"They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." ~ Acts 17:11

"Did You Know...?"

Interesting And Unusual Facts About The Bible

History

• It has been reported for about 50 years that the Bible has been the largest seller of all books published.
• The Bible was written by about 40 men who engaged in writing it during a period of about 1600 years dating from 1500 B.C. to about 100 years after Christ.
• These men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21).
• They wrote not in words of human wisdom but in words taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13).

English Bible

• The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in A.D. 1388.
• The first American edition of the Bible was perhaps published some time before A.D. 1752.
• The Bible has been translated in part or in whole as of 1964 in over 1,200 different languages or dialects.
• The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton about A.D. 1228.
• The Old Testament was divided into verses by R. Nathan in A.D. 1448 and the New Testament by Robert Stephanus in A.D. 1551.
• The entire Bible divided into chapters and verses first appeared in the Geneva Bible of A.D. 1560.

Books Of The Bible

• Books of Bible 66
• The Old Testament 39
• The New Testament 27
• Middle book of Old Testament is: Proverbs.
• Middle book of New Testament is: 2-Thessalonians.

Chapters Of The Bible

A. Facts and figures:

• Entire Bible 1189 chapters
• Old Testament 929 chapters
• New Testament 260 chapters
• Middle chapter of Old Testament... Job 29
• Middle chapter of New Testament... Rom. 13
• Middle and shortest chapter of the Bible... Ps. 117
• Longest chapter in the Bible... Ps. 119

B. Great Golden Chapters:

Verses

• Old Testament: 23,214 verses
• New Testament: 7,959 verses
• Middle verse of the Bible: Ps. 118:8
• Middle verse of the Old Testament: 2-Chr. 20:17
• Middle verse of the New Testament: Acts 17:17
• Shortest verse of the Old Testament: 1-Chr. 1:25
• Shortest verse of the New Testament: John 11:35
• Longest verse in the Bible: Esth. 8:9
• Verse containing all letters of the alphabet except J: Ezra 7:21
• Verse containing all letters of the alphabet except Q: Dan. 4:37
• Verses alike: Ps. 107, verses 8, 15, 21, 31

Words

• In the Old Testament c. 622,771 words
• In the New Testament c. 184,590 words
• Special Words in the Bible
• Longest word in the Bible is: Maher-shalal-hash-baz (18 letters) Is. 8:3
• "And" occurs 34,044 times in the Old Testament, 9,935 times in the New Testament
• God occurs c. 4,379 times
• Lord occurs c.7,738 times

Letters

• In the Old Testament c. 2,728,100
• In the New Testament c. 838,380

Unusual Things In The Bible

• Man who lived to be 969 years old: Gen. 5:27
• Sons of God married the daughters of men: Gen.6:2
• Man used a stone for a pillow: Gen. 28:11
• Baby had a scarlet thread tied around its hand before it was born: Gen. 38:28,29
• Battle won because man stretched out his hand: Ex.17:11
• Man was spoken to by a donkey: Num. 22:28-30
• One who had a bed 13 1/2 feet long and 6 feet wide: Deut. 3:11
• The women who had to shave their heads before they could marry: Deut. 21:11-13
• Women forbidden to wear men's clothing: Deut. 22:5
• Sun stood still for a whole day: Josh. 10:13
• A woman killed a man by driving a tent peg through his head: Judg. 4:17-21
• Men lapped water like dogs: Judg. 7:5
• An army with seven hundred left handed men: Judg. 20:16
• Man whose hair weighed about 6 2/3 lb.. when it was cut annually: 2 Sam. 14:26
• Where a ferry boat was used: 2 Sam. 19:18
• Man who had twelve fingers and twelve toes: 2 Sam. 21:20
• The ax that floated in the water: 2 Kin. 6:1.6
• Woman boiled and ate her son: 2 Kin. 6:29
• Man had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines: 1 Kin. 11:3
• Father who had eighty-eight children: 2 Chr. 11:21
• No taste in the white of an egg: Job 6:6
• The sun traveled backward: Is. 38:8
• Man walked naked for three years: Is. 20:2,3
• Army of 185,000 destroyed in one night: Is. 37:36
• A man whose life was increased by 15 years because he prayed: Is. 38:1-5
• The Scroll that was cut with a pen knife: Jer. 36:20-23
• Graveyard full of dead bones resurrected: Ezek. 37
• A harlot an ancestor of Christ: Matt. 1:5
• Man ate locusts for food: Matt. 3:4