Who, look what they did there!

How 55 Verses Were Removed From the Bible and More, by Aaron Shryock.

This is an interesting article about the odd and controversial ways some translations have handled Numbers 7:12-83, determining it to be too long and repetitious and needed to be reduced for readers.

“In 1995, the American Bible Society published the Contemporary English Version. This version took the previous approaches to Numbers 7:12-83 one step further. The translators rendered this historical narrative as two lists.”

See how Numbers 7:12-83 looks in the King James Bible for a regular translation: Click HERE.

See how Numbers 7:12-83 looks in the Good News Translation: Click HERE.

See how Numbers 7:12-83 looks in the Contemporary English Version: Click HERE.

The long and short of it

Shortest and Longest Verses in the King James Bible.

Shortest verses in the KJV New Testament.

• John 11:35. Jesus wept. (also the shortest verse in the entire King James Bible)
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Rejoice evermore. (2 words, 15 letters)
• Luke 17:32. Remember Lot’s wife. (3 words, 16 letters)

Shortest verses in the KJV Old Testament. 

• 1 Chronicles 1:25 Eber, Peleg, Reu. (3 words, 12 letters)
• Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. (4 words, 16 letters) (Same as Deuteronomy 5:17)
• Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. (4 words, 17 letters)

Longest verse in the KJV New Testament.

• Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (68 words.)

Longest verse in the KJV Old Testament (and whole King James Bible).

• Esther 8:9. Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. (90 words)

The Texas Triangle

The Texas Triangle (also dubbed the Texaplex by author David Winans) is the triangular region framed by the cities of Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio (and the Interstates 10, 35, and 45). This region contains about 60,000-square-miles, the state’s five largest cities (see above), and over half of the state’s population.

Image by Spaceboyjosh - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48170414

How many words in the Bible?

According to various sources, such as the Art and the Bible Bible Concordance and others, the King James Authorized Bible has some 783,137 or so words. Of these 783,137 words, there are about 14,564 unique words.

Compared to three others:

• English Standard Version – 757,439
• New International Version – 727,969
• New King James Version – 770,430

Some of this is accounted for by translational differences, while for the ESV and NIV, they are also based on a Greek text with fewer words than the Textus Receptus.

Super Bowl facts and trivia

• 30-second Super Bowl ads for 2015 will cost $4.5 million. In contrast, an ad on the popular CBS "The Big Bang Theory" comedy averaged $344,827 in 2014.
• The 2014 Super Bowl is currently the most-watched television show of all U.S. history.
• Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest feasting day of the year in the U.S., second only to Thanksgiving.
• Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day for alcohol-related accidents in the U.S., after St. Patrick’s Day.
• Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day for beer consumption, after July the 4th.
• The Super Bowl is the largest day of sex trafficking and prostitution in the United States.
• Four times as many people will watch the Super Bowl as watched the President's January 2015 State of the Union address.
• According to the American Gaming Association approximately $100 million is bet legally on the Super Bowl each year. They expect $3.8 billion in illegal bets on the 2015 Bowl.
• Some people want to make Super Bowl Sunday a national holiday. Maybe so; one source says 7 million employees will be late or not show up for work the Monday after the Super Bowl.
• 8 million pounds of popcorn are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.

Believe at your own risk. All of these facts are touted somewhere in the media. I think most of them are based in fact -- some are straightforward, but others are disputed. Some might certainly be difficult to prove one way or the other.