table of original chapter breaks in the Book of Mormon
Why does the book of 1 Nephi have 22 chapters today, when it used to have only 7? Why should you care?

The earliest editions of the Book of Mormon did not have the same chapter divisions as our modern editions. For example, in the 1830 edition, the first chapter of 1 Nephi included all of what is now labeled 1 Nephi 1–5 (the entire episode of obtaining the brass plates). There is considerable evidence that these original chapter breaks were written on the gold plates by the original authors themselves (although they did not number the breaks). For that reason, in laying out my StoryGuide Edition of the Book of Mormon, I’ve not only included the modern chapter breaks; I’ve also added the original chapter breaks in the margins (using Roman numerals, to distinguish them from the modern breaks).

I have compiled a table of all the original breaks below. I have searched for such a table online but have never been able to find one, so I made my own. To my knowledge, this is the only such table providing this information online.

[Update, Oct 2015: I’ve since learned there was a 1993 JBMS article (Thomas W. Mackay, “Mormon as Editor: A Study in Colophons, Headers, and Source Indicators” [Journal of Book of Mormon Studies v2 n2, 1993]) that provided a similar table, but I don’t know if it was available online at the Maxwell Institute website at the time I published this post. Also, I have found at least three errors in it.]

[Update, Feb 2017: I found that BYU Studies has posted online their 1999 book Charting the Book of Mormon, which includes a table “Comparison of Chapter Divisions, 1830 and 1981 editions.” I found no errors in it.]

The table indicates the location of each original chapter break by using the modern chapter-verse reference system. As is apparently the emerging convention, original chapter breaks are all given in Roman numerals (as opposed to the Arabic numerals used for modern chapter breaks). You can download the chart as a PDF by clicking the image below. The chart fits on one letter-sized page, with a brief explanation on the reverse side.

On a side note, before I did this study to make this chart, I also compared the new Book of Mormon chapter headings to the old ones and made a comparison chart. A reporter called me to quote me in a Salt Lake Tribune article, which focused on the headings for 2 Nephi 5.

Where the chapter breaks came from

The modern chapter and verse divisions were devised by the apostle Orson Pratt in 1879, having been given the assignment by then-president of the Church John Taylor. Elder Pratt broke up the original chapters into shorter ones about the length of conventional Bible chapters, and he added verse divisions. For long quotations (e.g., when Jesus Christ quotes Isaiah at 3 Nephi 22) he made the verse numbering match that in the Bible, which makes it easier to compare these parallel passages. You can read a little more about this in David Whittaker’s Ensign article or in his Encyclopedia of Mormonism article.

The original chapter divisions, however, were apparently devised by the original authors (primarily Nephi, Jacob, Mormon, and Moroni) and were included on the gold plates themselves. Royal Skousen is by far the foremost expert on the original Book of Mormon manuscripts and translation process (the First Presidency gave him access to the original manuscripts back in the ’80s, and he has been copiously and methodically examining them ever since). He notes,

Evidence from both the original and printer’s manuscripts shows that Joseph Smith apparently saw some visual indication at the end of a section that the section was ending. Although this may have been a symbol of some kind, a more likely possibility is that the last words of the section were followed by blankness. Recognizing that the section was ending, Joseph then told the scribe to write the word chapter, with the understanding that the appropriate number would be added later.

There is considerable evidence in both manuscripts to support this interpretation. … [Follow the link to read Skousen’s reasoning.]

While the earliest editions used these original chapter divisions, they were not divided into verses. Rather, they were divided into unnumbered paragraphs (like a novel) by E. B. Grandin’s employee, the typesetter John H. Gilbert.

Why this is worth knowing

Since these section dividers are part of the original text, they can be useful in a number of ways when studying the Book of Mormon. For one thing, they can aid in understanding how the authors were structuring their writings, as well as in revealing connections between passages.

For example, the episode of Alma’s mission to the Zoramites (Alma 31–35) is part of a larger unit according to the original chapter breaks. That unit also included Alma 30, the episode with Korihor. This could be taken to imply that Mormon intended Korihor’s story to be sort of introduction to the mission to the Zoramites, and invites us to find relationships between the two accounts.

Now that Royal Skousen’s work is starting to be better known, scholars are beginning to refer to these original breaks when generating hypotheses and supporting conclusions. In the future, I hope to point out some of the interesting insights that can be gained by doing so.

Table of original chapter breaks

The following table that I created lists all the original chapter breaks and their locations in the text (using modern chapter-verse references). This table is identical to the one in the downloadable handout above.

BookOriginal
chapter
Modern
reference

1 NephiI1*
 II6
 III10
 IV15
 V16
 VI19:22
 VII22

2 NephiI1*
 II3
 III4
 IV5
 V6
 VI9
 VII10
 VIII11
 IX16
 X23
 XI25
 XII28
 XIII31
 XIV32
 XV33

JacobI1*
 II2
 III4
 IV6
 V7

EnosI1

JaromI1

OmniI1

W of MI1

MosiahI1
 II4
 III5
 IV6
 V7
 VI9*
 VII11
 VIII13:25
 IX17
 X22
 XI23*
 XII28
 XIII28:20

AlmaI1*
 II4
 III5*
 IV6
 V7*
 VI8
 VII9*
 VIII10
 IX12
 X13:10
 XI16
 XII17*
 XIII21*
 XIV23
 XV27
 XVI30
 XVII36*
 XVIII38*
 XIX39*
 XX43
 XXI45*
 XXII50
 XXIII51
 XXIV52
 XXV54
 XXVI56
 XXVII59
 XXVIII61
 XXIX62
 XXX63

HelamanI1*
 II3
 III7*
 IV11
 V13*

3 NephiI1*
 II3
 III6
 IV8
 V11*
 VI13:25
 VII15
 VIII17
 IX19
 X21:22
 XI23:14
 XII26:6
 XIII27:23
 XIV30

4 NephiI1*

MormonI1
 II4
 III6
 IV8

EtherI1
 II5
 III6
 IV9
 V12
 VI13

MoroniI1
 II2
 III3
 IV4
 V5
 VI6
 VII7
 VIII8
 IX9*
 X10

*These original breaks fall before the headnote that precedes the modern chapter.

There are a few questions that can be answered with this table:

Did Orson Pratt use every original break as a modern break?

No. Out of the 115 original chapter breaks, in 9 cases, he ignored an original break when arranging the new chapters: 1 Nephi VI; Mosiah VIII, XIII; Alma X; and 3 Nephi VI, X, XI, XII, XIII.

Which book has the most instances of this?

3 Nephi, especially during Christ’s sermons on the second day of his visit.

While most modern chapters take up less text than an original chapter, do any modern chapters cover more than one original chapter?

Yes, only in 1 instance: Mosiah 28 consists of Mosiah XII plus an extra bit of text from chapter XIII.

Were any books unaffected by the modern chapter numbering?

Yes. Interestingly, the book of Moroni came out of Elder Pratt’s process with the breaks and numbering unchanged, probably because the original chapters were so short to begin with. I suppose he could have merged chapters IV and V (the two sacrament prayers), but he didn’t.

Some of these questions might seem like idle trivia at this point, but there are actually some interesting insights to be had by being aware of these original breaks. As I said, in the future, I hope to point out some of those insights.

Table comparing total number of chapters

The following table compares the quantity of chapters in the original version with those in the modern version. As you can see, the ratio of original to modern is about 1:2.

BookNumber of
Original
chapters
 Number of
Modern
chapters

Title page11
1 Nephi722
2 Nephi1533
Jacob57
Enos11
Jarom11
Omni11
W of M11
Mosiah1329
Alma3063
Helaman516
3 Nephi1430
4 Nephi11
Mormon49
Ether615
Moroni1010

Totals115240