chapters and verses were added to the bible in mid-16th century.
chapters and verses were added to the bible in mid-16th century.
when were chapters and verses added to the bible?
mid-16th century
the bible is a compilation of many shorter books written at different times by a variety of authors, and later assembled into the biblical canon. since the early 13th century, most copies and editions of the bible present all but the shortest of these books with divisions into chapters, generally a page or so in length. since the mid-16th century editors have further subdivided each chapter into verses - each consisting of a few short lines or sentences. sometimes a sentence spans more than one verse, as in the case of , and sometimes there is more than one sentence in a single verse, as in the case of .
chapters and verses of the bible
the poem by wyss was first printed in 1811 in a collection of "war songs" ("kriegslieder"), under the title of "vaterlandslied für schweizerische kanonier" ("patriotic song for swiss artillerymen").









































the original poem as printed in 1811 had six verses. from as early as 1819, wyss' fifth verse was lost, with two final verses added, for a total of seven verses.
rufst du, mein vaterland