Q&A for How to Cite the Bible

In-text citations typically fall within the closing punctuation for the sentence, meaning a full stop or period would go outside the closing bracket or parentheses. If the sentence you're quoting ends in a different form of closing punctuation, such as a question mark or an exclamation point, place that inside the closing quotation marks.

Psalms and Proverbs are the titles for distinct books of the Bible. The title remains the same regardless of how many verses you're quoting.

Most style guides allow you to add emphasis by italicizing words in a quote. In your citation after the quote, add the phrase "emphasis added" to let your readers know that the italics were not in the original.

Yes, though I'd encourage checking the context. A verse shouldn't just be taken at face value. Check the context, which would be verses before and after, and look at the verse in light of the whole Bible.

You would include the verses, like "John 3:16-19" (meaning, "John, chapter three, verses sixteen through nineteen").

Use quotation marks, like this: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30b.

If you are quoting part of the text, yes. For example: "Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee" (John 21:1). If you are not quoting the text, no, you do not need to use quotation marks.

Yes, you would use quotation marks just as when citing any other book.

Apocrypha are writings that aren't found in the Bible but are connected to Christianity, such as the lives of the saints and the journeys of the apostles.

1 Kings or 2 Chronicles is said as First Kings or Second Chronicles.

"John 3:16-18" means to start reading verses 16 and to stop after the 18th one. You don't need to write "John 3:16, 17, 18." If you want to recite more than one chapter, you just say "John 3-5".

It is technically considered a Bible, but considering that it is paraphrased, so many wouldn't consider it one.

An example would be along the lines of "John 3:12-16" for several verses, or "John 3:10-11, 13-15, etc."

You should use a dash for adjacent videos and a comma for verses that are not adjacent to each other.

I would advise against it. Just write the chapter reference as a proper noun, with the first letter capitalized, and the rest in lowercase, e.g. "Mark."

In writing, generally people do this by putting the replacement word in brackets, i.e. "I believe in God" would be "[You] believe in God."

Probably a lowercase "a". If you're writing out a verse, you can either put a space after the address of the verse and start writing the verse, or start a new line under the address for the verse. If you include the second half, use lowercase "b".

You abbreviate it with the lower case letter v.

If you mean superscript, than Ctrl+Shift+, or Ctrl+Shift+.

It is not essential, but may help if you want to find it again afterward.

No, you cannot cite just the chapter and verse, as there are many 10:2s in the Bible. It's important to include the name of the book before the chapter and verse, for example, Psalms 10:2.

Since your answer is from one Psalm, use the singular version without an S.

Commas should be used. Use a semicolon to add another chapter or book after. For example: John 3:16,18, 20; Acts 13:1, 4.

You don't have to but might like to. It's what I call biblical backup. If you are making a point that is biblical, then you can include all the scriptures you pull from at the end.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8) You can put it before or after. Usually the parenthesis are only around it if at the end of scripture but it's okay either way. People also put the scripture in quotes often.

You could but I would still put the scripture with the quote. You can abbreviate the Bible verse name. Or, put a reference at the bottom of the page.