Reading the Word of God is key to building a personal relationship with Jesus and the Church while learning to live our faith! 

Did you know there are 73 books in the Bible? It’s true! The Old Testament has 46 books, and the New Testament has 27. That’s a lot of material to search through, especially if you’re looking for one specific verse. 

If you’re wondering, “How do I find a Bible verse” or “How can I help the young people in my life get more comfortable with navigating the Bible?” then look no further! 

We have step-by-step instructions for how to find a passage in the Bible. Follow the steps below or check out our simple tutorial using The Catholic Youth Bible^®, where Tiahna will show you how to find Jeremiah 29:11. Watch it here. 

Here’s how to find a Bible passage or verse: 

1. Find the right book of the Bible.  Books of the Bible are the different sections that make up the Old and New Testaments.

   The book can be spelled out using the full name like Genesis or an abbreviated version like Gen. Now head to the table of contents in your Bible, look for the book you need, and flip to the page.
   

2. Find the right chapter.  Just like in any novel, chapters are the many sections that make up a book. Some books of the Bible have only a few chapters, and other books can have over 50!

   The chapter is the first number you’ll see when looking at a Bible verse. For example, Genesis 1, would be the first chapter of Genesis. The chapters are written in larger numbers that you can easily look for and search through.

3. Head to the right verse in your chapter.  A Bible verse is usually about a sentence or two long. Verses go in numerical order, starting with 1 at the beginning of each chapter. These are the smaller numbers you’ll see on almost each line of the Bible.

   You can find out which verse to look for by looking at the number after the colon in the Scripture citation. For example, Genesis 1:5 would be verse 5 of chapter 1. If it’s a passage of Scripture, then it will show which number it starts and ends on. So Genesis 1:1–5 would include verses 1 through 5.
    

That’s it! Once you’ve completed these three steps, you’ll be looking at the Bible verse or passage you set out to find!  

Don’t forget to watch and share this step-by-step video tutorial on how to find any Bible verse! This is such an engaging video that’s perfect to get young people excited about learning how to use a Bible.  

Here, Tiahna shows you how easy it is to find the right passage of scripture with The Catholic Youth Bible^®. This is such an engaging video that’s perfect to get young people excited about learning how to use a Bible.