Question:
How long ago were marginal references put in the Bible?
Answer:
Marginal references were first introduced by those who translated the Bible under the authority of King James I in 1611. The aim was “to include quotations of passages that can serve as appropriate references from one scripture to another.” However, as noted in “McClintock and Strong’s Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Cyclopedia” (in the article “English Versions”), “neither italics, nor references, nor readings, nor chapter headings, nor, it may be added, punctuation, are the same now as they were in the Authorized Version of 1611.” The primary alterations were made initially in 1683 and later in 1769 by Dr. Blayney, with the approval of the Oxford delegates of the press (Gentlemen’s Magazine, November 1789).
Around the same time, Dr. Paris undertook a similar project at Cambridge.
