Statistically speaking....

I love statistics!  You are surprised at this?  We have previously established that I am a major math geek!  So why wouldn't I love them?  Of course, statistics are not always reliable.  It depends on who gathers them and how they accomplished that and did they have any biases we should be aware of.  And people have a lot of fun at the expense of statistics - check out this ribbing:   

Statistics means never having to say you're certain.      Or these...


 97.3% of all statistics are made up.

If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it will.

It is proven that the celebration of birthdays is healthy. Statistics show that those people who celebrate the most birthdays become the oldest.   


I like this last one because it is absolutely true!  Statistics gets some bad press, but we all love to look at them, right?  I found the following statistics about the Bible and I found some of them quite amazing.  I hope you do as well!  (and I should preference this by saying all the statistics are based on the King James Version and none of them have been vetted by me.)

Let's start with this one.  Do you know what is the center verse of the Bible?  Psalm 118 is the middle chapter and Psalm 188:8 is the middle verse of the Bible.  The verse is "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust man."  Pretty neat, wouldn't you agree?  But wait, there's more... There are 594 chapters before and 594 chapters after Psalm 118.  Add 594 +594 and the answer is 1188.  The middle verse is Psalm 118:8 and I find that more than coincidental!  Additionally, before the middle chapter is the shortest chapter in the bible (Psalm 117) and after the middle chapter is the longest chapter (Psalm 119).  Very interesting.....

One other thing about Psalm 118 that is not related to statistics!  This Psalm has one of my favorite verses in the Bible, one that I quoted at my father's memorial service because it reminded me of Dad and his love of the outside and his love for God.  Verse 24 says "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." 


Now look at this:

I love that!  One for each calendar day!  The symmetry is inspiring to me.  

Here are some more basic stats that just might help to bring the Bible to life for you:

• The Bible was written between 1450 BC and 100AD
• Number of different Authors: 40
• Number of books in the Bible: 66
• Chapters: 1189
• Verses: 31,101
• Words: 783,137
• Letters: 3,566,480
• Number of promises given in the bible: 1,260
• Number of Commands: 6,468
• Number of predictions over 8,000
• Fulfilled prophecy: 3,268
• Unfulfilled prophecy: 3,140
• Number of questions: 3,294
• Longest chapter: Psalm 119
• Longest verse, Esther 8:9 (78 words).
• Shortest chapter: Psalm 117
• Shortest verse , John 11:35 ( 2 words: “Jesus Wept“)
• Number of times “God” appears: 3,358
• Number of times “Lord” or “LORD” appears: 7,736
• The oldest parable in the Bible is Judges 9: 8-15.
• The word Christian appears only 3 times in the Bible, Acts 11: 26, Acts 26: 28, and Peter 4: 16.
• Two men in the Bible never died. Enoch and Elijah,  they were taken up to heaven by God.
• There were 12 tribes of Israel. There were 12 Disciples
• It takes 70 hours to read the bible aloud.

Have a great weekend!  May the statistics be with you!