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ix. When citing Hebrew or Greek do not use quotation marks. In the case of Hebrew, vowel points and Massoretic accents are optional. Students in Year 3 should, and from Year 4 onwards must, cite Greek complete with accents as per the text of the New Testament.
8.2.2 Commas
Incorrect use—or non-use—of commas is the most common grammatical error made by students. Pay particular attention to points i. and ii. (The next most common error is the insertion of an apostrophe into the possessive word “its”, as in the incorrect example, “it’s use is significant.”) Commas should enable fluent reading. They should, for example, be used in cases of syntactical ambiguity where otherwise the reader would not construe the text correctly on a first reading. Two problematic uses should be noted:
i. When a pair of commas does the job of parentheses, be sure not to omit the second of the pair:
On the third time of asking, however, he accepted.
She was offended when, for example, he asked intrusive personal questions.
ii. Essential (defining) clauses should not be set off with commas. In the following example the specific book in question is being defined (Metzger wrote many others):
Bruce Metzger’s book The Text of the New Testament was first published in 1964.
Nonessential clauses (clauses that may be omitted without affecting the meaning of the sentence) should be set off with commas. In the following example the book in question is already fully defined:
Bruce Metzger’s introduction to textual criticism, The Text of the New Testament, was first published in 1964.
8.2.3 Abbreviations, Full Stops, Spaces and Capitalization
Whatever decision is taken about abbreviations, consistency should be maintained. As a general rule, the first word of a sentence should never be abbreviated.
i. Contractions should not be followed by a full stop, unless they end a sentence:
Mr Mrs Dr
ii. Abbreviations are normally followed by a full stop (“e.g.” has two full stops):
Rev. Vulg. ed. mg. cf.
iii. When plural abbreviations are formed by repeating a letter, the full stop appears after the final letter only. When they are formed by adding an s, a full stop is still required. For example:
p./pp. v./vv. n./nn. ch./chs. vol./vols.
iv. The full stop is omitted in abbreviations for chronological eras, divisions of the Canon, and Bible versions and editions, which are printed in all caps:
BC AD OT NT NIV ESV MT LXX
The full stop is likewise omitted in abbreviations for publishing houses and series titles (printed in capitals) as well as journal and reference book titles (italicised capitals):
IVP JSOTSup JSOT TDNT BHS
For abbreviations of secondary sources (journals, periodicals, major reference works and series), see the SBL Handbook, 171–216 (alphabetized by source) and 216–60 (alphabetized by abbreviation).
v. A space is inserted between the initial letters of personal names when occurring before the surname. Likewise, a space is required between a verse, page or chapter number and the abbreviation v(v)., p(p)., or ch(s). For example:
F. F. Bruce D. W. B. Robinson v. 1 pp. 12–22
vi. Abbreviations for biblical (and apocryphal) books should follow those used by the SBL Handbook, 124–5. Full stops are not used.
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Gen
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2 Sam
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Ps (Pss)
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Hos
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Hag
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1 Cor
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2 Tim
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3 John
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Exod
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1 Kgs
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Prov
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Joel
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Zech
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2 Cor
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Titus
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Jude
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Lev
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2 Kgs
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Eccl (or Qoh)
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Amos
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Mal
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Gal
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Phlm
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Rev
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Num
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1 Chr
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Song (or Cant)
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Obad
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Matt
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Eph
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Heb
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Deut
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2 Chr
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Isa
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Jonah
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Mark
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Phil
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Jas
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Josh
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Ezra
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Jer
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Mic
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Luke
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Col
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1 Pet
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Judg
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Neh
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Lam
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Nah
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John
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1 Thess
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2 Pet
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Ruth
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Esth
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Ezek
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Hab
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Acts
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2 Thess
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1 John
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1 Sam
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Job
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Dan
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Zeph
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Rom
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1 Tim
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2 John
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However, if the biblical book is the first word in the sentence, or cited without chapter or verse number, it should be written in full: “First Samuel 2:10 is a key messianic text”; “Paul wrote 2 Timothy near the end of his life.”
A colon separates chapter and verse; a comma and space separates verse and verse; a semicolon and space separates chapter and chapter. Thus: Deut 4:4, 15; 10:20; 11:16, 22–25; 30:20.
For extensive lists of technical abbreviations and abbreviations of Bible texts and versions, apocryphal books, Dead Sea Scrolls, works by Philo and Josephus, Mishnah, Talmud, Targumic and other Rabbinic works, Apostolic Fathers and other classical and ancient writings, see the SBL Handbook, 141–68.
vii. While capital letters should be used for proper nouns such as Bible, Christ, Christology and English, adjectives derived from such nouns only retain the capital letter when the nouns were personal or national names. Hence a Christian woman and an English pub, but a biblical principle and a christological argument.
8.2.4 Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes, Numbers and Dates
i. Hyphens join words whose elements combine to give a single, compound sense, such as:
pre-emptive strike bias-free language Judaeo-Christian ethics
ii. En dashes join words which retain their separate meanings, such as:
Jewish–Christian dialogue
En dashes should also be used to indicate a range of page numbers, dates or biblical chapters and verses. Note that, for page numbers only, the second number in a range is shortened where appropriate down to two digits (but not to one digit for numbers greater than 10); but the second number of the range is not shortened if the first ends in a zero:
pp. 65–68, 100–102, 201–2, 309–56, 462–68
AD 154–157 502–500 BC 1951–1952
Psalms 1–2; 89 Rom 1:1–2:11 Ezek 16:1–5, 30–33
iii. Em dashes are used to mark strong disjunctions. They are not spaced:
“Take three—and only three—samples.”
[10] In close textual studies Rule 1 may be broken if it is necessary to signal that the punctuation is not part of the quote.