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The present numeral division of the Scriptures into chapters and verses is, in some respects, of comparatively recent origin. The Pentateuch was divided by the Jews, at an early period, into fifty-four parshioth (פִּרְשַׁיּוֹת ) = sections, one of which was read in the synagogue every Sabbath day (Acts 13:15). These sections were subdivided, probably by the Masoretes, into 669 sidrim (סַדְרַים ), or orders. After the reading of the law, it was also customary, from an early period, to read a passage from the prophets, and with that to dissolve the assembly. Such passages were called haphtoroth´ (הִפְטָרוֹת ) = dismissions, and appear to have been selected according to the choice of any reader (Acts 13:15; Acts 27:43; Luke 4:16). The divisions or sections found in the Greek and Latin manuscripts are different from those of the Hebrew books; they are of unequal and arbitrary length, and very different from the chapters in our printed Bibles. So, also, the books of the New Testament were divided, at an early period, into, certain portions, which appear under various names. The division into church lessons, read in the assemblies like the sections of the law and the prophets, was the most ancient. Subsequently the New Testament was divided into two kinds of sections, called titles (τίτλοι ) and chapters (κεφάλαια =heads). The titles were portions of the Gospels, with summaries placed at the top or bottom of the page. The chapters were divisions, with numeral notations, chiefly adapted to the Gospel harmony of Ammonius. Other sectional divisions are occasionally seen in manuscripts, which appear to have varied at different times and in different churches, accordingly as festival days were multiplied. (See BIBLE).

The numerical division of the Old and New Testaments into modern chapters is by some ascribed to Lanfranc, who was archbishop of Canterbury in the reigns of William the Conqueror and William II, while others attribute it to Stephen Langton, who was archbishop of the same see in the reigns of John and Henry III. Its authorship, however, is usually assigned to the schoolmen, who, with cardinal Hugh of St. Cher, were the authors of the Concordance for the Latin Vulgate, about A.D. 1240. This cardinal wrote remarks, or Postils, as they were called, on all the books of Scripture; and this Latin Bible, published by him, is generally supposed to be the first Bible divided into the present chapters. Yet cardinal Humbert, about A.D. 1059, cites the 12th and 13th chapters of Exodus, and the 23d of Leviticus, according to our present division of chapters. Whoever was the author, from about this period the division of the several books into chapters was gradually adopted in the Latin and other versions; and, finally, in the Hebrew, with a few variations, and also in the Greek text. The several Psalms were not included in this division. (See VERSE). Chapter, as an ecclesiastical term, the name of a corporation of ecclesiastics, bound by canonical rules, and generally attached to a cathedral. The name chapter arose from the fact that the first communities of canons (q.v.) were called together daily in a common hall, to hear a chapter of the Bible, or of their common rules, read aloud. The hall was hence called the Chapter, or Chapter-house (q.v.), and the name finally passed to the body of ecclesiastics assembling in it.

Originally the property of the chapter belonged to the diocese; and the monks or canons had a common life, and kept strict obedience. Corporations of this kind rapidly multiplied, however, and soon began to have wealth of their own; by the 12th century these capitula canonicorum were attached to almost every see. The nomination of the bishop fell to the chapter, and this was allowed by the popes, thus enlarging greatly the power of the chapter, and diminishing the authority of the bishop over it. The nobility of Europe found the canonries rich, and the chapters were made sources of income for their children, who in some dioceses filled every stall. These secular canons absorbed the revenues of the chapters, and appointed vicars to do the work. The Council of Trent introduced many reforms (sess. 23, 25). In 1803 the chapters, as corporations, were abolished in South Germany, and in 1810 in Prussia. Whatever rights the chapters now have are based upon the canon law, and upon the special legislation of each country in which they exist. In Switzerland, Prussia, and other Protestant countries of Germany, the chapters have received the right of electing the bishops, who in most of the Roman Catholic countries are appointed by the sovereigns.

In England the chapter of a cathedral church consists "of persons ecclesiastical, canons and prebendaries, whereof the dean is chief, all subordinate to the bishop, to whom they are as assistants in matters relating to the church, for the better ordering and disposing the things thereof, and for confirmation of such leases of the temporalities and officers relating to the bishopric as the bishop from time to time shall happen to make" (Hook, s.v.). The dean and chapter had formerly the right to choose the bishop in England, but that right was assumed by Henry VIII as a prerogative of the crown. In Germany, Luther made an attempt to preserve the chapters as ecclesiastical corporations, but soon most of them lost altogether their ecclesiastical character, and nearly all of them perished at the beginning of the present century. A few chapters, like those of Halberstadt, Minden, and Osnabruck, had both Protestant and Roman Catholic canons, and in Osnabruck even the election of the bishop had to alternate between the two denominations. Herzog, Real-Encyklopä die, 2:554 sq.; Ersch u. Gruber, Encyklop. 26:383 sq. (See CANON); (See DEAN).