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Bible Statistics

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 15, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 32, No. 12.

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Bible Statistics.

A “READER” of Zion’s Herald sums up the statistics of the Bible thus:
The Scriptures have been translated into 148 languages and dialects, of which 121 had, prior to the formation of the British Foreign Bible Society, never appeared. And 25 of those languages existed without an alphabet, in oral form. Upwards of 43,000,000 of those copies of God’s word are circulated among not less than 600,000,000 of people.
The first division of the divine orders into chapters and verses, is attributed to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of King John, in the latter part of the 12th century, or beginning of the 13th. Cardinal Hugo, in the middle of the 13th century, divided the Old Testament into chapters as they stand in our translation. In 1661, Athias, a Jew of Amsterdam, divided the sections of Hugo into verses—a French printer had previously (1561) divided the New Testament into verses as they now are.
The Old Testament contains 39 books, 929 chapters, 23,214 verses, 592,439 words, 2,738,100 letters.
The New Testament contains 27 books, 260 chapters, 7,950 verses, 182,253 words, 933,380 letters.
The entire Bible contains 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,175 verses, 77,692 words, 3,566,480 letters.
The name of Jehovah, or Lord, occurs 6,855 times in the Old Testament.
The word “and” occurs in the Old Testament 35,543 times.
The middle book of the Old Testament is Proverbs. The middle chapter is the 29th of Job.
The middle verse is 2 Chronicles, 30th chapter, and 17th verse.
The middle book of the New Testament is 2 Thessalonians.
The middle chapters are Romans 13 and 14. The middle verse is Acts xi, 7.
The middle chapter and the least in the Bible is Psalm cxvii.
The middle line in the Bible is 2 Chronicles i, 26.
The least verse in the Old Testament is 1 Chron. i, 1.
The least verse in the Bible is John xi, 35.
The 19th chapter of 2 Kings and Isaiah xxxvii are the same.
In the 21st verse of the 4th chapter of Ezra are all the letters of the alphabet, I and J considered as one.
The Apocrypha (not inspired, but sometimes bound between the Old Testament and the New), contains 14 books, 183 chapters, 15,081 verses, 152,185 words.
The preceding facts were ascertained by a gentleman in 1718. Also by an Englishman residing at Amsterdam, 1772, and it is said to have taken each gentleman nearly three years in the investigation.
There is a Bible in the library of the university of Gottingen written on 5,476 palm-leaves.
A day’s journey was 33 and 1·5 miles.
A Sabbath day’s journey was about an English mile.
Ezekiel’s reed was 11 feet nearly.
A cubit is 22 inches nearly.
A hand’s breadth is equal to three and five-eighth inches.
A finger’s breadth is equal to one inch. A shekel of silver was about fifty cents.
A shekel of gold was $8.09.
A talent of silver was $516.32.
A talent of gold was $13,809.
A piece of silver, or a penny, was thirteen cents.
A farthing was three cents.
A gerah was one cent.
A mite was one and a half cents.
A homer contains seventy-five gallons and five pints.
A nepha, or bath, contains seven gallons and five pints.
A hin was one gallon and two pints.
A firkin was seven pints.
An omer was six pints.
A cab was three pints.
A dog was one-half pint.
The divisions of the Old Testament are four:
  1. The Pentateuch, or the five books of Moses.
  2. The historical books, comprising Joshua to Esther, inclusive.
  3. Poetical or doctrinal books, from Job to Songs of Solomon, inclusive.
  4. Prophetical books, from Isaiah to Malachi.
The New Testament is usually divided into three parts:
  1. Historical, containing the four gospels and Acts.
  2. Doctrinal, comprising all the epistles from Romans to Jude.
  3. Prophetical, being the book of Revelation.
The commemorative ordinances of the Jews were:
Circumcision, the seal of the covenant with Abraham.
The passover, to commemorate the protection of the Israelites, when all the firstborn of the Egyptians were destroyed.
The feast of tabernacles, instituted to perpetuate the sojourning of the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness.
The feast of pentecost, which was appointed fifty days after the passover, to commemorate the giving of the law from Mount Sinai.
The feast of Purim kept in memory the deliverance of the Jews from the wicked machinations of Haman.
In 1272, it would have cost a laboring man thirteen years of labor to purchase a Bible, as his pay would only be 1½ pence per day, while the price of a Bible was £20.