BIBLE FACTS:

The system of chapters was introduced in A.D. 1238 by Cardinal Hugo de S. Caro, while the verse notations were added in 1551 by Robertus Stephanus, after the advent of printing. 

A Bible in the University of Gottingen is written on 2,470 palm leaves.

According to statistics from Wycliffe International, the Society of Gideons, and the International Bible Society, the number of new Bibles that are sold, given away, or otherwise distributed in the United States is about 168,000 per day.

The Bible can be read aloud in 70 hours.

There are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible, 5,624 different Greek words, and 12,143 different English words in the King James Version.

A number of verses in the Bible (KJV) contain all but 1 letter of the alphabet: Ezra 7:21 contains all but the letter j; Joshua 7:24, 1st Kings 1:9, 1st Chronicles 12:40, 2nd Chronicles 36:10, Ezekiel 28:13, Daniel 4:37, and Haggai 1:1 contain all but q; 2 Kings 16:15 and 1st Chronicles 4:10 contain all but z; and Galatians 1:14 contains all but k.
 

BIBLE STATISTICS:

Number of books in the Bible: 66
Chapters: 1,189
Verses: 31,101
Words: 783,137
Letters: 3,566,480
Number of promises given in the Bible: 1,260
Commands: 6,468
Predictions: over 8,000
Fulfilled prophecy: 3,268 verses
Unfulfilled prophecy: 3,140
Number of questions: 3,294
Longest name: Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1)
Longest verse: Esther 8:9 (78 words)
Shortest verse: John 11:35 (2 words: "Jesus wept").
Middle books: Micah and Nahum
Middle verse: Psalm 118:8
Middle chapter: Psalm 117
Shortest chapter (by number of words): Psalm 117 (by number of words)
Longest book: Psalms (150 chapters)
Shortest book (by number of words): 3 John
Longest chapter: Psalm 119 (176 verses)
Number of times the word "God" appears: 3,358
Number of times the word "Lord" appears: 7,736
Number of different authors: 40
Number of languages the Bible has been translated into: over 1,200

OLD TESTAMENT STATISTICS:

Number of books: 39
Chapters: 929
Verses: 23,114
Words: 602,585
Letters: 2,278,100
Middle book: Proverbs
Middle chapter: Job 20
Middle verses: 2 Chronicles 20:17,18
Smallest book: Obadiah
Shortest verse: 1 Chronicles 1:25
Longest verse: Esther 8:9
Longest chapter: Psalms 119
Largest book: Psalms

NEW TESTAMENT STATISTICS:

Number of books: 27
Chapters: 260
Verses: 7,957
Words: 180,552
Letters: 838,380
Middle book: 2 Thessalonians
Middle chapters: Romans 8, 9
Middle verse: Acts 27:17
Smallest book: 3 John
Shortest verse: John 11:35
Longest verse: Revelation 20:4
Longest chapter: Luke 1
Largest book: Luke

Anyone who has studied the Bible knows that it is a long, continuous story with a common thread throughout. It is saturated with symbolism from the beginning to the end to help the reader understand the central point and purpose, which is of course—Christ.

In the last book of the Bible, The Revelation, Christ calls himself by a certain symbolic name multiple times. He calls Himself "The Alpha and the Omega". Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet—the language the majority of the New Testament was written in.

Speaking of Himself, Christ says:

" "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." "

Revelation 1:8

Note that Christ equates Himself with, "the Almighty".

In giving instructions to John (the physical writer of the book), Christ again identifies Himself by saying:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last."

Revelation 1:11

When John falls at the feet of Christ in the vision of Revelation, Christ responds in the same way.

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore." "

Revelation 1:17-18

In speaking to what is called "The Persecuted Church", Christ identifies Himself by saying:

"These things says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life..."

Revelation 2:8

In speaking to what is called "The Lukewarm Church", Christ identifies Himself by saying:

"These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God..."

Revelation 3:14

Note that "Amen" means complete, fulfilled, and also implies "the end".

Finally, Christ makes the last reference to Himself by repeating the concept three times by saying:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

Revelation 22:13

This brings us to the fourth word of the Bible.

Figure 1. The first few words of the Bible as printed in the Interlinear Bible showing Hebrew, English, and the number which corresponds to Strong's Bible Dictionary. The fourth word is highlighted (remember to read from right to left).

The fourth word of the Bible is not translated because its meaning is not traditionally known. If you search a Bible dictionary, there is no definition associated with this word. Most Bible teachers are not aware this word even exists.

This word is simply a two-letter sequence containing the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are Aleph (aw'-lef) and Tav (tawv) (see Figure 1). It is located next to the word "God". Note that there is no Strong's Bible Dictionary number associated with it.

Christ calls Himself the "Alpha", "Omega", "First", "Last", "Beginning", "End", and this mysterious word underscores this idea by stating it in Hebrew. He is the "Aleph" and the "Tav", the "First" and the "Last" letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

It's also interesting to note that the number 4 is always associated with the creative works of God in the Bible (E. W. Bullinger, "Number In Scripture"). This mysterious word happens to be the fourth word in the Bible, and this sentence is speaking specifically of the creative works of God.

In the fourth gospel (The Gospel of John), Christ is described as "The Word".

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made."

John 1:1-3

Because the entire Bible ("The Word") is representative of Christ, it's interesting to note that the wordage concerning the "First" and the "Last" occurs in the books of Genesis and Revelation; the first and last books of "The Word".

You may also notice that the previous scripture—the fourth gospel—demonstrates Christ's association with creation.

Another intriguing point is that the first letter, Aleph occurs four 4 times within the first 4 words of the Bible (see Figure 2).

1. It occurs as the center or middle letter in the first word (in the beginning),
2. the last letter in the second word (created),
3. the first letter in the third word (God),
4. and of course, the first letter in the fourth word.

Figure 2. The first few words of the Bible highlighting the Hebrew letter Aleph which occurs four times in the first four words.

The study of Bible numbers is deep and compelling. You may be interested to know that the number 3 is associated with God and his divine perfection or completeness. Perhaps it's significant that the word "God" is the third word in the Bible.

As an aside, you will notice that the book of Genesis is named after the English translation of the first word of the book.

Figure 3. The name of the book of Genesis is the same as the English translation of the first word in the book.

Hezekiah's Tunnel

Hezekiah's tunnel was dug in the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judea, about 701 B.C.E. It was hewn in bedrock for over half a kilometer, about 40 meters beneath Ophel (the city of David) in Jerusalem, between the Gihon spring and the pool of Shiloah or Siloam. Its purpose was to deny water to the Assyrian army under Sennacharib, that was expected to lay siege to Jerusalem and to provide a water source to Jerusalem during the siege. It is a winding tunnel  533m in length, and has approximately a 0.6% gradient, causing water to flow  along its length from the spring to the pool. The tunnel was discovered by the American biblical archeologist Edward Robinson in 1838 and explored by Warren and others.

Dating of Hezekiah's Tunnel

The dating of the tunnel has been disputed, particularly by anti-Zionists, who insisted that the tunnel was built at a much later date, and that the Jewish people did not have a sovereign kingdom in Jerusalem. However, radiometric measurements by Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his colleagues, reported in Nature  vol 425, p 169, 2003 and summarized in New Scientist, proved rather conclusively that plant life disrupted by the tunnel (by C-14 dating) and stalactites and stalagmites that grew after completion of the tunnel (by uranium-thorium dating) originated about 700 BC.

Hezekiah's Tunnel Inscription

An inscription in the tunnel in ancient Hebrew script explains that two teams, began at opposite ends and dug toward each other in the bedrock, and met.  The script corresponds to ancient Hebrew script of this period, and is therefore additional proof of the dating of the tunnel. Below is an enhanced photo of the inscription, and beneath it is a transcription into modern Hebrew lettering.

The translation of the inscription is as follows: (ellipses indicate missing text)