Australian eJournal of Theology

Appendix 2: Referencing the Bible

The Bible

References to the Bible are made in the text.
When reference is made to a biblical idea, the book, chapter, verse, and version are abbreviated and cited in the main text (John 14:17). For subsequent references, the version need not be cited unless different to the first. If a biblical passage is cited in full, the reference is placed outside the quotation marks but inside the full stop following the quotation: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:21 NRSV).
Abbreviations for biblical books are given below.

Abbreviations for biblical books

These come from Patrick H. Alexander, John F. Kutslo, James D. Ernest, Shirley A. Decker-Lucke, and David L. Petersen, eds., The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999), 73-74, to which you are referred by the Chicago guide. Consult this handbook also for information on abbreviations used for other ancient texts. Depending on the context, either traditional or shorter abbreviations for the names of books of the Bible may be used. Note that abbreviations for the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, New Testament, Apocrypha, and Septuagint titles do not require a period and are not italicized. Abbreviations are as follows.

Hebrew bible/Old Testament

New Testament

Apocrypha and Septuagint