The Society of Biblical Literature has a series of standard abbreviations for Bible books. I particularly appreciate the fact that they do away with the unnecessary period. If you use Mark Ward’s Microsoft Word Miracle Macro, you’ll need to use these as well for it to work properly.
I left out equivalents for the OT and NT; you’ll figure them out.
Update: BibleWorks comes with an SBL abbreviation set. Go to Tools> Options > Bible Versions > Book Names > Open > books_sbl.bna > Open > OK. Now, when you export passages from BibleWorks, they will come automatically tagged with the reference using SBL abbreviations. (If you are a screen-space Nazi like me, you will want to edit the list to make the long titles match the abbreviations—this saves some space in your browse window, especially when you’re in books with long titles like 2 Thessalonians. You are welcome to use the file I created—just unzip it and use it to replace the existing books_sbl.bna file.)
Old Testament
| Gen | Eccl (or Qoh) |
| Exod | Song (or Cant) |
| Lev | Isa |
| Num | Jer |
| Deut | Lam |
| Josh | Ezek |
| Judg | Dan |
| Ruth | Hos |
| 1 Sam | Joel |
| 2 Sam | Amos |
| 1 Kgs | Obad |
| 2 Kgs | Jonah |
| 1 Chr | Mic |
| 2 Chr | Nah |
| Ezra | Hab |
| Neh | Zeph |
| Esth | Hag |
| Job | Zech |
| Ps/Pss | Mal |
| Prov |
New Testament
| Matt | 1 Tim |
| Mark | 2 Tim |
| Luke | Titus |
| John | Phlm |
| Acts | Heb |
| Rom | Jas |
| 1 Cor | 1 Pet |
| 2 Cor | 2 Pet |
| Gal | 1 John |
| Eph | 2 John |
| Phil | 3 John |
| Col | Jude |
| 1 Thess | Rev |
| 2 Thess |
Apocrypha and LXX
Equivalents are listed to the right.
| Bar | Baruch |
| Add Dan | Additions to Daniel |
| Pr Azar | Prayer of Azariah |
| Bel | Bel and the Dragon |
| Sg Three | Song of the Three Young Men |
| Sus | Susanna |
| 1–2 Esd | 1–2 Esdras |
| Add Esth | Additions to Esther |
| Ep Jer | Epistle of Jeremiah |
| Jdt | Judith |
| 1–4 Macc | 1–4 Maccabees |
| Pr Man | Prayer of Manasseh |
| Ps 151 | Psalm 151 |
| Sir | Sirach/Ecclesiasticus |