version (KJV) is beautiful, but the English language has evolved over the last four centuries, and word meanings have changed, often significantly.
In the same vein, “specialty” Bible versions such as The Message (MSG), the Amplified Bible (AMP), and The Voice (Voice) make excellent secondary sources, but I recommend you not use one of them as your primary version. Keep it simple. Simple is good.
4. Beware of quoting both new and older editions of the NIV and AMP. These Bibles were updated recently enough to cause unintentional mixups. Online sources such as Bible Gateway and Bible Hub supply the new editions, but the older editions are still very much extant as print Bibles, and the differences matter. Use the newer editions; they’re what the Bibles’ publishers approve and what their permissions allow. To ensure currency and consistency, your best bet is to copy and paste from an online Bible.
If, in a particular instance, you have a good reason to prefer an older edition, you should identify it as such (see item 6 below).
5. When quoting from a secondary translation, identify it in the verse reference, thus: (John 3:16 NKJV).
Your editor will be checking all Scripture quotes for accuracy. Neglect on your part to clearly identify translations requires him or her to either query you or spend time searching for the right translation
ONE IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: There’s no need to identify your primary translation (assuming you’re using one) in citations. Instead, tell your editor which translation it is; it will then be noted as your primary translation on your book’s copyright page. Your primary-translation references should look like this: (John 3:16). This will be the norm for most of your verse references.
CONVERSELY, if you’re not using a primary translation, then every verse reference should include the translation ID.
6. When using the NIV or AMP, normally you should use the most recent edition (see item 4 above). However, occasionally the older edition may supply a wording you strongly prefer. When quoting from an older NIV or AMP, treat it as a secondary translation. Your verse reference should include
- the copyright year for the NIV: (John 3:16 NIV 1984)
- the correct abbreviation for the AMP classic edition: (John 3:16 AMPC)
7. There are several ways you can provide a verse reference in running text. The most common one is to show the entire reference at the end of a quote. For example:
Paul the apostle wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
Note that the closing quote mark goes before the parenthesis, and the period goes at the very end.
You can also include the reference in the syntax of the sentence:
Romans 8:1 tells us that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Always give the full spelling of the Bible book when you take this approach. And if you need to identify the translation, do so in parentheses either at the end of the quote or directly after the verse reference:
Romans 8:1 tells us that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NET).
or
Romans 8:1 (NET) tells us that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
If you show several verses from a single Bible chapter in a short space, show complete information for your first reference, and cite only the verse number thereafter:
Paul the apostle wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1 NET). Why? Paul tells us it is because “the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (v. 2).
But how did this happen? What was the means by which we attained this incredible freedom? Paul continues, “For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (vv. 3‒4).
Note that when using this method, you should use v. for a single verse (e.g., v. 10) and vv. for more than one verse (vv. 12‒15).
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The above tips are by no means exhaustive. I haven’t addressed block quotes, for instance. But my goal is to stay brief and give you info that I think will serve you most immediately. Your editor will help you with the rest. If you’d like a thorough discussion, check out “Quoting the Bible,” pages 330‒36, in Robert Hudson’s superb resource, The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, fourth edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016). Bob’s manual is the standard stylebook in Christian publishing, and I recommend it highly.