Humanities
Delahoyde
THE BIBLE AND DOCUMENTATION
MLA Format
The Bible, books within it, versions of it, and other sacredwritings are the exceptions to the rule: these are books you donot underline or italicize (New Testament, not New Testament;Koran, not Koran).
Inside the paper, when quoting directly from the Bible, offerparenthetical citations: not author and page (God 2307), but book,chapter and verse (Genesis 2:4). MLA recommends a period betweenchapter and verse (1 Chron. 13.2) but acknowledges that the colonis customary. Check the MLA Handbook for proper abbreviationsof other books within the Bible. Typically, when you cite scripturewithin the context of a paper, if you are using the King Jamestranslation or the RSV (Revised Standard Version), you do notneed to include the Bible in your Works Cited list. Other versions,however, would need such documentation. The following list showscorrect format for a variety of related sources.
Works Cited
Genesis. In The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, VolumeI. 6th edition. NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 1992. 49-69.
Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. 3rd ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1992.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Ed. WilliamH. Gentz. Nashville: Abingdon, 1986.
The New English Bible. NY: Oxford University Press, 1972.
The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzgerand Michael D. Coogan. NY: Oxford University Press, 1993.