6.  A very ancient Jewish division of the sacred text is into open and closed sections.  The former, which are the larger of the two, are so named because in the Hebrew manuscripts, and in some printed editions, the remainder of the line at their close is left open, the next section beginning with a new line.  The closed sections, on the contrary, are separated from each other only by a space in the middle of a line—­shut in on either hand.  The origin of these sections is obscure.  They answer in a general way to our sections and paragraphs, and are older than the Talmud, which contains several references to them, belonging at least to the earliest time when the sacred books were read in public.  Davidson, Biblical Criticism, vol. 1, ch. 5.

Different from these, and later in their origin, are the larger sections of the Law, called Parshiyoth (from the singular Parashah, section), which have exclusive reference to the reading of the Law in the synagogue service.  These are fifty-four in number, one for each Sabbath of the Jewish intercalary year, while on common years two of the smaller sections are united.  Corresponding to these sections of the Law are sections from the Prophets, (the former and latter, according to the Jewish classification,) called Haphtaroth, embracing, however, only selections from the prophets, and not the whole, as do the sections of the Law.  The Jewish tradition is that this custom was first introduced during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, (about 167 B.C.,) because the reading of the Law had been prohibited by him.  But this account of the matter is doubted by many.

In the Pentateuch, the smaller sections called open and closed are indicated, the former by the Hebrew letter [Hebrew:  P], that is, P, the initial letter of the word pethuhah, open; the latter by the Hebrew letter [Hebrew:  S]=S, the first letter of the word sethumah, closed.  The larger sections, arranged for the reading of the Law in the synagogues, are indicated by three [Hebrew:  P]’s or three [Hebrew:  S]’s, according as they coincide at their beginning with an open or closed section.  In the other portions of the sacred text these divisions are simply indicated by the appropriate spaces.  But some printed editions do not observe the distinction between the two in respect to space, so that the open and closed sections are confounded with each other.

7. Chapters and Verses. The division of the poetical books and passages of the Old Testament into separate lines, Hebrew, pesukim, (answering in general to our half-verses, sometimes to the third of a verse,) is very ancient, if not primitive.  It is found in the poetical passages of the Law and the historical books, (Exod., ch. 15; Deut., ch. 32; Judges, ch. 5; 2 Sam. ch. 22,) and belonged originally to the three books of Job, Psalms,