p. 5 | The Number of Bible Promises

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 27, 1916

The Number of Bible Promises

By John Norton Loughborough

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

Several years ago a statement like this went the round of religious journals: “There are in the Bible thirty-six thousand promises.” I said to myself, “That is a pretty big statement. I do not believe there are as many verses as that in the Bible, and surely every verse is not a promise, for there are some threatenings.” I counted the verses, and found in the Old Testament 23,556, and in the New Testament 7,357, or a total of 31,513 verses. Of these verses, in genealogies, etc., more than 1,000 are wholly names; in the description of the sanctuary, its services and order, about 1,000 verses are used; in bare mention of actions, warfare, etc., several thousand are used; and about 3,000 threatenings of present and future wrath are noted. Even these numbers would cut down the verses, if all the rest were promises, to less than 25,000. But they are not all thus used.

When I saw the above-quoted statement, as I was about to begin my yearly reading of the Bible by course, I said, “I will make a count as I go along of how many of these verses contain promises.” I counted in the Old Testament 976, and in the New Testament 318, or a total in both Testaments of 1,294. Of these, 963 relate to the present life, and 331 relate to the future life. This number, 1,294, is much less than 36,000. As I started the next yearly reading, I said, “It may be those making that big statement, if they made any count, took the number of items mentioned instead of each complete promise, for sometimes a single promise speaks of several things; so I will watch this time for items.” My count came out this time thus: Items containing promises in the Old Testament, 3,044; in the New Testament, 529; total, 3,573. This still came far short of 36,000.

While counting the promises I also numbered the threatenings, and found 2,936, of which only 353 relate to the future. I conclude it is better to give force to the exceeding magnitude even of one infallible promise to us poor mortals than to try to flood minds with uncertain numbers.

Lodi, Cal.