How to Cite in SBL Style: Biblical Studies Citation Guide

This guide covers how to cite sources in SBL style, the standard for biblical studies, theology and related fields. The Society of Biblical Literature developed the format for its own journals and publications, and it is now widely used across religious studies and ancient Near Eastern studies.

The SBL Handbook of Style itself is a paid book. SBL Press, however, publishes a free Student Supplement to the 2nd edition, and the examples on this page are copied from it so you can check each one at source: Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, Second Edition, compiled by Melanie Greer Nogalski, James D. Nogalski, Sophia G. Steibel and Danny M. West, edited by Joel M. LeMon and Brennan W. Breed, revised by SBL Press, February 2015. We downloaded and read that PDF from sbl-site.org on 22 September 2026. One example below — the Leyerle article — is not from the Supplement; it is a real article we verified in Crossref, and the page says so where it appears.

What Is SBL Style?

SBL style is a footnote-based citation system detailed in The SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd edition (2014). It is built on Chicago notes-bibliography, with specialized conventions for ancient texts, Bible translations and scholarly abbreviations. The Student Supplement covers the subset a student needs for a term paper and points to the relevant sections of the Handbook (abbreviated SBLHS) throughout.

Footnotes

SBL uses numbered footnotes. The first citation of a source gives full details; subsequent citations use a shortened form. The Supplement's own pair, from §1.6:

Publication details (city, publisher, year) go inside parentheses in a footnote. Series information and other secondary details go outside them.

Bibliography Format

The Student Supplement describes the layout in the sample bibliography of part 3 (§3.5): "A bibliography consists of one list of the sources—alphabetical, by author—you consulted or cite in the paper," with the first line of each entry justified to the left margin and subsequent lines indented one-half inch. §2.11 adds the page setup: a two-inch top margin, a blank line between single-spaced entries, and the bibliography placed after any appendixes.

Books

Multivolume work in a series (Student Supplement §3.5):

A single volume of the same work (§1.3.3.1):

The Supplement states the rule this illustrates in §1.3.1: "Whether abbreviated or written in full, volume titles are italicized, but series titles are not." And in §1.3.2, where a series is numbered, "the number goes immediately after the name of the series but does not include the word 'volume' or its abbreviation" — hence AB 16, not AB vol. 16.

Translated work (§3.5):

A translated commentary with the series name spelled out (§1.3.1):

Edited reference work (§1.4):

Another edited volume (§3.5):

Two or more works by the same author are run together with a long dash in place of the repeated name (§3.5).

Journal Articles

With the journal title abbreviated (§3.5):

With the title spelled out — which §1.5 tells you to do for any work that is not in the Handbook's abbreviation lists:

This one is not an example from the Student Supplement. It is a real article, and we checked it in Crossref (10.1353/earl.0.0116: Journal of Early Christian Studies 1, no. 2 (1993): 159–174). Whether this particular journal has a standard abbreviation is something only SBLHS 8.4.1–2 can tell you, and those lists are not in the free Supplement — so look the title up before deciding to spell it out.

Note the order: author, "Article title," Journal volume (year): pages.

Book Chapters

Use "Pages X–Y in" rather than "In … pp. X–Y."

Dictionary and Encyclopedia Entries

Cite the author of the entry, not the editor of the work as a whole (SBLHS 6.3.6). The Student Supplement gives three forms for the same entry — a footnote using the abbreviation, a full bibliography entry, and a shortened bibliography entry:

(The Supplement's footnote and bibliography forms give different opening page numbers for this entry — 599 and 359. We have reproduced both exactly as SBL Press prints them; check the page numbers against the volume you actually use.)

Another entry, from a two-volume work (§3.5):

Where you use several entries from the same reference work, §1.4's rule is to list the work as a whole under its editor in the bibliography and cite the individual authors and articles in the footnotes.

Study Bibles and Commentaries

A contribution to a study Bible (§1.2):

The Supplement explains why this counts as a chapter rather than scripture: "special articles and the notes (usually at the bottom of the page) are not part of the biblical text. Study notes are written by authors or editors whose names are included in the front matter of the study Bible."

A volume of a multivolume commentary written by many hands, where the section author is still credited (§1.3.3.2):

The same entry may use the standard abbreviation instead: Miller, Patrick D. "The Book of Jeremiah: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections." NIB 6:553–926.

Online Sources

The Supplement's §1.6 directs students to SBLHS 6.1.6, 6.3.10 and 6.4.12–15, and adds two practical rules: "List electronic sources by the author's name, and enclose the title of the webpage in quotation marks, as you would a journal article," and — since pagination varies by printer — do not cite page numbers from a printed-out web page. Its own example:

Citing Scripture

Biblical citations don't require footnotes or bibliography entries. Use standard abbreviations in your text.

Format: Book Chapter:Verse (Translation)

With translation:

Rules:

• Don't write "chapter" or "verse" — use numerals
• Use an en dash for verse ranges (1:1–3)
• Semicolons separate different chapters or books (Gen 1:1; Exod 4:5)
• Don't italicize book names or translation abbreviations
• Identify the translation on first use

Citing Ancient Texts

Classical and ancient sources use their own conventions: the author, the work (usually in the standard abbreviated form from the Handbook's lists), then book, chapter and line or section numbers separated by periods, with no "p." — for example [Author], [Abbreviated work] [book].[section]–[section].

We have not reproduced a worked example here, because the abbreviation for each ancient work has to come from the Handbook's own lists (SBLHS 8.4.1–2), which are not in the free Student Supplement. Look your work up there, or in another authoritative list such as IATG, and if it is absent, §1.5's rule applies: "use complete titles throughout or include a list of additional abbreviations on a separate page at the beginning of the paper." Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic literature and papyri have specialized sigla covered in the Handbook's chapters 6 and 8.

Abbreviations

SBL makes extensive use of abbreviations. The Student Supplement's §1.5 sets out the essentials:

• The Handbook has two lists — one alphabetized by source (SBLHS 8.4.1) and one by abbreviation (SBLHS 8.4.2). "If the work you are citing is in these lists, use the standard abbreviation listed."
• Journal abbreviations and abbreviations based on book titles are italicized (JBL, COS).
• Book-series abbreviations are not italicized (WGRW, JSOTSup), and neither are abbreviations based on personal names (BAGD, BDB).
• If a work is not in SBL's lists or another authoritative resource, "use complete titles throughout or include a list of additional abbreviations on a separate page at the beginning of the paper."

Abbreviations that the Student Supplement itself both uses and expands, so you can see the pattern:

• ABD = The Anchor Bible Dictionary (reference work — italicized)
• NIB = New Interpreter's Bible (reference work — italicized)
• AB = Anchor Bible, a numbered commentary series — not italicized, and the number follows with no "vol."
• CC = Continental Commentaries, a series — not italicized

Other abbreviations you will meet in the examples above — HTR, OTL, BMI, JSOTSup, WGRW, BAGD, BDB, COS, JBL — are used but not expanded in the free Supplement. Look each one up in SBLHS 8.4.1–2 rather than guessing at the expansion.

Key Differences from Chicago

Who Uses SBL?

SBL style is required for Society of Biblical Literature publications and is widely used in biblical studies, theology, religious studies and ancient Near Eastern studies. Many seminaries and divinity schools require it; check your department's own handout, which may narrow or extend the Handbook.

Sources Checked

• SBL Press. Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, Second Edition. Revised February 2015. https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/SBLHSsupp2015-02.pdf (19-page PDF, downloaded from sbl-site.org and read in full on 22 September 2026; other pages of that site refuse automated requests).
• The SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed.: year (2014), publisher (SBL Press) and ISBN (9781589839649) confirmed in Open Library.
• Leyerle, Blake. "John Chrysostom on the Gaze." Confirmed against Crossref (10.1353/earl.0.0116): Journal of Early Christian Studies 1, no. 2 (1993): 159–174.
• Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters, ed. Robert A. Kraft and George W. E. Nickelsburg (1986), confirmed in Open Library, which records both the Scholars Press and Fortress imprints.