THE 10 MOST RELEVANT BIBLE CURIOSITIES - LITERATURE - 2024

Among the main curiosities of the Bible are the fact that it was written by more than 40 authors, has about 611,000 words and is the most stolen book in history. The Bible is also the best-selling book of all time, in addition to the one that has been translated into the most languages.

This book, fundamental to the Christian faith, has a series of stories about various key characters for Christians. Most of us Westerners know the most important stories in the Bible, among which are the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise, the liberation of the Jewish people and the death of Jesus on the cross.

However, not all parts of the Bible are equally popular or understood by most people. Also, not many people know the story in this book, even though it is central to the beliefs of so many people. Therefore, in this article we bring you 10 curiosities of the Bible, so you can learn more about its origin and its content.

Curiosities of the Bible

There are many interesting facts about the Bible in addition to the best known. These are some of the most surprising.

The Bible is divided into several books

Although we can usually find it edited in just one volume, the truth is that the Bible has an internal division: it is made up of no less than 66 smaller books.

However, the most important division - and the most recognized worldwide - is the separation between the Old Testament and the New Testament; the first was written before the birth of Jesus, while the New Testament deals with his life and the events that followed.

As a curiosity, the Jews only accept as true what is written in the Old Testament.

It was written by more than 40 authors

Unlike most traditional books, the Bible was written by a large number of different authors. Some of them were kings, while others were ordinary people. Even some of the books that make it up have an unknown authorship.

This is in direct conflict with the idea that many people have that the heroes of the Bible were the same ones who wrote it.

For example, Moses could not have fully written the content of Genesis and Deuteronomy, since he died before some of the events that are told in these happened.

It was originally written in three languages

Due to the diversity and number of its authors, the Bible was traditionally written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Ancient Greek.

Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the common language of almost all the original writers, although some books were in Aramaic.

Rather, the entire New Testament was written in Greek, which was the official language of the time.

The Bible is approximately 611,000 words long

The original length of the Bible is about 611,000 words. This makes it longer than, say, War and Peace; however, it is not an exaggerated number of characters. To give you an idea, the Lord of the Rings saga is only 35% shorter than this book.

However, during the translation process, the exact length of the Bible varies. This is mainly due to differences between the different languages ​​and because different translators decide to interpret some passages slightly differently.

The New Testament is historically correct

If we forget about the supernatural events described in the book, we can say that the New Testament is historically true. Several historians who had nothing to do with the Christian religion wrote about the events that are described in the Bible.

Among the best-known non-biblical historians of all who wrote about this time, two stand out: Josphus, a Jewish scholar; and Tacitus, a writer of Roman origin.

Parts of the Bible have highly variable lengths

Although the Bible is divided into books, chapters, and verses, they are not all the same length. On the contrary, we can find enormous differences between the amount of text of each of these.

The longest book in the Bible is Psalms, which has 150 chapters and 43,743 words. By contrast, the shortest book (John 3) has just one chapter and 299 words.

In terms of chapters, the longest is Psalm 119, with 176 verses. The shortest can also be found within the same book, being Psalms 117, with only 2 verses.

The God of the Old and New Testaments behave very differently

Most of us are familiar with the gracious, gracious, and forgiving God described in the New Testament. However, the descriptions of him in the Old Testament are far from this idyllic image.

It is believed that approximately 2,400,000 people are killed by God throughout the Bible. Many of these murders are quite disturbing; For example, a scene from the Book of Kings describes how God sent two bears to kill 42 children who had laughed at a bald man.

The Bible is the most stolen book in the world

Fame often comes with a price; And in the case of the Bible, the fact that it is the best-selling book in the world means that it has also become the most stolen.

This is not without ironic, since one of the ten commandments described within the Bible is precisely "You shall not steal."

It was also the first printed book in history

The importance of the Bible makes it the first book to be manufactured with a mechanical printing press.

When Gutenberg created the printing press in 1454, revolutionizing the world and allowing the transmission of information more quickly, he decided that the first book to come out of his machines would be the Bible.

The Bible we currently use does not include all the original texts

Due to various reforms and changes throughout the centuries, the Bible today does not contain all the information of the original. This is due to the existence of various texts, the so-called "apocrypha," which the Church considers non-canonical and, therefore, decided to exclude from the book.

For example, one of them posits that Judas was the only one of Jesus' disciples who really understood his teachings and who betrayed him at his request. This would totally change the interpretation of the story, so the religious authorities decided to exclude this text.

References

1. "Interesting facts about the Bible" in: Overview Bible. Retrieved on: February 15, 2018 from Overview Bible: overviewbible.com.
2. "10 Amazing Bible Facts" in: What Christians Want to Know. Retrieved on: February 15, 2018 from What Christians Want to Know: whatchristianswanttoknow.com.
3. "25 Interesting facts about the Bible" in: Kick Ass Facts. Retrieved on: February 15, 2018 from Kick Ass Facts: kickassfacts.com.
4. "50 Amazing facts about the Bible" in: Fact Retriever. Retrieved on: February 15, 2018 from Fact Retriever: factretriever.com.
5. "15 Awesome Bible Facts" in: Bible Reasons. Retrieved on: February 15, 2018 from Bible Reasons: biblereasons.com.