hat
is, P, the initial letter of the word _pethuhah_, _open_; the
latter by the Hebrew letter [Hebrew: S]=S, the first letter of
the word _sethumah_, _closed_. The larger sections, arranged for
the reading of the Law in the synagogues, are indicated by three
[Hebrew: P]'s or three [Hebrew: S]'s, according as they coincide
at their beginning with an open or closed section. In the other
portions of the sacred text these divisions are simply indicated
by the appropriate spaces. But some printed editions do not
observe the distinction between the two in respect to space, so
that the open and closed sections are confounded with each
other.

7. _Chapters and Verses._ The division of the _poetical_ books and
passages of the Old Testament into separate _lines_, Hebrew, _pesukim_,
(answering in general to our half-verses, sometimes to the third of a
verse,) is very ancient, if not primitive. It is found in the poetical
passages of the Law and the historical books, (Exod., ch. 15; Deut., ch.
32; Judges, ch. 5; 2 Sam. ch. 22,) and belonged originally to the three
books of Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, which alone the Hebrews reckon as
poetical. See below, Ch. 21, No. 1. The division of the whole Old
Testament into _verses_, (likewise called by the Hebrews _pesukim_,) is
also the work of Jewish scholars. It existed in its completeness in the
ninth century, and must have had its origin much earlier in the
necessity that grew out of the public reading and interpretation of the
sacred books in the synagogue service.

In the Hebrew text the verses are distinguished by two points called
_soph-pasuk_ (:), except in the synagogue rolls, where, according to
ancient usage, this mark of distinction is omitted.

The present division into _chapters_ is much later, and is the work of
Christian scholars. By some it is ascribed to Stephen Langton,
archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1227; by others to Cardinal Hugo
de St. Cher of the same century. The Jews transferred it from the Latin
Vulgate to the Hebrew text. There are, however, some discrepancies
between the chapters of the Hebrew text and those of the Vulgate and our
English version.

The division of the sacred text into chapters and verses is
indispensable for convenience of reference. But the student should
remember that these distinctions are wholly of human origin, and
sometimes separate passages closely connected in meaning. The first
ve