Center of the bible

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Imprimartin

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Perhaps you have seen this chain email running around and I thought I’d do the research and put it to death once and for all.
ChainEmail:
I didnt get the Bible out and check but I dont know why somebody would make this up? This is pretty strange or odd how it worked out this way. Even if you are not religious you should read this.

The Center of the Bible

What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

Answer - Psalms 117

What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

Answer - Psalms 119

Which chapter is in the center of the Bible?

Answer - Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalms 118

Add these numbers up and you get 1188.

What is the center verse in the Bible?

Answer - Psalms 118:8

Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect
will for our lives?

The next time someone says they would like to find God’s perfect
will for their lives and that they want to be in the center of His
will, just send them to the center of His Word!

Psalms 118:8 – “It is better to trust in the LORD than
to put confidence in man.”

Now isn’t that odd how this worked out (or was God in the
center of it)?
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Assuming that Psalm 118:8 is the center verse (I will prove in my next post that it’s not), this can be (name removed by moderator)terpeted as a veiled attack against the pope or it can be just general “trust in God” advice.

Martin
 
NOTE: The following is a response to an email which claims that Psalm 118:8 is the verse that is in the exact center of the bible. This is not true and the real facts are below. This original claim was investigated by Martin Atencio (me) and I manually counted every chapter in eight different protestant bibles in order to disprove the original claim (it took me two hours!). I used protestant bibles since the original email was probably drafted by one of our protestant bretheren.

The original email stated which bible chapters were the longest and shortest. I didn’t have time to check out which bible chapter is the shortest and longest. But I did check out which chapter is in the center of the bible and it’s not Psalm 118.

REAL FACT #1: The original bible did not have chapters and verses. Chapters and verses were not added to the bible until around the 1100’s AD. They were added to make looking up verses easier.

REAL FACT #2: There are not 594 chapters before Psalm 118, there are 595.

REAL FACT #3: There are not 594 chapters after Psalm 118, there are 535.

REAL FACT #4: You can make anything say anything when you use numerology. But let’s use their logic anyway…

REAL FACT #5: There are 871 chapters in the OT and 260 in the NT which totals 1131 in the entire bible.

REAL FACT #6: 1131 divided by two equals 565.5. (I’m not sure what to do with the .5)

REAL FACT #7: And so starting at Genesis 1, I counted to the 565th chapter which puts the real center chapter at Psalm 87 which is a song with seven verses. The middle verse 4 is
Psalm 87:4:
I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know me–Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: This one was born there.
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(Yea, I’m not sure I get it either)

REAL FACT #8: But let’s use their method and keep with the numerology spirit. Let’s take the total number of books (1131) and split it up into a chapter and verse like 11:31. So we look at Psalm 11? There is no verse 31.

REAL FACT #9: Okay, how about Psalm 113:1
Psalm 113:1:
Praise the Lord! Yes, give praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.
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Amen Brother!

Now, I’m not knocking the original email’s point of glorifying Psalm 118:8. If I had to choose between trusting in the Lord and putting confidence in man, I’d trust in the Lord.

But luckily, he didn’t give us that ultimatum. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. God tells us to trust Him by putting confidence in a particular man (i.e. the Pope).

Have a good day,
Martin
 
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Malachi4U:
So, how many books does this Bible have in it?
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The protestant bible has 66 books and the catholic/orthodox bible has 73 books in it.

Martin
 
Well worth the reading. Thanks for the doing the math for us Martin! I have seen similar emails like that one before.

God Bless

ck
 
REAL FACT #1: The original bible did not have chapters and verses. Chapters and verses were not added to the bible until around the 1100’s AD. They were added to make looking up verses easier.
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And the man who first added the chapters and verses was** Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro**, while he was preparing a concordance…An Anglican, Archbishop Stephen Langton devised a similar system that the modern one is based on.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible

-ACEGC
 
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edward_george:
And the man who first added the chapters and verses was** Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro**, while he was preparing a concordance…An Anglican, Archbishop Stephen Langton devised a similar system that the modern one is based on.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible

-ACEGC
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This is true and did not happen until the middle ages. What those who circulate such articles about don’t realize is that the bible was not written in a form with numbered verses. If God had wanted to make some strange cryptic point wouldn’t the original manuscript have been written with chapter and verse division?
 
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edward_george:
And the man who first added the chapters and verses was** Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro**, while he was preparing a concordance…An Anglican, Archbishop Stephen Langton devised a similar system that the modern one is based on.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible

-ACEGC
Click to expand...

Cardinal Langton’s chief claim to fame was his part in getting King John of England to sign Magna Carta, in 1215. (Pope Innocent III condemned Magna Carta as a result).​

None of these were Anglicans, except in the sense that all Christians in the English Church before the Reformation can be, and are, claimed for the C of E, which is seen as the Catholic Church in its reformed version. But that is drifting away from the topic 🙂

I’m waiting for someone to mention the Jewish contribution to the organisation of the texts of the Bible. and for someone to mention Henri Estienne (AKA Stephanus) & what he did. Presumably he is not disqualified from mention by his being a convert to Protestantism 🙂 ##
 
Langton didn’t add the verses–that happened in the 16th century, and was I believe the work of a Reformed scholar.

Edwin
 
Thanks people for debunking this. It saves me the effort.

Earlier in the year I wrote to a load of websites that went on about how amazing it is that Ps118:8 is the centre of the Bible. I made it a mission to cut down the spread of the story. Of course, with the internet that mission is probably impossible.

It doesn’t even work with a KJV (without apocrypha). I can’t remember what the real “middle verses” are off hand, but they’re nothing of great symbolic significance.

This person has spent far too much time analysing his 1611 KJV:

biblebelievers.com/believers-org/kjv-stats.html
 
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Contarini:
Langton didn’t add the verses–that happened in the 16th century, and was I believe the work of a Reformed scholar.

Edwin
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Protestant or Catholic, doesn’t matter. 😃 The verses and chapter division were not written into the original manuscript and therefore can not be used to find theological insight in the manner that the article the original poster quoted.

We should start a thread on interesting historical facts. I find that I discover more about history on this forum then anywhere else.
 
Since you are on a roll Martin, what is the word at the center of the bible (based just on words)?

😛
 
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deb1:
Protestant or Catholic, doesn’t matter. 😃 The verses and chapter division were not written into the original manuscript and therefore can not be used to find theological insight in the manner that the article the original poster quoted.

We should start a thread on interesting historical facts. I find that I discover more about history on this forum then anywhere else.
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Sooo, you’re trying to tell me that when Jesus gave His apostles the 66 books of the King James Bible He forgot to put in chapters and verses? You need to go study your Bible some more.:tsktsk:
 
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