Bible Mnemonics

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Apollos

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Got Bible mnemonics?

I am teaching an Intro to the New Testament course for Catholic homeschooled kids. Over and above the usual course content, I’d like to add some Bible mnemonics. So far I only have a method of remembering the 27 books of the NT that actually isn’t very clever, but seems to help. Does anyone have other mnemonics for this or for other Bible facts?

Here’s a selection of what I’ve developed over the years, and if anyone has anything to add I’d appreciate it.
  • There are 72 books of the Bible, just as Mary was 72 when she died, 72 disciples, 72 translators of the Septuagint.
  • The 10 commandments are found in Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5; Exodus is the 2nd book of the Bible and 5*2=10, Deuteronomy is the 5th and 20/5=10 (works for me 🤷)
  • The OT has Law Prophets and Wisdom; the NT has Law (Gospels & Acts) Wisdom (Letters) and Prophet (Revelation).
  • The OT Pentateuch is Genesis-Deuteronomy, where Moses gets the Law from the mountain and the 12 tribes conquer the Promised Land; the NT Pentateuch is Matthew-Acts where Jesus gives the Law from the Sermon on the Mount and the 12 apostles conquer the World.
  • The letters of the NT fall into two categories: letters from Paul (to specific audiences) and letters from others (the Catholic Epistles, to no one in particular).
  • There are 13 or 14 letters from Paul depending on how you look at it; opinion is divided on Hebrews so it comes last. So also there were 12 apostles, Judas defected, apostles elected Matthias but God electrified Paul, therefore there are 13 or 14 apostles depending on how you look at it.
  • Paul’s letters fall into two categories: letters to churches and letters to people; then not in order of date but in order of length.
  • There are two letters to Timothy because he needed more pastoral advice and support while Titus was basically good to go.
  • James, Peter, and John were the three of the 12 that were in the inner-inner circle; they were on Tabor and in Gethsemane. They have 1, 2, and 3 letters in the NT.
  • 1 & 2 Peter were the first two papal encyclicals. Their Latin titles are *Benedictus Deus *and Quomodo Omnia. They are the only inspired encyclicals.
  • Jude has a letter, to remind us that getting published is not hopeless.
  • 2 Peter is based on Jude, because even the best popes rely on others for their encyclicals.
  • Protestants call the last book Revelation, from the opening words, while Catholics call it Apocalypse, from its content.
 
Psalm_51 said:
And one final one:

mnemonic-device.eu/bible/
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I’m actually familiar with those three; they were a good start.

Here’s something on the 12 apostles:
    • Simon Peter
    • & Andrew
    • James
    • & John of Zebedee “Boanerges”
    • Philip
    • Bartholomew
    • Thomas “Didymus”
    • Matthew
    • James
    • & Lebbaeus Thaddeus Jude of Alphaeus
    • Simon Canaanean Zelot
    • Judas Iscariot
    • one with two names
    • one with three names
    • one whose name really means “son of…”
    • half a pair of twins
    • two Simons, distinguished by home
    • two Judases, distinguished by home
    • two Jameses, distinguished by father (“James” = “Jacob”)
    • three pairs of brothers
    • three named after patriarchs
    • four with nicknames
 
Apollos said:
Got Bible mnemonics?

I am teaching an Intro to the New Testament course for Catholic homeschooled kids. Over and above the usual course content, I’d like to add some Bible mnemonics. So far I only have a method of remembering the 27 books of the NT that actually isn’t very clever, but seems to help. Does anyone have other mnemonics for this or for other Bible facts?

Here’s a selection of what I’ve developed over the years, and if anyone has anything to add I’d appreciate it.
  • There are 72 books of the Bible, just as Mary was 72 when she died, 72 disciples, 72 translators of the Septuagint.
Click to expand...
Is it just me, or are there 73 books of the Bible?

Also, Matthew is said to be separated into 5 books, with a prologue (infancy narrative) and an epilogue (Passion and Resurrection). In this way, Matthew is said to mirror the Pentateuch, an analogy readily evident to his primarily Jewish audience.

Each of the 5 “books” includes a long dialog by Jesus, each concluding with the formula “When Jesus finished these words” or one closely similar (Matthew 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1).

Note, the Psalms are also separated into 5 “books” with each book ending in a doxology. For instance, Psalm 41 ends with Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from all eternity and forever. Amen. Amen. Thus, Psalm 42 ushers in the next “book”. These doxologies occur at 41:14; 72:18-19; 89:53; 106:48.
 
NotWorthy said:
Is it just me, or are there 73 books of the Bible?
QUOTE]

Not if you count Lamentations and Jeremiah as one book. I know, I’ve not seen any Bibles (in English, Italian, Chinese of Latin) that does that, but apparently, it’s important enough for the Catechism to mention that possibility.
Click to expand...
 
NotWorthy said:
Is it just me, or are there 73 books of the Bible?
Click to expand...
Wanna settle this outside? BARTENDER! One for the road, for my friend here.
Also, Matthew is said to be separated into 5 books, with a prologue (infancy narrative) and an epilogue (Passion and Resurrection). In this way, Matthew is said to mirror the Pentateuch, an analogy readily evident to his primarily Jewish audience. Each of the 5 “books” includes a long dialog by Jesus, each concluding with the formula “When Jesus finished these words” or one closely similar (Matthew 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1).
Click to expand...
Perhaps a more germane division would be one into the five major discourses of Jesus in Matthew.
Note, the Psalms are also separated into 5 “books” with each book ending in a doxology. For instance, Psalm 41 ends with Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from all eternity and forever. Amen. Amen. Thus, Psalm 42 ushers in the next “book”. These doxologies occur at 41:14; 72:18-19; 89:53; 106:48.
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Yes, but that opens another can of hermeneutics
 
cececole said:
How about the mnemonic for the books that Luther deleted?
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Jesus and the 12 walked by the sea every day.

Jesus = Judith

and the 12 = Maccabees 1 & 2

Walked = Wisdom

By = Barauch

The = Tobit

Sea = Sirah

========================

Every = Seven chapters in the book of Esther

Day = Two chapters and a prayer in the book of Daniel
 
Apollos said:
LIST]
*]There are 72 books of the Bible, just as Mary was 72 when she died, 72 disciples, 72 translators of the Septuagint.
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I heard Mary lived 63 years so there are 63 Hail Mary’s in the Brigitine rosary.
The Franciscans claim she lived 72 years for the years on the Franciscan Crown.
 
Here’s a good one.

There are 72 + 1 books of the Bible - at least, if you’re Catholic. 😃
Reverse 72, you get 27. (The number of NT books.)
Subtract 27 from 72, and add the 1 = 46. (The number of OT books.)

For more convoluted equations:

There are 2 testaments (Old and New).
7 - 2 = 5, the number of the books of the Pentateuch (Torah).
Double the 1, you get 11; reverse 72, you get 27. Subtract 11 from 27 and you get 16, the number of historical books (from Joshua to 2 Maccabees).
There are 7 wisdom books (from Job to Sirach).
Subtract 3 (2 - 1) from 7 and you get 4, the number of the gospels and of the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel).
Alternatively, there are 6 (7 - 1) books in the major prophet category (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel).
There are 12 minor prophets (from Hosea to Malachi).
There are 7 deuterocanonical books and 7 general epistles.
Double the 1, you get 11. Adding 2 will yield 13, the number of the Pauline epistles.
 
The Protestant version to remember how many books are in the OT and in the NT:

Remember that there are 39 books in OT

39: 3x9= 27 books in the NT

Or reverse engineer if you know the number in the NT. 😉

Total = 66. For good measure, just for Martin Lucifer, add another 6 = 666:bowdown:
 
I learned something today from reading these posts.
I always thought mnemonics were only letters (even if they helped to remember words, pictures or numbers) but from the comments it seems that mnemonics are actually the numbers?
Did I get that right?
 
thistle said:
I learned something today from reading these posts.
I always thought mnemonics were only letters (even if they helped to remember words, pictures or numbers) but from the comments it seems that mnemonics are actually the numbers?
Did I get that right?
Click to expand...
From Wiki:

A mnemonic or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids information retention.
 
Apollos said:
  • Protestants call the last book Revelation, from the opening words, while Catholics call it Apocalypse, from its content.
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You may want to revise that one. The opening to the book in Greek is αποκαλυψις ιησου χριστου and apocalypsis Jesu Christi in Latin.
 
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