A Bible reader sent the following question to LAI:

In the Indonesian Bible (New Translation) and the Batak Toba Bible (Bibel), there is a book whose name is misspelt, which is confusing for me and likely for many others as well. One of the books with an incorrect spelling is the Book of Yoël (Batak Toba: Joël). In Indonesian, the Book of Yoël is divided into several sections:

1. Chapter 1:1–20
2. Chapter 2:1–32 (*)
3. Chapter 3:1–21 (*)

Meanwhile, in the Toba Batak language, the Book of Joel is divided into several sections:

1. Chapter 1:1–20
2. Chapter 2:1–27 (*)
3. Article 3:1–5 (*)
4. Article 4:1-21 (*)

There are several discrepancies here (marked with *), which is causing confusion – which version should be followed?

Answer:

Regarding the differences in the number of verses, we would like to clarify a few points:

The source texts for the Toba Bible and the New Translation (TB) are the same, both for the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). For the OT, the source text is Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, whilst for the New Testament, the source text is Greek New Testament, fourth edition.

Originally, biblical manuscripts did not have verse or chapter numbering. The practice of ‘marking’ specific sections of the Bible (as an aid to finding particular passages) only began in the Codex Vaticanus, which dates from the mid-fourth century. However, the system used in this codex was very different from what we are familiar with today. For example, the Gospel of Matthew was divided into 170 sections, the Gospel of Luke into 152 sections, the Gospel of Mark into 60 sections and the Gospel of John into 50 sections.

The division of the Bible into chapters was first carried out at the beginning of the 13th century. This division was undertaken by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, England. However, the division created by Stephen Langton was still inadequate. Finally, in 1488, Rabbi Nathan, a Jewish rabbi, divided the Old Testament into chapters and verses. This division was considered so useful that in 1524, the Old Testament—which had been divided into chapters and verses by Rabbi Nathan—was finally printed by a publisher in Venice, Italy.

In 1551, the division into verses was carried out by Robert Stephanus. It is therefore clear that the division into chapters and verses (as well as the titles of the passages) is merely an aid to make reading the Bible easier, and should not be treated as absolute.

The difference in verse numbering between the Indonesian and Batak-language Bibles is because the TB Bible, published in 1974, follows a different verse numbering system to the Batak-language Bible (Bibel) which was published over 100 years ago. With regard to the Book of Joel, the Batak Bible follows the division of chapters and verses in the Hebrew text, whilst the TB Bible (and most modern translations) follows the division of chapters and verses in the Septuagint/LXX (the Greek translation of the Old Testament). 

We would like to inform you that the LAI is currently working on revising the Bible; in addition to revising the text, standardising the numbering system is a factor that is being given attention.

Quoted from:

Different Bible Texts; Why? 2017. Indonesian Bible Society.