I talked a little about the Bible a few blogs back and about how it can be misinterpreted and some people tend to use the Bible to prove, or dis-prove, just about anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But without trying to interpret each and very verse, the Bible is interesting in and of itself.
I think I mentioned that the Bible is the bestselling book in the world, but Ironically I guess, it\u2019s also the most stolen book in the world. Bibles are regularly taken from hotels, hospitals, bookstores and lots of other places \u2014 I guess one of the Ten Commandments that says, \u201cthou shalt not steal,\u201d doesn\u2019t apply to Bibles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there is some disagreement, most biblical scholars agree that it took about 1,500 years to write the Bible. The Bible has about 40 authors that wrote different sections and it was written on three continents \u2014 Asia, Europe and Africa, and \u2014 in three different languages. The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written in Greek \u2014 the language of scholarship at the time. (Aramaic was the common \u201cinternational language\u201d of the time and most like the language that Jesus spoke.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was about 400 years before the New Testament was written after the completion of the Old Testament \u2014 these years are known as the \u201csilent years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On average, the Bible is over 600,000 words long. Different versions or translations of the Bible are even longer \u2014 the King James Bible is 783,137 words. And the Bible has over 1,000 chapters \u2014 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New Testament. It\u2019s interesting that both the longest and shortest chapters in the Bible are in Psalms \u2014 Psalms 117 is the shortest and Psalms 119 is the longest. The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35 and consists of only two words: \u201cJesus wept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Geneva Bible, produced in 1557 in Geneva, Switzerland, was the first version of the Bible to be translated from both Hebrew and Greek, as well as the first to be printed on a printing press. At the time, Queen Mary I of England was persecuting Protestants, even having them burned at the stake. In response, many Protestant leaders, like John Calvin, fled to Geneva. The Geneva Bible was very influential in the 16th century and was one of the books taken to America on the Mayflower in 1620.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Believe it or not, there is a \u201cSinner\u2019s Bible.\u201d We all know that the Bible states, \u201cthou shall not commit adultery.\u201d However a Bible printed in 1631 contains a typo and actually states \u201cthou shalt commit adultery.\u201d This Bible has become known as the \u201cSinner\u2019s Bible,\u201d and today a few copies of this rare Bible are still floating around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is one more fairly famous Bible that contains a typo \u2014 in a 1611 edition of the King James Bible, a typo is found in the Book of Ruth 3:15, which reads: \u201cShe went into the city.\u201d This verse refers to God, so it is essentially describing God as a woman. Not surprisingly, this Bible is known as the \u201cShe Bible,\u201d and only a very few of these Bibles remain.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bible in its entirety has been translated into 704 languages and at least some portion has been translated into over 3,000 languages. And, there are numerous versions of the Bible. With so many versions and translations, things were bound to get lost in translation at some point. So I suppose it\u2019ll continue to be the book to quote when you want to prove, or dis-prove your argument.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I talked a little about the Bible a few blogs back and about how it can be misinterpreted and some people tend to use the Bible to prove, or dis-prove, just about anything. But without trying to interpret each and … Continue reading