How to find verses in the Bible
Frequently Christians are so used to finding their way around the Bible that they forget that other people do not know where to look to find the various books. We need to be more sensitive. Here then is a few words on biblical notations.
Most Bibles have a table of contents where the names of the various books are listed with page numbers. Using this the various books can be found. There are 66 books, etc. We call them books. Some of them would be short books if printed by themselves. Most of the "books" in the New Testament are really letters. Several are only about a page long. We use two and sometimes three letter abbreviations of the titles of the books to save time. Many Bibles have a list of the abbreviations for the books near the table of contents. In this work I have tried to write out the names of the books except for the four gospels themselves. These are abbreviated as follows: Mt = Matthew, Mk = Mark, Lk = Luke, Jn = John. They are named for the men who wrote them. It is in the gospels that Jesus commands are found.
In a biblical reference the number before the colon ( : ) is the chapter. The numbers that follow are the verses. And so Jn 3:16 is the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 16. The chapters in the Bible are numbered at the beginning of each one and the verses are usually numbered where the verse begins. So one would first find John then the third chapter and finally the sixteenth verse.