Sacred text (MLA)
MLA-78
Consider the words of Solomon: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink” (Oxford Annotated Bible, Prov. 25.21).
- When citing a sacred text such as the Bible or the Qur’an, in your parenthetical citation give the book, chapter, and verse (or their equivalent), separated with periods.
- Common abbreviations for books of the Bible are acceptable.
- In your works cited entry, you will name the edition you are using (and you do not need to name it in the in-text citation).
- The title of a sacred work is italicized when it refers to a specific edition of the work (as in the example).
- If you refer to the book in a general sense in your text, neither italicize it nor put it in quotation marks.
The Bible and the Qur’an provide allegories that help readers understand how to lead a moral life.
The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Edited by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Revised Standard Version, Oxford UP, 1965.
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