Abbreviations

Table of Contents

1. Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
2. Abbreviations for Bible Translations
3. Abbreviations for Commentaries
4. Abbreviations for Journals
5. Abbreviations for Publishers

Books of the Bible

Abbreviations follow the format recommended by the Society of Biblical Literature. Abbreviations for books of the Bible do not require a period.

Old Testament

New Testament

Matthew	Matt	1-2 Thessalonians	1-2 Thess
Mark	Mark	1-2 Timothy	1-2 Tim
Luke	Luke	Titus	Titus
John	John	Philemon	Phlm
Acts	Acts	Hebrew	Heb
Romans	Rom	James	Jas
1-2 Corinthians	1-2 Cor	1-2 Peter	1-2 Pet
Galatians	Gal	1-3 John	1-3 John
Ephesians	Eph	Jude	Jude
Philippians	Phil	Revelation	Rev
Colossians	Col

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Bible Translations

Amplified Bible	AMP
American Standard Version	ASV
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Hebrew Bible)	BHS (HB)
Common English Bible	CEB
Contemporary English Version	CEV
Christian Standard Bible	CSB
English Standard Version	ESV
Good News Bible	GNB
Holman Christian Standard Bible	HCSB
Jerusalem Bible	JB
King James Version	KJV
Living Bible	LB
Lexham English Bible	LEB
Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible)	LXX
Modern Language Bible	MLB
New Testament: A New Translation, James Moffatt	MOFFATT
Message	MSG
Masoretic Text	MT
Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th Edition	NA28
New American Bible, Revised Edition	NASR
New American Standard Bible	NASB
New American Version	NAV
New Century Version	NCV
New English Bible	NEB
New English Translation	NET
New English Translation of the Septuagint	NETS
New International Reader’s Version	NIRV
New International Version	NIV
New Jerusalem Bible	NJB
Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation	NJPS
New King James Version	NKJV
New Living Translation	NLT
New Revised Standard Version	NRSV
New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips	PHILLIPS
Revised English Bible	REB
Revised Standard Version	RSV
Today’s English Version (also known as Good News Bible)	NEV
Today’s Living Bible	TLB
Today’s New International Version	TNIV
Vulgate	VUL
World English Bible	WEB
New Testament in Modern Speech, R. F. Weymouth	WEYMOUTH
Young’s Literal Translation	YLT

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Commentary Abbreviations

The following is only a partial list of abbreviations for commentaries. See the SBL Handbook of Style for a more complete list. If a commentary does not have a recognized abbreviation, write out the name of the commentary in full.

Abingdon New Testament Commentaries	ANTC
Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries	AOTC
Anchor Bible (or Anchor Yale Bible)	AB (AYBC)
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture	ACCS
Apollos Old Testament Commentary	ApOTC
Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament	ACNT
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT	BECNT
Bible Knowledge Commentary	BKC
Bible Speaks Today	BST
Black’s New Testament Commentaries	BNTC
Brazos Theological Commentary	BTC
Eerdmans Critical Commentary	ECC
Expositor’s Bible Commentary (and revised version)	EBC (REBC)
Hermeneia	Hermeneia
International Critical Commentary	ICC
Interpretation	IBC
IVP New Testament Commentary	IVPNTC
Keil and Delitzsch Commentary	K&D
New American Commentary	NAC
New Cambridge Bible Commentary	NCBC
New Century Bible	NCB
New International Biblical Commentary on the NT	NIBCNT
New International Biblical Commentary on the OT	NIBCOT
New International Commentary on the NT	NICNT
New International Commentary on the OT	NICOT
New International Greek Testament Commentary	NIGTC
New Interpreter’s Bible	NIB
New Jerome Bible Commentary	NJBC
New Testament Library	NTL
NIV Application Commentary	NIVAC
Old Testament Library	OTL
Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament	PCNT
Pillar New Testament Commentary	PNTC
Socio-Rhetorical Commentary	SRC
Tyndale New Testament Commentaries	TNTC
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries	TOTC
Word Biblical Commentary	WBC
Zondervan Exegetical Commentary	ZEC
Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary	ZIBBC

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Journal Abbreviations

The following is only a partial list of abbreviations for journals. See the SBL Handbook of Style for a more complete list. If a journal does not have a recognized abbreviation, write out the name of the journal in full.

African Journal of Evangelical Theology	AJET
Asbury Theological Journal	AsTJ
Asia Journal of Theology	AJT
Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies	AJPS
Biblica	Bib
Biblical Archaeology Review	BAR
Biblical Theology Bulletin	BTB
Bibliotheca Sacra	BSac
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research	BASOR
Calvin Theological Journal	CTJ
Catholic Biblical Quarterly	CBQ
Church History	CH
European Journal of Theology	EuroJTh
Harvard Theological Review	HTR
Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel	HeBAI
Horizons in Biblical Theology	HBT
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology	Int
Journal for the Study of the New Testament	JSNT
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament	JSOT
Journal of Biblical and Pneumatological Research	JBPR
Journal of Biblical Literature	JBL
Journal of Early Christian Studies	JECS
Journal of Pentecostal Theology	JPT
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society	JETS
Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting	JJMJS
Journal of Religious Ethics	JORE
Near Eastern Archaeology	NEA
New Testament Studies	NTS
Novum Testamentum	NovT
Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies	Pneuma
Scottish Journal of Theology	SJT
Southern Baptist Journal of Theology	SBJT
Southwestern Journal of Theology	SWJT
Trinity Journal	TJ
Westminster Theological Journal	WTJ

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Publisher Abbreviations

The following is only a partial list of abbreviations for publishing houses. For a full explanation of the proper way to cite publishers, see the SBLHS2 section 6.1.4.

What follows is a list of publishing houses, followed by the main city or cities where they are located. Cities in the list that are followed by their state abbreviation will require that state abbreviation in the footnotes and bibliography of your papers. When citing a publishing house, only use the first city that is listed in title page or copyright page of the actual book. Do not include terms such as “Press,” “Publisher,” or “Publishing House” in your citations unless that part of the publisher’s name is required to avoid ambiguity from similarly-named publishing houses. Note that publishers such as Eerdmans, InterVarsity, and de Gruyter follow particular standardized rules.

Publisher Name	City/Cities	Citation Example
Abingdon	Nashville; New York	Nashville: Abingdon
Apollos	Leicester	Leicester: Apollos
Augsburg	Minneapolis	Minneapolis: Augsburg
Baker Academic	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids: Baker Academic
Baker Books	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids: Baker
Baylor University Press	Waco, TX	Waco, TX: Baylor University Press
Bloomsbury	London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney	London: Bloomsbury
Brazos	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids: Brazos
Brill	Leiden; Boston	Boston: Brill
Cambridge University Press	Cambridge; New York	New York: Cambridge
Cascade	Eugene, OR	Eugene, OR: Cascade
Crossway	Wheaton, IL	Wheaton, IL: Crossway
de Gruyter	Berlin	Berlin: de Gruyter
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft	Stuttgart	Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
Doubleday	Garden City, NY: New York	New York: Doubleday
Eerdmans	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids: Eerdmans
E.J. Brill	(see Brill, above)
Fortress	Philadelphia	Philadelphia: Fortress
Harper & Row	New York; San Francisco	San Francisco: Harper & Row
HarperCollins	New York; San Francisco	San Francisco: HarperCollins
HarperOne	San Francisco	San Francisco: HarperOne
Harvard University Press	Cambridge	Cambridge: Harper University Press
Hendrickson	Peabody, MA	Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
InterVarsity Press	Downers Grove, IL	Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Inter-Varsity Press	Leicester; London	London: Inter-Varsity Press
John Knox	Atlanta; Richmond, VA	Atlanta: John Knox
Kregel	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids: Kregel
Mercer University Press	Macon, GA	Macon, GA: Mercer University Press
Mohr Siebeck	Tübingen	Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck
Nelson	Nashville; London	Nashville; Nelson
Orbis Books	Maryknoll, NY	Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books
Oxford University Press	Oxford; London; New York	New York: Oxford University Press
Paternoster	Exeter; Milton Keynes	Exeter: Paternoster
Paulist	New York; Mahwah, NJ	New York: Paulist
Peeters	Leuven	Leuven: Peeters
Penguin Books	Harmondsworth; London	London: Penguin Books
Pickwick	Pittsburgh; Eugene, OR	Pittsburgh: Pickwick
Prentice Hall	Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Upper Saddle River, NJ	Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
Princeton University Press	Princeton	Princeton: Princeton University Press
Rowman & Littlefield	Lanham, MD	Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
SBL Press	Atlanta	Atlanta: SBL Press
Scholars Press	Missoula, MT; CHico, CA; Atlanta	Atlanta: Scholars Press
SCM	London	London: SCM
Scribner’s Sons	New York	New York: Scribner’s Sons
Sheffield Academic	Sheffield	Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Sheffield Phoenix	Sheffield	Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix
SIL International	Dallas	Dallas: SIL International
Smyth & Helwys	Macon, GA	Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys
Society of Biblical Literature	Atlanta	Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge	(see SPCK, below)
SPCK	London	London: SPCK
T&T Clark	Edinburgh; London; New York	New York: T&T Clark
Thomas Nelson	(see Nelson, above)
Tyndale House	Carol Stream, IL	Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House
Tyndale Press	London	London; Tyndale Press
United Bible Societies	London; New York; Stuttgart	New York: United Bible Societies
Walter de Gruyter	(see de Gruyter, above)
Westminster	Philadelphia	Philadelphia: Westminster
Westminster John Knox	Louisville	Louisville: Westminster John Knox
Wiley-Blackwell	Malden, MA; Chichester	Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell
William B. Eerdmans	(see Eerdmans, above)
Wm. B. Eerdmans	(see Eerdmans, above)
Wipf & Stock	Eugene, OR	Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock
Word	Waco, TX; Dallas; Nashville	Dallas: Word
Yale University Press	New Haven	New Haven: Yale University Press
Zondervan	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids: Zondervan

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