BIBLE
~Interesting
Data
Books of Old Testament - 39.
Books of New Testament - 27.
Total number of books - 66.
Chapters in Old Testament - 929.
Chapters in New Testament - 260.
Total number chapters - 1,189.
Verses in Old Testament - 33,214.
Verses in New Testament - 7,959.
Total number of verses - 41,173.
Words in Old Testament - 593,393.
Words in New Testament - 181,253.
Total number of words - 774,746.
Letters in Old Testament - 2,738,100.
Letters in New Testament - 838,380.
Total number of letters - 3,566,480.
The shortest chapter is Psalm 117.
Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet
except
“j.” Esther 8:9 is the longest verse.
John 11:35 is the shortest verse.
There is no word more than six syllables in the Bible.
~Chapter And Verse
Divisions
The first
division of the Bible into chapters and verses is attributed to Stephen
Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 12th century.
Cardinal Hugo,
in the middle of the 13th century, divided the Old Testament into
chapters as they stand in our translation.
In 1661,
Athias, a Jew of Amsterdam, divided the section of Hugo into verses. And
in 1561, a French painter divided the New Testament into verses as they
are now.
~ Seven Wonders Of
The Word
1. The wonder
of its formation—the way in which it grew is one of the mysteries of
time.
2. The wonder
of its unification—a library of 66 books, yet one book.
3. The wonder
of its age—most ancient of all books.
4. The wonder
of its sale—best-seller of all time and of any other book.
5. The wonder
of its interest—only book in the world read by all classes of people.
6. The wonder
of its language—written largely by uneducated men, yet the best book
from a literary standpoint.
7. The wonder
of its preservation—the most hated of all books, yet it continues to
exist.
—Speaker’s Sourcebook
~Bible and
Archaeological Testings
Dr. Robert
Dick Wilson, former professor of Semitic philology at Princeton
Theological Seminary, said, “After forty-five years of scholarly
research in biblical textual studies and in language study, I have come
now to the conviction that no man knows enough to assail the
truthfulness of the Old Testament. Where there is sufficient documentary
evidence to make an investigation, the statements of the Bible, in the
original text, have stood the test.”
And the noted
Dr. J. O. Kinnaman said: “Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts
found by the archaeologists, not one has ever been discovered that
contradicts or denies one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the
Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of the Biblical
record.”
~ How Ramsay Was
Convinced
Over 100 years
ago, William Ramsay, a young English scholar, went to Asia Minor with
the expressed purpose of proving that the history given by Luke in his
gospel and in the Acts was inaccurate. His professors had confidently
said that Luke could not be right.
He began to
dig in the ancient ruins of Greece and Asia Minor, testing for ancient
terms, boundaries, and other items which would be a dead giveaway if a
writer had been inventing this history at a later date as claimed. To
his amazement, he found that the New Testament Scriptures were accurate
to the tiniest detail. So convincing was the evidence that Ramsay
himself became a Christian and a great biblical scholar. We still look
upon Sir William Ramsay’s books as being a classic as far as the
history of the New Testament is concerned.
—Science Returns to God
~Space Age Deepens
Spiritual Life
Walter F.
Burke, general manager of Project Mercury and Gemini, and vice-president
of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, teaches Sunday school in his
church. In an interview he declared:
“I have
found nothing in science or space exploration to compel me to throw away
my Bible or to reject my Savior, Jesus Christ, in whom I trust. The
space age has been a factor in the deepening of my own spiritual life. I
read the Bible more now. I get from the Bible what I cannot get from
science—the really important things of life.”
—Adventures With God
~Franklin’s
Homemade Bible
That great
American, Benjamin Franklin, loved to argue. Occasionally he would find
himself overwhelmed by the arguments of his learned friends. At such
times he often would say: “Give me a day to think the matter over, for
I’m correct.”
Meanwhile
he would go to his print shop, set up some type in the style of the
Bible, and express his position and argument in Bible language. He would
then return next day to his opponents and proudly proclaim; “Whatever
you may think, you cannot get away from the fact that Holy Scripture
supports my arguments. As it is said in the Book of John … ” The
ruse worked every time.
~
Standard Equipment On Pony Express
The pony
express was a thrilling part of early American history. It ran from St.
Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, Califor nia—a distance of 1,900
miles. The trip was made in ten days. Forty men, each riding 50 miles a
day, dashed along the trail on 500 of the best horses the West could
provide.
To conserve
weight, clothing was very light, saddles were extremely small and thin,
and no weapons were carried. The horses themselves wore small shoes or
none at all. The mail pouches were flat and very conservative in size.
Letters had to be written on thin paper, and postage was $5.00 an ounce
(a tremendous sum those days).
Yet, each
rider carried a full-sized Bible! It was presented to him when he joined
the pony express, and he took it with him despite all the scrupulous
weight precautions.
—Our Daily Bread
~ Library Of
Congress’ Prettiest Book
The Library of
Congress has millions of books. But its most beautiful volume is a Bible
copied by a monk in the 16th century. Even the best printer in America
or Europe cannot surpass its matchless perfection.
In this
thousand-page Bible, are written in black ink the German text of the
Scriptures. Each letter is perfect, without a scratch or blot anywhere.
There are two columns to a page, and even under a magnifying glass, not
the slightest irregularity of line space or letter formation can be
noticed. At the beginning of each chapter, the first letter is very
large—two to three inches long—and is brightly illuminated in red
and blue ink. Then the figure of some saint or some incident narrated in
the chapter is drawn into the inner spaces of the first letters.
Legend has it
that a young man who had sinned deeply became a monk and determined to
copy the Scriptures so that he might learn every letter of the Divine
commands. For many years he pursued this self-imposed task, each letter
wrought with reverence and love. When the last touch was given to the
last letter, the old man (for he had became old) kissed the page and
ended his work.
~Stanley Left One
Book In Pack
When Stanley
started across the continent of Africa he had seventy-three books in
three packs, weighing 180 pounds. After he had gone three hundred miles,
he was obliged to throw away some of his books, through the fatigue of
those carrying his baggage. As he continued on his journey, his library
grew less and less, until he had but one book left. You can imagine its
name—the Bible. It is said that he read that book through three times
during the journey.
~ In Prison With 3
Books
The editor of
a well-known London newspaper sent a letter of inquiry to one hundred
important peers, members of parliament, university professors, authors,
merchants—a varied list. The inquiry was: “Suppose you were sent to
prison for three years and you could only take three books with you.
Which three would you choose? Please state them in order of their
importance.”
Out of the
replies, ninety-eight put one book first on their list—the Bible. Few
of those men were keen about religion, many were not even church-goers;
others were agnostics ar atheists. Yet they knew that no other book
could give them cheer and comfort to help in dark, difficult days.
—Upward
~ Best Purchase Of
Wanamaker
John
Wanamaker, one of the country’s greatest merchants, said: “I have of
course made large purchases of property in my lifetime … and the
buildings and grounds in which we are now meeting represent a value of
approximately twenty billion dollars.
“But it was
as a boy in the country, at eleven years of age, that I made my biggest
purchase. In a little mission Sunday school, I bought from my teacher a
small, red, leather Bible. The Bible cost me $2.75—which I paid in
small installments as I saved. That was my greatest purchase, for that
Bible made me what I am today.”
After
that statement, the New York Herald Tribune captioned its write-up thus:
“LATER DEALS IN MILLIONS CALLED SMALL COMPARED WITH BUYING HOLY WRIT
AT ELEVEN.”
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