How to Quote Biblical Passages in Your Book
/
As a person of faith, I particularly appreciate working with authors who bring a spiritual perspective to their writing, whether it’s a motivational scripture-based book, a theological apologetic, or even a commentary written through the lens of a non-believer. Like many of those writers, I’ve spent hours reading the Bible and meditating on the messages and teachings found within its pages, and I understand the importance of a relevant passage of scripture to provide context, challenge assumptions, and shape a personal story.
While biblical material can strengthen a manuscript and inspire readers, misquoted, inaccurately cited, and manipulated passages of scripture can detract from an author’s overall message and, equally important, their credibility. Many people are also surprised to learn that Bible versions are protected by copyright, and even those in the public domain, such as the King James Version and the American Standard Version, must be accurately quoted and cited.
With this in mind, we want to provide our authors with a few “best practices” to guide them as they’re preparing their manuscripts for publication, so that their use of scripture is professional and meaningful to their readers.
Which Version Should You Quote?
If you want to quote from the Bible, you have a wide variety of versions available to you—from the more archaic prose of the King James Version to the everyday contemporary language of The Message.
Each version comes with its own stipulations. For example, Zondervan only grants permission for the 2011 edition of the New International Version (NIV) to be used, and the publishers of the New Living Translation (NLT) only give permission for up to 500 verses to be reproduced, provided that they don’t account for more than 25% of the work in which they are quoted.
Each version used must be clearly identified in the manuscript, and the accompanying copyright statement included on the book’s copyright page. I generally recommend Sermonary, where you can find the copyright statements and stipulations for all of the major translations.
It’s the author’s responsibility to ensure that their use of scripture falls within the stated guidelines of their chosen versions.
Clearly Identify the Bible Versions Used
Citations can be placed in framing text and/or in brackets after the quote. How you set them up depends on how many versions of the Bible you are referencing.
For example, you’re only using one Bible version in your manuscript—The Message. In that case, you only need to identify it once, on the copyright page, and no further attribution is required. Here’s what citing this version would look like in practice today:
“All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.”
However, if you quote mainly, but not exclusively, from The Message, then it becomes your primary version, and the others you quote from are secondary. The statement for The Message would now read as follows:
“Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.”
In this case, no further attribution statements for quotes from this source are required in the body of the manuscript.
Let’s assume that your secondary version is the New King James Version. The following statement would be included on the copyright page:
“Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
Each New King James Version passage must include (NKJV) at the end of the quotation:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16, NKJV).
This version attribution system offers a clean and consistent way to direct readers to the source of the quotation and to fulfill copyright requirements.
To ensure the clear attribution of the version, it’s important not to combine versions within one quotation unless each portion of the passage is clearly marked. For example, an author might like the NIV wording for the first few lines of a passage but then want to switch to the KJV, ending the quotation with an incorrect attribution that looks like this: (Matthew 2:3–4, NIV, KJV). In this case, readers don’t know where the NIV ended and the KJV began, so each attribution would need to go after its quoted section. This can interrupt the reading experience and muddy the message, so it’s not recommended; instead, consider contrasting the phrasing of different versions and discussing which parts you like best from each.
Accurately Reproduce the Text
When quoting from any source, it’s imperative to reproduce the original wording and even punctuation accurately. This is also the case when quoting scripture.
Biblical text can be inaccurately reproduced for a number of reasons, such as human error, writing a verse from memory alone, or slightly manipulating the wording to align it with one’s own interpretation of the verse. (Yes, I’ve seen this done!) Although a painstaking task, cross-referencing your Bible quotations—either with a hard copy or an online resource like biblegateway.com or biblehub.com—is essential to ensuring an exact reproduction. A word of warning from personal experience: ChatGPT makes mistakes, and I’ve found that although it can be a helpful “assistant,” it needs a lot of “supervision.” It should never be your go-to for checking quotation accuracy!
Clearly and Consistently Indicate Where Your Quoted Passages “Live”
At the end of each scripture quotation, include its address: book, chapter, verse(s), and the version (if it’s a secondary version). Basically, where do readers go if they want to “visit” it themselves? This is generally pretty straightforward if authors follow a few simple guidelines.
If you abbreviate the names of biblical books, do so consistently. For example, if you abbreviate Exodus to Ex. in one reference, don’t use Exod. in another. This will confuse readers. I generally refer to this link when I’m using abbreviations. As a general rule, you can use abbreviations in the reference itself, but the names of the books should be written out in the narrative. For example:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Ps. 23:1, NIV).
But: “In the book of Psalms, the Lord is described as a shepherd.”
I would suggest that if your target audience includes “unchurched” readers that you avoid abbreviations altogether, as they will likely be unfamiliar to that demographic.
2. If you “string” two or more verses/passages together, clearly indicate which verse belongs to which reference. For example:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing (Psalm 23:1, NIV) … “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14a, NIV) … “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:4, NIV).
Don’t format it like this:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” … “I am the good shepherd” … “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (Psalm 23:1; John 10:14a; 1 Peter 5:4, NIV).
3. Sometimes you don’t directly quote scripture, but you do want to support your statements with references to specific passages. When listing the references, separate the items by placing semicolons between the different books, but commas between chapters/verses in the same book:
“Throughout scripture, Jesus is pictured as a shepherd (Psalm 23:1–2, 28:9; John 10:14a; 1 Peter 5:4–6).”
Note that the books should be listed chronologically as they appear in scripture.
How Much Is Too Much?
As much as quoting scripture can augment your narrative, it can also detract from your unique authorial voice if your manuscript becomes scripture-heavy or dependent. Reproducing an entire chapter, for example, or an entire parable or story, can disrupt the flow of your narrative and deny readers the benefits of your insights and reflections. It’s best to summarize the content in your own words and then add a few key verses to reinforce your message.
Even the number of scripture references listed to support an argument can interrupt your continuity of thought and become a visual distraction, especially in a non-academic manuscript like a devotional, a memoir, or an inspirational book. In those scenarios, I suggest that authors keep references to two or three per page at most; otherwise, readers have to “jump over” citations, and the narrative can quickly become disjointed.
Using biblical material effectively and accurately in your manuscript can seem daunting at first, but attending to these details will result in a professional and meaningful incorporation of scripture. And remember, you don’t need to shoulder this task alone! An editor can help you pare down scripture quotations and references as needed, and ensure that those that remain are formatted properly and consistently, significantly enhancing your audience’s experience with your book.
Kerry Wilson has worked as a professional editor for almost fifteen years and has been part of the FriesenPress team for the past nine years. Before starting her editing business, she worked as a high school English teacher, a school administrator, and an educational consultant. In addition to her degrees in English and Education, she has pursued studies in Editing Standards at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and in Theology and Church History at Ontario Theological Seminary (now Tyndale) in Toronto and St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ontario. She and her husband live in southwestern Ontario, close to their adult children.
