#Hashtag Standard – Bible Verses

It started on Twitter (Now X), but is used on most social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc. A hashtag is written with the “#” symbol followed by a keyword. Hashtags group social media posts by topic.

Examples include

#Bible
#Inspiration
#Bibleverses
#Sermononthemount
#Matt5v1
#Matthew5verse1to2

There are restrictions on the characters a hashtag can contain. For example, spaces and hyphens may not be used. Hashtags do not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters, but this can be used to make them easier to read.

Swedish standard 2021

For a long time, there was no set standard for how to “tag” Bible verses. If you search for existing tags, you’ll find all sorts of variations, such as #John3verse16, #joh3_16, #joh3verse16to17, etc.

In 2021, the Core Bible Project took the initiative to develop a proposal, which all Bible societies in Sweden agreed on, and it was published in April 2022. This is now the standard used in Sweden.

The standard we developed uses BOOK OF THE BIBLE followed immediately by the chapter number. If you also want to include a VERSE, write “v” followed by the verse number. To specify a range of verses, use an underscore “_”.

Some examples

#joh3
#joh3v16
#joh3v16_17

Proposal for English Standard

Below is the standard that The Core Bible uses to tag when posting Bible verses on Instagram and Facebook.

We have also developed a tool (in Swedish) for easily converting Bible references that also handles different verse numbering systems.

Old Testament

Nya Testamnentet

Logos har en lista på olika förkortningar av Bibelns böcker här.