Bible Facts - Interesting Information - History

In Defense of The Cross

Home Page | News & Media | Signs & Wonders | Apparitions | Miracles | The Bible | Prayer | He is Coming

Bible Resources

  • Bible Facts

  • King James Bible

  • The New American Bible

  • Online Parallel Bible

  • Bible Gateway - Lookup

  • Dead Sea Scrolls
Names of God from the Hebrew/Aramaic Old Testament:
 
  • HEBREW ~
    • Adonai/ Ps. 2:4/ Lord, Master
    • El-Berith/ Judg 9:46/ God of the Covenant
    • El Elyon/ Gen 14:18-20/ Most High God
    • El Olam/ Gen 21:33/ The Eternal God
    • El Shaddai/ Gen 17:1-2/ All Powerful God
    • Qedosh Yisra'el/ Isa 1:4/ The Holy One of Israel
    • Shapat/ Gen 18:25/ Judge/Ruler
    • Yahweh-jereh/ Gen 22:14/ Yahweh Provides
    • Yahweh-seba'ot/ 1 Sam 1:3/ Yahweh of Armies
    • Yahweh-shalom/ Judg 6:24/ Yahweh is Peace
    • Yahweh-tsidkenu/ Jer 23:6/ Yahweh Our Righteousness
       
  • ARAMAIC ~
    • Attiq yomin/ Dan 7:9/ Ancient of Days
    • Lllaya/ Dan 7:25/ Most High

    Most alleged Bible contradictions can be explained by the following:

    (1) Reading a verse out of context. Make sure you read the entire chapter to see what context the verse is in. Sometimes the beginning of the chapter will reveal the subject in the following verses.

    (2) Change between old and new covenants. As Christians, we are not under the laws of the old covenant listed in the old testament. Because we are not under the law, some people confuse verses in the new testament to contradict those of the old. Not a contradiction, simply just a change in covenants.

    (3) Bad translation. Not all Bibles are good translations. Whenever you translate from one language to another you have the potential for mistranslations. Also some cult groups have bad translations that are slanted to match their doctrine. The New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures (Jehovah's Witness Version) is a good example of a very bad translation.

    The various translations of the Bible made between A.D. 700 & A.D. 1991.

    • 700-1000 Only parts of the Bible translated into "Old English"
    • 1380 John Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin to Middle English.
    • 1100-1500 Nicholas of Hereford made a translation for Middle English speaking people.
    • 1100-1500 John Purvey revised Nicholas's translation.
    • 1525/6 William Tymdale translated part of the Bible from Greek.
    • 1535 Miles Coverdale published the Bible in English from Tyndale's work, Greek, Hebrew, & other sources.
    • 1537 Matthew's Bible by John Rogers. Recieved royal sanction of King Henry VIII.
    • 1539 The Great Bible by Coverdale. It was a revision of Matthew's Bible.
    • 1560 The Geneva Bible was produced by Protestant scholars in Geneva.
    • 1568 The Bishop's Bible was a revision of the Great Bible.
    • 1582 & 1609 Rheims/Douai Translation was the Roman Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate of the Old and New Testaments.
    • 1611 The King James Version(or Authorized Version) was translated by a number of Bible scholars.
    • 1885 The Revised Version was a revision of the Authorized Version.
    • 1901 The American Standard Version is an American Revision of the Authorized Version.
    • 1903 The New Testament in Modern Speech was a translation produced by R.T. Weymouth.
    • 1924 A New Translation of the Bible was translated by James Moffatt.
    • 1927 Centenary Translation of the New Testament was a translation produced by the missionary Helen B. Montgomery.
    • 1937 Williams New Testament was a translated by Charles B. Williams.
    • 1938 The Bible:An American Translation was produced by E.J. Goodspeed and J.M. Powis Smith.
    • 1952 The Revised Standard Version was a revision of the American Standard Version and the King James Version.
    • 1955 The Holy Bible was translated by Ronald Knox.
    • 1958 The New Testament in Modern English was translated by J.B. Phillips.
    • 1965 The Amplified Bible was translated by the Lockman Foundation.
    • 1966 The Jerusalem Bible was originally translated in French by Roman Catholic scholars.
    • 1969 The New Berkeley (Modern Language) Bible was a revision of the Berkeley Version of 1959 by Gerrit Verkuyl.
    • 1970 The New English Bible was translated by certain people of Britain's major churches and Bible societies.
    • 1970 The New American Bible was translated by Roman Catholic scholars.
    • 1971 The New American Standard Bible was a revision of the American Standard Version by the Lockman Foundation.
    • 1976 The Good News Bible(Today's English Version) was translated by the American Bible Society.
    • 1979 The New International Version was translated by evangelical scholars.
    • 1982 The New King James Version was a modernization of the King James Version.
    • 1987 The New Century Version was an update of the International Children's Bible.
    • 1989 The New Revised Standard Version an update of the Revised Standard Version.
    • 1989 The Revised English Bible is a British committee's update of the New English Bible.
    • 1991 The Contemporary English Version(New Testament) was produced by the American Bible Society.

     

    		   Interesting Facts on the Bible:
    • The word "Bible" simply means books.
    • The Bible was originally made up of books written in three languages; Hebrew, Aramic, and Koine Greek.
    • The entire Bible was written over a 1500 year span from around 1450 B.C. (the time of Moses) to about 100 A.D. (following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).
    • The Bible contains 66 books written by over 40 different authors.
    • The Bible contains 1189 chapters and over 31,00 verses.
    • It takes about 70 hours to read the entire Bible.
    • The longest book of the Bible is Psalms.
    • The shortest book is John.
    • The longest verse is Esther 8:9.
    • The shortest verse is John 11:35.
    • The shortest chapter is Psalm 117.
    •  Psalm 118:8 is the Bible's center verse. "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." (Psalm 118:8)
    • The longest chapter is Psalm 119.
    • The Bible has been translated into over 1,200 languages.
    • The Bible is the best selling book of all time.
    • The Bible was the first book ever printed. In 1454, Johannes Gutenberg invented the "type mold" print press and began to print the Bible.
    • Stephen Langton first divided the Bible into chapters in 1228.
    • The Old Testament was first divided by verses in 1448 and the New Testament in 1551.
    • The first English Bible translation was initiated by John Wycliff in 1382 and completed by John Purvey in 1388.
    • About 170,000 Bibles are distributed each day in the United States.
    • The Old Testament has 17 Historical, 5 Poetical, & 17 Prophetic books in it.
    • The 17 Historical books are:
      • Genesis
      • Exodus
      • Leviticus
      • Numbers
      • Deuteronomy
      • Joshua
      • Judges
      • Ruth
      • 1 Samuel
      • 2 Samuel
      • 1 Kings
      • 2 Kings
      • 1 Chronicles
      • 2 Chronicles
      • Ezra
      • Nehemiah
      • Esther
    • The 5 Poetical books are:
      • Job
      • Psalms
      • Proverbs
      • Ecclesiastes
      • Song of Solomon
    • The 17 Prophetic books are:
      • Isaiah
      • Jeremiah
      • Lamentations
      • Ezekiel
      • Daniel
      • Hosea
      • Joel
      • Amos
      • Obadiah
      • Jonah
      • Micah
      • Nahum
      • Habakkuk
      • Zephaniah
      • Haggai
      • Zechariah
      • Malachi

    The New Testament has 4 Gospels, Acts, 21 Epistles, & Revelation in it.
    The 4 Gospels are:

    • Matthew
    • Mark
    • Luke
    • John
       

    The 21 Epistles are:

    • Romans
    • 1 Corinthians
    • 2 Corinthians
    • Galatians
    • Ephesians
    • Philippians
    • Colossians
    • 1 Thessalonians
    • 2 Thessalonians
    • 1 Timothy
    • 2 Timothy
    • Titus
    • Philemon
    • Hebrews
    • James
    • 1 Peter
    • 2 Peter
    • 1 John
    • 2 John
    • 3 John
    • Jude

    The Hebrew Old Testament includes the same books as our English Old Testament, but in a different order.

    The Hebrew Old Testament also had some of its books combined to become one book, that is why there is 24 instead of 39 in the Hebrew Old Testament.

    The Bible contains 1189 chapters.

    The Old Tesament has 929 chapters and the New Testament 260.

    Old Testament Sequence of Events:

    • Adam...............................about 4000 B.C.
    • The Flood.........................about 2400 B.C.
    • Abraham..........................about 2000 B.C.
    • Jacob..............................about 1900 B.C.
    • Joseph.............................about 1800 B.C.
    • Moses..............................about 1400 B.C.
    • The Exodus......................about 1400 B.C.
    • Ruth.................................about 1150 B.C.
    • Samuel.............................about 1100 B.C.
    • Saul.................................about 1053 B.C.
    • David................................about 1013 B.C.
    • Solomon............................about 973 B.C.
    • Division of the Kingdom.....about 933 B.C.
    • Galilee Captivity................about 734 B.C.
    • Captivity of Israel..............about 721 B.C.
    • Judah Conquered by Babylon..about 606 B.C.
    • Jehoiachin's Captivity...........about 597 B.C.
    • Destruction of Jerusalem......about 586 B.C.
    • Return from Captivity............about 536 B.C.
    • Temple Rebuilt....................about 520 B.C.
    • Esther becomes Queen of Persia...about 478 B.C.
    • Ezra Goes to Jerusalem........about 457 B.C.
    • Nehemiah Rebuilds the Wall...about 444 B.C.

    The traditional viewpoint is that Moses wrote the Pentateuch.

    The Garden of Eden was located near the top of the Persian Gulf.

    The stages of development of the New Testament Canon:

    • Irenaeus quoted all of our New Testament minus the books Hebrews, 2 Peter, & 3 John within his work Against Heresies. (ca. A.D. 130-200)
    • Within the Muratorian Canon the New Testament was listed minus Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, & 3 John. (ca. A.D. 170-210)
    • Eusebius quoted all of our New Testament within his work Ecclesiastical History. (ca. A.D. 260-340)
    • Athanasius quoted all of our New Testament within his thirty-ninth Paschal Letter. (ca. A.D. 367)
    • The List of the Canon was closed by the Council of Carthage. (A.D. 397)

    The apocryphal books are 1 Esdras, Judith, Tobit, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, Odes, Wisdom, Sirach, Psalms of Solomon, Baruch, & Letter of Jeremiah.

    Between 300 B.C. and A.D. 700 biblical text was written into nine various languages.

    Various passages which relate Jesus to the Old Testament ~ Matt. 4:4, Matt. 5:17, Luke 24:27, John 5:39, John 5:46, & John 10:35.

    The Ten Plagues of Egypt:

    • Water to Blood - The waters of the Nile turned to blood.
    • Frogs - Frogs infested the land of Egypt.
    • Gnats - Small stinging insects infested in the land of Egypt.
    • Flies - Swarms of flies, possibly a biting variety, infested the land of Egypt.
    • Plague on the Cattle - A serious disease, possibly anthrax, infested the cattle belonging to Egyptians.
    • Boils - A skin disease infected the Egyptians.
    • Hail - A storm that destroyed the grain fields of Egypt by spared the land of Goshen inhabited by the Israelites.
    • Locusts - An infestation of locusts stripped the land of Egypt of plant life.
    • Darkness - A deep darkness covered the land of Egypt for three days.
    • Death of the Firstborn - The firstborn of every Egyptian family died.

    The Sacrificial System was comprised of five different offerings. They are:

    • The Burnt Offering ~ Lev 1;6:8-13
    • The Grain Offering ~ Lev 2;6:14-23
    • The Fellowship Offering ~ Lev 3;7:11-36
    • The Sin Offering ~ Lev 4:1-5:13;6:24-30;12:6-8
    • The Guilt Offering ~ Lev 5:14-6:7;7:1-6;14:12-18
       

    The Jewish Feasts and Festivals are:

    • Passover ~ March/April
    • Feast of Unleavened Bread ~ March/April
    • Feast of Weeks, or Harvest (Pentecost) ~ May/June
    • Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) ~ September/October
    • Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) ~ September/October
    • Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles ~ September/October
    • Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) ~ Kislev (Nov/Dec)-Tebeth (Dec/Jan)
    • Feast of Purim, or Esther ~ February/March
       

    The Judges of the Old Testament are:

    • Othniel ~ Judg 1:12-13;3:7-11
    • Ehud ~ Judg 3:12-30
    • Shamgar ~ Judg 3:31
    • Deborah ~ Judg 4-5
    • Gideon ~ Judg 6-8
    • Tola ~ Judg 10:1-2
    • Jair ~ Judg 10:3-5
    • Jephthah ~ Judg 11:1-12:7
    • Ibzan ~ Judg 12:8-10
    • Elon ~ Judg 12:11-12
    • Abdon ~ Judg 12:13-15
    • Samson ~ Judg 13-16
    • Samuel ~ 1 & 2 Samuel

    The Musical Instruments of the Old Testament are:

    • Percussion: bagpipe, bells, cymbals, sistrum, & tambourine.
    • String: harp, harplike instrument, lyre, & zither.
    • Wind: double pipe, horn, cornet, pipe, reed, ram's horn, trumpet, & vertical flute.

    The Israelites returned from exile three times. They are:

    • 1. 538 B.C. Ezra 1-6 Leaders ~ Zerubbabel & Jeshua
    • 2. 458 B.C. Ezra 7-10 Leader ~ Ezra
    • 3. 444 B.C. Nehemiah 1-13 Leader ~ Nehemiah
       

    Types of Biblical Prayers:

    • Confession = Ps 51/ Luke 18:10-24
    • Praise = 1 Chr 29:10-13/ Luke 1:46-55
    • Thanksgiving = Ps 105:1-7/ 1 Thess 5:16-18
    • Petition = Gen 24:12-14/ Acts 1:24-26
    • Intercession = Exod 32:11-13/ Phil 1:9-11
    • Commitment = 1 Kgs 8:56-61/ Acts 4:24-30
    • Forgiveness = Dan 9:4-19/ Acts 7:60
    • Confidence = Ps 23/ Luke 2:29-32
    • Benediction = Num 6:24-26/ Jude 24

    The Characteristics of God Presented in Psalms are:

    • Anger / 5:6; 6:1; 27:9; 30:5; 73:20; etc.
    • Avenger / 9:12; 24:5; 26:1; 53:5; 58:6; etc.
    • Creator / 8:3; 22:9; 24:2; 78:69; 86:9; etc.
    • Deliverer(Savior) / 7:1,10; 9:14; 24:5; etc.
    • Faithful / 40:10; 54:5; 91:4; 92:2; 94:14; etc.
    • Forgiving / 25:11; 32:5; 65:3; 78:38; 79:9; etc.
    • Glory / 8:1; 24:7; 26:8; 29:1l; 63:2; etc.
    • Good / 13:6; 25:7; 27:13; 31:19; 34:8; etc.
    • Gracious / 67:1; 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; etc.
    • Healer / 6:2; 30:2; 103:3; 107:20; & 147:3
    • Holy / 16:10; 19:1; 20:6; 22:3; 29:2; 30:4; etc.
    • Jealous / 78:58; & 79:5
    • Judge / 7:8,11; 9:4,7-8; 50:4,6; 52:5; 75:2,7; etc.
    • Justice / 7:6; 9:8,16; 11:7; 33:5; 36:6; etc.
    • King / 5:2; 9:7; 11:4; 44:4; 47:2-9; 66:7; etc.
    • Living / 18:46; 42:2; & 84:2
    • Love / 6:4; 21:7; 25:6; 47:4; 48:9; 52:8; 60:5; etc.
    • Majesty / 8:1; 68:34; 76:4; 93:1; 96:6; 104:1; 111:3; 145:5
    • Mercy / 4:1; 5:7; 9:13; 26:11; 30:10; 31:9; etc.
    • Only God / 18:31; 35:10; 73:25; 95:3; 96:4-5; etc.
    • Perfect / 18:30; 92:15; 115:3; 135:6
    • Present / 16:11; 22:19; 23:4; 35:22; 38:21; etc.
    • Protector / 3:3; 5:11; 7:10; 16:5; 33:20; 66:9; etc.
    • Provider / 67:6; 68:9; 78:23-29; 81:16; 85:12; etc.
    • Redeemer / 19:14; 25:22; 55:18; 106:10; 107:2; etc.
    • Refuge, Rock / 7:1; 14:6; 19:14; 27:1; 28:1; etc.
    • Repent / 7:12; 90:13; & 106:45
    • Righteousness / 4:1; 11:7; 22:31; 36:6; 50:6; 65:5; 72:1; etc.
    • Shepherd / 23:1; 28:9; 74:1; 77:20; 78:52; 79:13; etc.
    • Spirit / 51:11; 104:30; 106:33; 139:7; & 143:10
    • Universal / 24:1; 50:1,12; 59:13; 65:2,5; 66:4; etc.
    • Wisdom / 104:24
    • Wonder Worker / 40:5; 46:8; 65:5; 66:3,5; 68:7; etc.

    The Prophets in History(9th-5th century B.C.):

    • Elijah ~ 875-850
    • Micaiah ~ 856
    • Elisha ~ 855-800
    • Jonah ~ 775
    • Amos ~ 765
    • Hosea ~ 750
    • Isaiah ~ 740-698
    • Micah ~ 735-710
    • Oded ~ 733
    • Zephaniah ~ 630
    • Nahum ~ 625
    • Habakkuk ~ 625
    • Jeremiah ~ 626-584
    • Huldah(the prophetess) ~ 621
    • Ezekiel ~ 593-571
    • Joel ~ 588
    • Obadiah ~ 580
    • Haggai ~ 520
    • Zechariah ~ 520-514
    • Malachi ~ 433

    Jesus' Ministry as Fulfillment of Scripture in Matthew:

    • Prophecy ~ Isa 7:14 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 1:18,22-23
    • Prophecy ~ Mic 5:2 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 2:4-6
    • Prophecy ~ Hos 11:1 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 2:14-15
    • Prophecy ~ Isa 11:1 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 2:23
    • Prophecy ~ Isa 9:1-2 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 4:12-16
    • Prophecy ~ Isa 53:4 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 8:16-17
    • Prophecy ~ Isa 42:1-4 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 12:16-21
    • Prophecy ~ Ps 78:2 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 13:34-35
    • Prophecy ~ Zech 9:9 / Fulfillment ~ Matt 21:1-5

    Fifty one parables Jesus spoke are within the New Testament.

    Most people reject Christ for one or more of the following reasons:

    • Ignorance - Romans 1:18-23 (often self-imposed), Matthew 22:29
    • Pride - John 5:40-44
    • Moral problem - John 3:19,20

    There are now more than 5300 known Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament.
    We have more than 24000 Manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today.

    Citings ~

    Halley, Henry. Halley's Bible Handbook, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.

    McDowell, Josh. Evidence That Demands a Verdict, San Bernardino: Here's Life Publishers.

    Gen. Editor: Dockery, David. Holman Bible Handbook, Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers