# Genesis chapter one is clearly false and here's proof
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 24, 2000, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595 "2000-08-24T16:01:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595/61 "2000-09-02T00:02:03Z")
**iampunha** See zev’s post a couple below mine.
HTH
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### Author:  [@Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595/62 "2000-09-02T00:16:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> **Old Testament - Chapters**
> The first divisions were made prior to the Babylonian captivity, which began in 586 B.C. The Pentateuch was divided into 154 groupings called _sedarim_, which “were designed to provide lessons sufficient to cover a three-year cycle of reading.” (Geisler, GIB, 339)
>
> During the Babylonian captivity but prior to 586 B.C., the Pentateuch was “divided into fifty-four sections called _parashiyyoth_… There were later subdivided into 669 sections for refereence purposes. These sections were utilized for a single years [reading] cycle.” (Geisler, GIB, 339)
>
> Around 165 B.C., the Old Testament books called the Prophets were sectioned.
>
> Finally, “after the Protestant Reformation, the Hebrew Bible for the most part followed the same chapter divisions as the Protestant Old Testament. These divisions were first placed in the margins in 1330.” (Geisler, GIB, 339)
>
> _McDowell, NETDAV, 20_
HTH
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595/63 "2000-09-02T00:18:44Z")
Short hijack:
Gator: HTH?? _Was ist los?_
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Bible argument.
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### Author:  [@Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2000, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595/64 "2000-09-02T03:02:01Z")
**H** elium
**T** ears
**H** earts
nope that ain’t right…
Hope that helps…
::looks again::
Yep… I’d go with the second one!
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2000, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genesis-chapter-one-is-clearly-false-and-heres-proof/30595/65 "2000-09-05T15:50:59Z")
iampunha:
> [@](#):
>
> Can anyone provide a link or a reference to back this up?
Well, any Jewish synagogue / temple will have one or more Torah scrolls, in which you can see where there are breaks in the text. These do not correspond to the numbered chapters used in printed Bibles.
The chapter numbering is a Christian innovation. It was adopted by the Jews in order to aid in debates during the middle ages…between the 13th and 15th centuries, I believe.
I know the first volume of the Torah Anthology (Moznaim Publishing) explains this. I don’t know where such a thing might be on the web.
Chaim Mattis Keller
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