Interesting Bible Trivia


The Bible is certainly quite a book. Whether you believe in God or not, you still have to acknowledge the sheer impact and significance of the Bible. With a book with as much history as the Bible there come many interesting facts. I hope you can find these rather interesting or at least maybe use them the next time you are watching Jeopardy or playing trivia at a bar...

 FACTS ABOUT BIBLICAL AUTHORSHIP
  • The Bible has over 40 different authors. In contrast, books like the Quran and the Book of Mormon claim one author.
  • These authors had diverse occupational backgrounds. Authors of the Bible include kings, homeless prophets, fishermen, a tent maker, pastors, farmers, etc. 
  • The Bible was written over a span of over 1500 years
  • The Bible is made up of 66 "books." (39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament)
  • Geographically, the Bible was written on 3 continents, Asia, Africa, & Europe
  • The last book of the Bible, Revelation, was written about 95 A.D. For a more complete timeline of when each book of the Bible was approximately written, click here. 
  • The Bible has one central theme: The good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. We believe that through the Holy Spirit, God used distinctive individuals (namely Apostles & Prophets) to communicate His message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Old Testament and New Testament all point to salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus confirms this himself in Luke 24:44:
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44 ESV)

The whole Bible is meant to point us to Jesus!

MORE INTERESTING (AND RANDOM) BIBLE FACTS
  • "God helps those who help themselves" is actually not in the Bible - the quote belongs to Benjamin Franklin. It is also not biblically sound. A more apt quote might be, "God saves sinners."
  • All of the apostles were martyred except for John and Judas Iscariot who committed suicide after betraying Jesus.
  • The Book of Job, not Genesis is actually the first book of the Bible in historically dated order.
  • The word 'ball' appears in the Bible only once in the English Standard Version. (Isaiah 22:18)
  • The Book of Esther in the Old Testament does not actually contain the word 'God' at any point. It is the only book missing that word. Martin Luther was not a fan, and didn't even want Esther in the Bible saying, "I am so great an enemy to . . . Esther, that I wish [it] had not come to us at all, for [it has] too many heathen unnaturalities."
  • The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35 which simply says, "Jesus wept." The longest verse is Esther 8:9.
  • The last word of the Bible is "Amen."
  • The English Standard Version of the Bible contains over 750,000 words.
  • The Book of Psalms contains 150 chapters and many people are said to have memorized the entire book.
  • Famous evangelist Billy Graham is on record for saying he wishes he could memorize the entirety of the Bible before he dies.
  • As of 2016, 636 languages have a completely translated version of the Bible. 1,442 languages have the New Testament (and other portions). 1,145 languages have portions of the Bible such as one book meaning that 3,223 languages have at least some portion of Scripture translated and available to them. (Source: Wycliffe.net)
  • The Bible is annually the world's best selling book. Over 100 million Bibles are sold or given away for free every year in the world, according to The Economist. The Bible is the most widely distributed and best-selling book in the world.
  • Jesus was the first Jewish rabbi to call God, "Father." God is only referred to as Father in the Old Testament a handful of times, primarily in reference to the nation of Israel. (Source: Ligonier Ministries)
  • Gideon's International, the people who place copies of the Bible in hotel rooms, give away a Bible per second. (Source: The Economist)
  • The word 'butt' appears two times in the Bible, neither time referring to the body part. (Exodus 21:25 & 2 Samuel 2:23) The word 'stomach' appears 20 times.
  • Voltaire, the famous French philosopher and atheist wrote a number of tracts deriding the Bible. He once made a very bold statement: “One hundred years from today the Bible will be a forgotten book.” Ironically, after Voltaire died, his homestead was used as the book depository for the French Bible Society for nearly 100 years. Bibles were sold out of his house printed on his printing press! It’s now a museum. 
  • There is a talking donkey in the Bible. 
  • Two men, Enoch & Elijah never died in the Bible but rather were taken up to heaven.
  • The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388. John Wycliffe died before completing the process. 43 years after his death, officials incorrectly convinced of Wycliffe's heresy, dug up his body, burned his remains, and threw the ashes into the river Swift.
  • The last prayer of the Bible is, "Come, Lord Jesus!"(Revelation 22:20)
I hope you've enjoyed reading this and learning some interesting, unique, and fun facts about the Bible, and I hope this encourages you to become one of the millions or maybe even billions of people who have given the Bible a read!

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