The Old and New Testament Dissected
The following is taken from a Bible published by Matthew Carey in 1801. This accumulation of statistics was of course made before computers made such statistics more easily obtainable.
Who would have had the time or even bothered to count and calculate all these letters and words? An old newspaper clipping found between the pages of a Bible in the Dunham Family Bible in America Museum’s collection said that the statistics were compiled by the Prince of Granada, heir to the Spanish throne, during his life imprisonment in the Palace of Skulls, Madrid. The Prince had only one book, the Bible, to read during his 33 years of solitary confinement in the prison. Upon his death, the statistics were found written on all the walls of his prison cell. Though an expert in Bible trivia, there is no evidence the Prince’s soul was affected by the Bible’s message. However, other sources indicate the compilation was made by an anonymous person who spent three year making the calculations.
The Old and New Testament Dissected
Books in the Old Testament……39
Chapters…929
Verses………23,214
Words………592,439
Letters……2,728,109
Books in the New Testament……27
Chapters…………260
Verses…………7,959
Words………181,253
Letters………838,380
The Apocrypha hath 183 chapters, 6081 verses, and 152, 185 words.
The middle chapter and the least in the Bible, is Psalm CXVII.
The middle verse is the 8th of Psalm CXVIII.
The word and occurs in the Old Testament 35,543 times.
The same in the New Testament also occurs 10, 684 times.
The word Jehovah occurs 6,855 times.
The middle book of the Old Testament is Proverbs.
The middle chapter is Job XXIX.
The middle verse is 2nd Chronicles, chap. XX, the 17th verse.
The least verse is 1st of Chronicles ch. I and 1st verse.
The middle book in the New Testament is 2nd Thessalonians.
The middle chapters are Romans XIII and XIV.
The middle verse is in Acts XVIII 17th verse.
The least verse is in John XI verse 35.
The 21st verse, ch. VII of Ezra, has all the letters of the alphabet.
The chap. XIX of the 2nd of Kings and chap. XXXVII Of Isaiah are both alike.