The plans are a distraction from economic recovery and few Scots see them as a priority, Mr Murphy said.
He also pledged to deliver more powers for the Scottish Parliament if Labour wins the next election, in a letter to First Minister Alex Salmond.
The Scottish Secretary wrote: “I would urge the Scottish Government to suspend their efforts to get Scotland out of Britain and instead spend it on getting Scotland out of recession.
“This is not the time for Scotland’s ministers and civil servants to be distracted on the preparation of a Referendum Bill that very few Scots think is a priority.
“I’m asking that Scottish ministers abandon plans to publish a Referendum Bill this month.
“Now is the time to be patriotic not partisan, we all need to focus on the recovery not a referendum.”
Mr Salmond set out plans for the referendum on St Andrew’s Day last year, with the publication of a white paper on Scotland’s constitutional future.
The plans outlined a series of other options, including substantial new powers for the Scottish Parliament, but set out independence as the favoured choice.
Mr Murphy says his “overriding priority” for the coming year is jobs and called for a “team-Scotland” approach to getting the country out of recession.
He has already set out plans to increase the Scottish Parliament’s powers, which would see Westminster cut income tax by 10p in Scotland and reduce the Treasury block grant, leaving it to Holyrood to make up the difference - in line with recommendations from the Calman Commission which looked into the devolution set-up.
Powers to control airguns and set drink-drive and speed limits would be devolved to Holyrood.
Mr Murphy’s letter went on: “We are committed to bringing forward a single piece of primary legislation as soon as possible in the next Parliament to ensure that the people in Scotland have robust legislation grounded in proper analysis to deliver this enhanced devolution.”
An SNP spokeswoman said: "The people of Scotland have a clear choice between a party setting a positive vision for Scotland's future and the negativity of Labour and the other London parties.
"Only a strong block of SNP MPs can protect and promote Scotland's interests."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article