Robert Estienne's Bible Verses

1545

The French humanist printer Robert Estienne divided the New Testament into numbered verses for his Greek edition, a system that would become standard in Bibles worldwide. Estienne reportedly devised the divisions during a horseback journey from Paris to Lyon, to the mild annoyance of future theologians. His verse numbering, combined with medieval chapter divisions, created the reference framework used to navigate Bibles for nearly five centuries.