50 interesting Bible facts you can check for yourself
50 interesting Bible facts, from the middle chapter to a talking donkey. Every fact has a KJV reference, real counts, and a quiz to test yourself.
In this article
Here are 50 interesting Bible facts you can verify in a minute: the King James Bible has 66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses; its middle chapter is Psalm 117, which is also its shortest; Esther never uses the word "God"; and a donkey speaks in Numbers 22:28. Every fact below comes with a reference so you can check it.
Plenty of "Bible facts" lists repeat viral claims without sources, and a few of those claims are wrong. This list does two things differently. The counts were computed from the KJV text that runs inside Bible Academy, so they are exact for that edition. And every story fact points to the verse where you can read it yourself.
After each group of facts you'll find a link to a quiz on that book or person. Reading a fact is fun. Being able to recall it a week later is what actually builds Bible knowledge.
How these facts were checked
A Bible fact is only interesting if it's true. So here's the method in plain words.
For the numbers, we ran a short script over the 66 KJV book files used by the app's Bible reader and counted books, chapters, verses and words. Different printings and counting methods can shift word totals slightly (hyphenated names, psalm titles, punctuation), so word counts are labeled "by our count". Chapter and verse totals match the standard KJV numbering.
For everything else, the fact is quoted or summarized from the KJV with its reference. Where a popular idea comes from tradition rather than the text (an apple in Eden, Mary Magdalene as a prostitute), we say so plainly.
If you'd rather test yourself on facts like these than just read them, the app's quiz path does exactly that, and every answer shows the verse it comes from.
Bible facts by the numbers
These are the facts people search for most, with exact KJV counts. If you want the full per-book table, see how many chapters and verses are in the Bible.
1. The Bible has 66 books. The Protestant canon has 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include additional books, so their totals are higher.
2. There are 1,189 chapters. That's 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 in the New. At 3 to 4 chapters a day, you can read all of them in a year.
3. There are 31,102 verses. The Old Testament holds 23,145 of them and the New Testament 7,957. So roughly three verses out of four are in the Old Testament.
4. The KJV has 790,892 words by our count. That count of the KJV text includes the psalm titles; 610,324 of the words are in the Old Testament and 180,568 in the New. You'll often see "about 783,000" quoted elsewhere, because totals differ by edition and by how you count hyphenated names.
5. Psalms is the longest book by almost every measure. It has 150 chapters, 2,461 verses and 43,760 words by our count. Jeremiah comes second by words (42,654), even though it has only 52 chapters. Read more in our guide to the longest book in the Bible.
6. 2 John has the fewest verses, but 3 John has the fewest words. In the KJV, 2 John has 13 verses and 3 John has 14. Count words instead, and 3 John is shorter: 294 words against 298 by our count. See the shortest book in the Bible for the full ranking.
7. Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. It's a single chapter of 21 verses, a prophecy against Edom that you can read in about five minutes. Start with the Obadiah summary.
8. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter, with 176 verses. The runner-up is not close: Numbers 7 has 89 verses. Psalm 119 has nearly twice as many verses as any other chapter in the Bible.
9. Psalm 119 is an alphabet poem you can see in the KJV. The KJV prints a Hebrew letter at the head of each section, from ALEPH at verse 1 to TAU at verse 169. There are 22 sections (one per letter of the Hebrew alphabet) of 8 verses each, and 22 × 8 = 176.
10. Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter, with just 2 verses. It's a call for "all ye nations" to praise the Lord.
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.
11. Psalm 117 is also the middle chapter of the Bible. It's chapter 595 of 1,189, so there are exactly 594 chapters before it and 594 after it. This one viral fact is true.
12. Psalm 118:8 is not the middle verse. You'll see this claim on posters and in sermons. But 31,102 is an even number, so there's no single middle verse at all. The two middle verses are the 15,551st and 15,552nd, which are Psalm 103:1 and Psalm 103:2. Psalm 118:8 is verse number 15,878, about 327 verses past the middle. Our article on the middle verse of the Bible shows the math.
13. There's no single middle book either. With 66 books, the two in the middle are the 33rd and 34th: Micah and Nahum.
14. Esther 8:9 is the longest verse. It runs 90 words by our count, listing the scribes, the date, the officials and the "hundred twenty and seven provinces" from India to Ethiopia.
15. John 11:35 is the shortest verse. "Jesus wept." is two words. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 ("Rejoice evermore.") is also two words, but it has more letters. We cover the nuance in the shortest verse in the Bible.
Test yourself on the book that holds half these records with the Psalms quiz.
Quick quiz: Psalms
Which word opens the first psalm?
The book opens with “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.” “Why” opens Psalm 2. Psalms 1:1
Which psalm begins with “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”?
It is Psalm 23, a psalm of David: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalms 23:1
Which psalm begins with “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name”?
Psalm 103, by David, opens this way and urges us not to forget “all his benefits.” Psalms 103:1–2
There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start free, no card needed.
Words the Bible uses (and doesn't)
Word counts are where the internet gets the most things wrong, usually because sites mix translations. All the counts below are KJV only.
16. The word "God" never appears in Esther. Neither does "Lord". Yet the book is full of providence: an orphan becomes queen and a plot to destroy her people is reversed. Mordecai's famous line about coming to the kingdom "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14) carries the book's theology without naming God. Read the story of Esther saving her people.
17. The Song of Songs doesn't use the word "God" either. In the KJV, both Esther and the Song of Songs have zero occurrences of the word.
18. "Eternity" appears only once. It's in Isaiah 57:15, where God is described as "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity". Other passages speak of "everlasting" and "for ever", but the noun itself appears just this once.
19. "Grandmother" appears only once. Paul mentions Timothy's "grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice" in 2 Timothy 1:5. It's the only time the word shows up.
20. The words "Bible" and "Trinity" are not in the Bible. "Bible" comes from the Greek word for books. "Trinity" is a later theological term. Christians draw the doctrine from passages such as Matthew 28:19, which names "the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" together, but the word itself never appears.
21. There's no apple in Eden. Genesis 3:6 only says "the fruit thereof". The word "apple" does appear eight times in the KJV, but never in Genesis: for example "the apple of his eye" in Deuteronomy 32:10 and "apples of gold" in Proverbs 25:11.
22. The KJV uses the name "Jesus" for Joshua twice. In Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8, "Jesus" is the Greek form of the name Joshua, and the context is the conquest of Canaan. That's why "if Jesus had given them rest" in Hebrews 4:8 refers to Joshua, not Christ. The name "Jesus" never appears in the Old Testament.
23. Jonah's fish is a "great fish", but Matthew says "whale". Jonah 1:17 says "a great fish". When Jesus refers to Jonah in Matthew 12:40, the KJV translates it "the whale's belly". The Greek word there means a large sea creature, so both are fair renderings of a big fish.
24. Ezra 7:21 contains every letter of the alphabet except J. It's a decree of King Artaxerxes, and it's been a favorite trivia fact for a long time. Our script found that no verse in the KJV contains all 26 letters. Ten other verses also miss by a single letter, among them Jabez's prayer in 1 Chronicles 4:10 (no x) and Galatians 1:14 (no k).
25. The longest name is Maher-shalal-hash-baz. God tells Isaiah to write it on a scroll and then give it to his son (Isaiah 8:1, 8:3). The name is usually explained as "quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil", a warning about Assyria's coming invasion carried in a child's name (Isaiah 8:4).
26. The longest unhyphenated words in the KJV have 16 letters. There's a three-way tie: "evilfavouredness" (Deuteronomy 17:1, meaning a blemish or defect), "lovingkindnesses" (Psalm 25:6) and "unprofitableness" (Hebrews 7:18).
27. "Fear not" appears 62 times. That's the KJV count for the phrase in any capitalization, from God's words to Abram in Genesis 15:1 to the angel's words to the shepherds in Luke 2:10.
28. "Love" shows up more in the New Testament than in the Old. The word appears 311 times in the KJV: 131 in the Old Testament and 180 in the New, even though the Old Testament is about three times longer. Our article on how many times love is mentioned in the Bible breaks this down.
29. Every verse of Psalm 136 ends with the same line. All 26 verses close with "for his mercy endureth for ever". It was written to be sung, with a refrain the whole congregation could answer.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
30. Psalm 107 repeats one refrain four times. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men" appears at verses 8, 15, 21 and 31, after four different rescue stories.
Strange but true moments in Scripture
These are the stories that make people say "that's in the Bible?" All of them are.
31. A donkey talks. Balaam's donkey sees the angel he can't see and finally speaks: "What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?" (Numbers 22:28). Read the full story of Balaam and his donkey.
32. An axe head floats. A borrowed iron axe head falls into the Jordan, Elisha throws a stick in, "and the iron did swim" (2 Kings 6:6). See the floating axe head.
33. A shadow goes backward. As a sign to King Hezekiah, the Lord "brought the shadow ten degrees backward" on the dial of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:11).
34. A giant had 24 fingers and toes. In a battle at Gath there was "a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number" (2 Samuel 21:20).
35. King Og slept in a 13-foot iron bed. Deuteronomy 3:11 says his bedstead was "nine cubits" long and "four cubits" wide. With a cubit of roughly 18 inches, that's about 13.5 by 6 feet.
36. Goliath stood "six cubits and a span". That's 1 Samuel 17:4. At about 18 inches per cubit and 9 per span, it works out to roughly 9 feet 9 inches. Test yourself on David.
37. Seven hundred left-handed soldiers never missed. Benjamin had "seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss" (Judges 20:16). The judge Ehud was also "a man lefthanded" (Judges 3:15), which is how he got a dagger past the king's guards. Read Ehud the left-handed judge.
38. Absalom weighed his haircut. Once a year he cut his hair, and it weighed "two hundred shekels after the king's weight" (2 Samuel 14:26). Years later, fleeing a battle on a mule, his head caught in the boughs of an oak and left him hanging (2 Samuel 18:9).
39. A young man fell asleep during a long sermon. Eutychus sat in a window "as Paul was long preaching" and fell from the third floor (Acts 20:9). Paul embraced him and said "his life is in him" (Acts 20:10). See Eutychus falls from the window.
40. Paul was shipwrecked three times. He says so in 2 Corinthians 11:25: "thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep". The famous shipwreck on the way to Rome is told separately in Acts 27.
41. There were exactly 276 people on Paul's ship. Luke gives the head count: "two hundred threescore and sixteen souls" (Acts 27:37). Every one reached land (Acts 27:44).
42. The disciples caught exactly 153 fish. After the resurrection, Peter drags the net ashore "full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken" (John 21:11).
43. Ezekiel lay on his side for 390 days. God told him to lie on his left side for 390 days for Israel and then on his right side for 40 days for Judah, "each day for a year" (Ezekiel 4:4-6).
44. Samson killed a thousand men with a donkey's jawbone. Judges 15:15: he "found a new jawbone of an ass… and slew a thousand men therewith". Quiz yourself on Samson.
People, ages and firsts
45. Methuselah is the oldest person in the Bible. "All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died" (Genesis 5:27). See the full ranking in the oldest person in the Bible.
46. The numbers put Methuselah's death in the year of the flood. Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born (Genesis 5:25). Lamech was 182 when Noah was born (Genesis 5:28-29). Noah was 600 when the flood came (Genesis 7:6). Add them: 187 + 182 + 600 = 969, Methuselah's exact age at death. The text doesn't say how he died, only that the arithmetic lines up.
47. Two people in the Bible never died. "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24), and Hebrews 11:5 says he "should not see death". Elijah "went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11). Read Elijah taken up to heaven.
48. Moses died at 120 with perfect eyesight. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deuteronomy 34:7). Psalm 90 is titled "A Prayer of Moses the man of God" in the KJV, so the Psalms credit at least one psalm to him too.
49. Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. That's 1 Kings 4:32. The book of Proverbs holds only a portion of them. The same king "had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11:3). Learn his story on the Solomon character page.
50. Jesus' first recorded words were a question. At twelve, found in the temple after three days, he asks: "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49). Read Jesus in the temple at age twelve.
And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?
And one bonus, because the first and last words matter: the Bible opens with "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) and closes with "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (Revelation 22:21). The word "Amen" appears 78 times in the KJV.
Myths that sound like Bible facts
Some of the most shared "facts" aren't in the text. Knowing the difference is a fact in itself.
| Popular claim | What the KJV text says | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Eve ate an apple | "the fruit thereof", unnamed | Genesis 3:6 |
| Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse | The middle falls between Psalm 103:1 and 103:2 | KJV count |
| Jonah was swallowed by a whale | "a great fish" (Matthew 12:40 renders it "whale") | Jonah 1:17 |
| Mary Magdalene was a prostitute | Jesus cast seven devils out of her; no mention of prostitution | Luke 8:2 |
| There were three wise men | Three gifts are named; the number of men isn't | Matthew 2:11 |
| "God helps those who help themselves" | Not in the Bible | none |
The last one is worth a word. It's often quoted as Scripture, but no verse says it. A quick search in any Bible reader shows that, and the habit of checking is the best Bible-study skill you can build.
How to remember these facts (instead of forgetting them by Friday)
Reading a list like this is enjoyable, but most of it fades within days unless you try to recall it. Rereading feels productive; pulling a fact back out of your own memory is what makes it stay. A few simple ways to make these stick:
- Pick five facts and close the page. Then try to write the five references from memory. The ones you miss are the ones to review tomorrow.
- Read the chapter, not just the verse. The axe head in 2 Kings 6 makes more sense once you read verses 1 to 7 and see the student who borrowed it.
- Quiz a friend. Fact 12 (the middle verse) and fact 21 (the apple) start good conversations.
- Test yourself by book. Use the Bible trivia hub to pick the book behind a fact, like the Genesis quiz for facts 21, 45 and 46.
For more of this kind of thing, try our hard Bible trivia questions or the true or false Bible quiz, which tackles many of the myths above.
If you want questions like these served at your level every day, with the verse behind each answer, the app builds that habit for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most interesting fact about the Bible?
A favorite is that Psalm 117, the shortest chapter with only 2 verses, is also the exact middle chapter of the KJV: chapter 595 of 1,189, with 594 chapters on each side. Another is that Esther never uses the word "God", yet the whole book is about God's care for his people working through ordinary events.
How many books, chapters and verses are in the Bible?
The Protestant Bible has 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. The King James Version has 1,189 chapters (929 Old Testament, 260 New Testament) and 31,102 verses (23,145 Old Testament, 7,957 New Testament). Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include additional books, so their totals are higher.
Is Psalm 118:8 the middle verse of the Bible?
No. The KJV has 31,102 verses, an even number, so there's no single middle verse. The two middle verses are the 15,551st and 15,552nd, which are Psalm 103:1 and Psalm 103:2. Psalm 118:8 is verse number 15,878. The claim probably spread because Psalm 118 sits right next to Psalm 117, which really is the middle chapter.
Which book of the Bible doesn't mention God?
In the KJV, the word "God" never appears in two books: Esther and the Song of Songs. Esther doesn't use "Lord" either. Most readers still see God at work in Esther through its many "coincidences", such as the sleepless night of the king in Esther 6:1 that leads to Mordecai's honor.
Who lived the longest in the Bible?
Methuselah, who lived 969 years according to Genesis 5:27. Jared, his grandfather, comes second at 962 years (Genesis 5:20), and Noah third at 950 (Genesis 9:29). Using the ages in Genesis 5 and 7, Methuselah's death falls in the same year as the flood.
Are these Bible facts true for every translation?
The story facts are true in every translation, because they're about what happens in the text. Counts of specific words (like "eternity" or "fear not") are for the King James Version only, and other translations will give different numbers. Chapter and verse totals are the same in most English Protestant Bibles, with small differences in a few places.