#robert estienne

[daowil]

The division of the Holy Bible into numbered versesHoly Bible into numbered verses was primarily initiated by Robert Estienne (also known as Stephanus), a French printer and scholar, in the mid-16th century (1551–1555). 

While verse numbers are a relatively modern addition, the process happened in stages:

1. Old Testament Verses (Pre-existing)

Jewish scholars, known as the Masoretes (6th–10th centuries AD), had already broken the Hebrew text into verses (known as pesukim) to aid in reading and interpretation. Around 1440, a Jewish rabbi named Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus created a concordance using numbered verse divisions, but these were not widely integrated into standard printed Bibles at first. 

2. New Testament Verses (Robert Estienne, 1551–1555)

Before the 16th century, the New Testament was read without standardized, numbered verse divisions. 

1551: Robert Estienne, while working in Paris, created a new verse numbering system and applied it to a Greek-Latin New Testament.

1553: He published the first complete Bible (in French) using this verse system.

1555: He published the Latin Vulgate, which was the first Bible to include the verse numbers integrated directly into the text, rather than just in the margins. 

3. Adoption in English (The Geneva Bible, 1560)

The verse system created by Estienne was popularised in English by the Geneva Bible in 1560, which was the first English Bible to use both chapter and verse divisions throughout. 

Why Were Verses Added?

Estienne aimed to make Bible study, cross-referencing, and indexing easier. He created the system to enable comparative study between the Greek text and different Latin translations, and it is said he completed some of the work while traveling on horseback. 

[aulargebiblique]

Enquête (podcast) L'invention des chapitres et versets

#Podcast Savez-vous qui a inventé le principe des chapitres et versets pour la #Bible ?

Savez-vous que la référence à un chapitre et à un verset de la Bible n’a pas toujours existé. Alors qui a eu la bonne idée d’inventer ces numéros de chapitres et de versets ? C’est notre nouvelle enquête biblique, un format que je vous propose entre deux séries thématiques.

(more…)

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[reedreadsgreek]

Matthew 25:14-21

14 Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἀποδημῶν ἐκάλεσεν τοὺς ἰδίους δούλους καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτοῖς τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ, 15 καὶ ᾧ μὲν ἔδωκεν πέντε τάλαντα, ᾧ δὲ δύο, ᾧ δὲ ἕν, ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν, καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν. εὐθέως 16 πορευθεὶς ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν ἠργάσατο ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκέρδησεν ἄλλα πέντε 17 ὡσαύτως ὁ τὰ δύο ἐκέρδησεν ἄλλα δύο. 18 ὁ δὲ τὸ ἓν λαβὼν ἀπελθὼν ὤρυξεν γῆν καὶ ἔκρυψεν τὸ ἀργύριον τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ. 19 μετὰ δὲ πολὺν χρόνον ἔρχεται ὁ κύριος τῶν δούλων ἐκείνων καὶ συναίρει λόγον μετ᾽ αὐτῶν. 20 καὶ προσ­ελθὼν ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν προσήνεγκεν ἄλλα πέντε τάλαντα λέγων, Κύριε, πέντε τάλαντά μοι παρέδωκας· ἴδε ἄλλα πέντε τάλαντα ἐκέρδησα. 21 ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ, Εὖ, δοῦλε ἀγαθὲ καὶ πιστέ, ἐπὶ ὀλίγα ἦς πιστός, ἐπὶ πολλῶν σε καταστήσω· εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν χαρὰν τοῦ κυρίου σου.

My translation:

14 “For just as a man went on a journey, and called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to their ability, and he went away. Immediately 16 the one who received five talents worked with them and earned another five. 17 Similarly, the one with two gained another two. 18 But the one who received one went out and dug in the ground and hid his master’s silver. 19 After a long time, the lord of those servants comes and settles accounts with them. 20 And the one who received five talents approached and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you entrusted five talents to me; Look, I earned another five talents.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things; I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Robert Estienne (the French printer & scholar who came up with the verse divisions we use today) apparently thought that εὐθέως modified the master leaving for his journey in verse 15. The UBS punctuation indicates that they believe it belongs with the first servant putting his talents to use in verse 16.

Thayer says that ἐργάζομαι (v. 16), “I work, labor”, can mean “to do business, to make gains by trading”. However, BAGD suggests the same translation as mine above. Most English versions say “traded”.

EGGNT suggests that εἰσέρχομαι (v. 21) may mean “experience” or “share in”.

[upennmanuscripts]

We’re going meta with LJS 431, a handwritten list of manuscript and printed books. The list includes 33 works; at least 13 entries include publication information such as city of publication, printer, or date of publication; publishers include Robert Estienne of Paris and Joannes Oporinus and Robert Winter of Basel; dates range from 1530 to 1543. Most of the works are by classical authors, with several noted to be translations. The list is written in italic script on a single leaf removed from a larger volume, possibly foliated. 2 entries, for a book printed in 1509 by Aldo Manuzio and a book printed by Chrestien Wechel, added at the end in the hand of Spanish bibliographer Juan Páez de Castro (Kraus). Date and place of production are unknown.

Description and digital images: http://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/LJSchoenbergManuscripts/html/ljs431.html