20 October: Bible Week

This week is Bible week, so here are 10 facts about the Good Book:

1. There are 611,000 words in the Bible (in its original languages). The last one is “Amen”.

2. There are 66 books. Although some denominations include extra ones, all of them recognise the core 66. The longest is Jeremiah and the shortest is 3 John, which only takes about a minute to read.

3. The longest word in the Bible is a name: Mahershalalhashbaz, a son of the prophet Isaiah. The name means “plunder speedeth; spoil hasteth.” People have even given this name to their children. The actor Mahershala Ali’s full name is Mahershalalhashbaz Ali Gilmore.

4. About 100 different animals appear in the Bible. Sheep and Goats are the animals most frequently mentioned and others include Lions, Cheetahs and Crocodiles. The domestic Cat, however, doesn’t appear in the Bible at all.

5. While the Holy Trinity is a basic tenet of the Christian faith, the word “trinity” never appears in the Bible, although there are plenty of verses where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned together.

6. The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblios, meaning “scrolls”.

7. The smallest Bible in the world is an Old Testament nano-printed onto a five-by-five millimetre Aluminium disc. Each letter measures 600 nanometers, so you ‘d need an electron microscope to read it.

8. At the other end of the scale, the largest Bible in the world is the Waynai Bible, kept at the Abilene Christian University in Texas. It’s a King James version, and weighs over 1,000 pounds, is 43.5 inches tall and measures 98 inches wide when fully open. It was created by one Louis Waynai, a self-ordained minister, who spent two years printing the text using his own self-made rubber stamp press.

9. The original books of the Bible were not divided into chapters and verses. These were added in the 1200s to make referencing easier.

10. As well as being the best selling book in the world (an estimated 25 million copies sold each year in the United States alone), it’s also the most frequently shoplifted. Presumably by people who’ve not read it yet and don’t know about the “Thou shalt not steal” bit.

Character birthday

Tristan Johannesjaegervitch, eldest son of Prince Christopher and Jill Warner, second in line to the Galorvian throne.