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BIBLE
FACTS
Who
wrote the Bible?
The
Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by over 40
different authors from all walks of life: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers,
physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings. Despite these
differences in occupation and the span of years it took to write it, the
Bible is an extremely cohesive and unified book.
Which
single author contributed the most books to the Old Testament?
Moses.
He wrote the first five books of the Bible, referred to as the Pentateuch;
the foundation of the Bible.
What
is the oldest almost-complete manuscript of the Bible now in existence?
The
Codex Vaticanus, which dates from the first half of the fourth Century.
It is located in the library of the Vatican in Rome. There are older fragments
of the Bible that are still preserved however-- the oldest being a tiny
scrap of the Gospel of John was found in Egypt, dating back to the beginning
of the second century. (It is currently in the Rayland's Library in Manchester,
England).
The word
"Bible" simply means books.
Bible scholars tell us that the accuracy
of the text of the New Testament (excluding spelling variations) is greater
than 98 percent. The New Testament is far more accurate than ANY other
ancient writing. In fact, there is more evidence for the integrity of
the New Testament than there is for the works of Shakespeare or any 10
other pieces of ancient literature COMBINED.
About
50 Bibles are sold every minute.
The first Bible
Society was founded 1804. Currently, the Bible societies are involved
in projects in 685 languages, in which a part of the Bible is being translated
for the first time in 468 languages.
About 170,000 Bibles are
distributed each day in the United States.
The Bible – in
its complete form or portions of it – is now available in 2,233 languages.
Christianity is
the world's most widespread religion (1,7 billion Christians).
The Bible was
written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.
The
12 disciples were not were not allowed to carry food, money, or extra
clothing.
The entire Bible was written
over a 1500 year span.
The Bible contains 66 books written by over 40 different authors.
Delilah was given
a few thousand pieces of silver to deceive Samson into revealing the secret
of his strength. Judges 16:4-5:
"And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her,
'Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means
we may over power him....and every one of us
will give you 1100 pieces of silver.' "
The longest book of the Bible
is Psalms.
Dogs are mentioned
14 times in the Bible, and lions 55 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned
at all.
The Bible,
the world's best-selling book, is also the world's most shoplifted book.
The word "Christian"
appears only three times in the Bible: Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16.
It takes about 70 hours to
read the entire Bible.
Esther is the only
book in the Bible that does not contain the word "God."
The word "Lord"
appears 1855 times in the Bible.
There
are 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.
The Bible was the first book
ever printed. In 1454, Johannes Gutenberg invented the "type mold"
print press and began to print the Bible. Life Magazine called this the
single most important event of the second millennium.
Stephen Langton first divided the Bible into chapters in 1228.
The 66 books of
the Bible is divided into 1,189 chapters consisting of 31,173 verses.
The Old Testament has 929 chapters, the New Testament 260. (King James
version)
The King James
Old Testament consist of 592,439 words consisting of 2,728,100 letters
and the New Testament 181,253 words consisting of 838,380 letter (total
3,566,480 letters).
The longest line
in the Bible is Esther 8:9 - 89 words, 425 letters.
The longest word
in the Bible is Maher-shalal-hash-baz: Isaiah 8:1.
The shortest verse
in the Bible is John 11:35: "Jesus wept."
The
longest book chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, the shortest is Psalm
117.
Obadiah, with
21 verses consisting of 602 words, is the shortest book in the Old Testament,
and the third shortest in the Bible.
II John has
the fewest number of verses of any book in the Bible - it is the shortest
book in the Bible.
III John has the
fewest number of words of any book in the Bible.
Job is the oldest
book written in the Bible - it was written by an unknown Israelite around
1500 BC.
Malachi, written
about 400 BC, is the youngest book in the Old Testament.
James, written
around 45 AD, is the oldest book in the New Testament.
Revelation, written
about 95 AD, is the youngest book in the New Testament.
The verse in the
exact middle of the Bible is Psalm 118:8. There are 549 chapters before
Psalm 118 and 549 chapters after Psalm 118, the total sum of which is
1188.
Paul wrote
14 (of the 27) books of the New Testament.
The covering for
the tabernacle was made out of ram skins and sea cow hides: Exodus 36:19.
Nowhere in the
Bible does it say there were three wise men - Matthew 2:1 only says: "Magi
from the east came to Jerusalem" and later they present three gifts.
More.
The word "God"
appears in every book except Esther and Song of Solomon.
The word "grandmother"
appears in the Bible only once: 2 Timothy 1:5.
The word "eternity"
is mentioned only once: Isaiah 57:15.
Seven suicides
are recorded in the Bible.
In Old Testament
times the Mediterranean Sea was called the Great Sea.
There are 7 different
Jeremiahs in the Bible: 1 Chronicles 5:24; 12:4, 10, 13; 2 Kings 23:30;
Jeremiah 1:1; 35:3.
The raven is the
first bird mention in the Bible. It appears in Genesis 8:7, when it is
sent out from the ark by Noah to see if the flood waters have abated.
The second bird was a dove, in verse 8.
Almonds and
pistachios are the only nuts mentioned in the Bible.
A chariot imported
from Egypt cost around 600 shekels of silver (1 Kings 10:29). That would
be about $77,000. One shekel was 4 days wages.
The word "trinity"
is not mentioned in the Bible.
Methuselah
is the oldest man on record: 969 years old (Genesis 5:27).
The 10 plagues
of Egypt:
1. Water turns to blood
2. Frogs
3. Lice and fleas
4. Flies
5. Cattle die of diseases
6. Boils and sores
7. Hail
8. Locusts
9. Darkness
10. Death of first-born
The 7 last plagues
(Revelation 16):
1. Sores
2. Sea turns to blood
3. Rivers turn to blood
4. People scorched by heat of the sun
5. Darkness
6. River Euphrates dries up
7. Earthquake
The last word
in the Bible is AMEN.
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