<P> 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 Ephesians 2: 8--9, and sometimes there is more than one sentence in a single verse, as in the case of Genesis 1: 2 . </P> <P> As the chapter and verse divisions did not appear in the original texts, they form part of the paratext of the Bible . </P>

When were chapters and verses added to the bible