John 21:11 Did you ever wonder why 153 fish?

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Actually I had never thought of it. And to think I was just telling my wife I had thought of everything. :eek:

All very interesting to be sure. Nice thread.
 
Sabda said:
St Augustine had some pretty interesting things to say about this particular passage if your interested in reading about it. 🙂 If you go down to passage #8 he discusses just what exactly the 153 represent. Hint, it’s not the # 153 but what makes up the #153. 😉

newadvent.org/fathers/1701122.htm
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You know, I really admire St. Augustine, but I think he went way out on a limb here.
Accordingly, when to the number of ten, representing the law, we add the Holy Spirit as represented by seven, we have seventeen; and when this number is used for the adding together of every several number it contains, from 1 up to itself, the sum amounts to one hundred and fifty-three. For if you add 2 to 1, you have 3 of course; if to these you add 3 and 4, the whole makes 10; and then if you add all the numbers that follow up to 17, the whole amounts to the foresaid number; that is, if to 10, which you had reached by adding all together from 1 to 4, you add 5, you have 15; to these add 6, and the result is 21; then add 7, and you have 28; to this add 8, and 9, and 10, and you get 55; to this add 11 and 12, and 13, and you have 91; and to this again add 14, 15, and 16, and it comes to 136; and then add to this the remaining number of which we have been speaking, namely, 17, and it will make up the number of fishes. But it is not on that account merely a hundred and fifty-three saints that are meant as hereafter to rise from the dead unto life eternal, but thousands of saints who have shared in the grace of the Spirit, by which grace harmony is established with the law of God, as with an adversary; so that through the life-giving Spirit the letter no longer kills, but what is commanded by the letter is fulfilled by the help of the Spirit, and if there is any deficiency it is pardoned. All therefore who are sharers in such grace are symbolized by this number, that is, are symbolically represented. This number has, besides, three times over, the number of fifty, and three in addition, with reference to the mystery of the Trinity; while, again, the number of fifty is made up by multiplying 7 by 7, with the addition of 1, for 7 times 7 make 49. And the 1 is added to show that there is one who is expressed by seven on account of His sevenfold operation; and we know that it was on the fiftieth day after our Lord’s ascension that the Holy Spirit was sent, for whom the disciples were commanded to wait according to the promise.
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Maybe this is one we will have to ask Jesus when we get to heaven to be sure. No matter what, God is good…All the time!
 
cyberwolf001 said:
Your kidding right? Releveant how!? Fishers of men bro! Go preach to all the nations! 🙂

Also it’s interesting noting that using the classical 15 decade rosary you pray 153 Hail Marys.
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Ummm…that’s what I said in my second paragraph. 🙂

153 Species of fish? Interesting coincidence.

153 Nations? Now there is some real symbolism.

We’re probably trying to say the same thing…
 
LOL, Notworthy, I thought it was interesting and just throwing it out there for conversation. 😉 I like the idea of the # of fish species and nations better myself. 😃
 
Sabda said:
LOL, Notworthy, I thought it was interesting and just throwing it out there for conversation. 😉 I like the idea of the # of fish species and nations better myself. 😃
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Yes, I think that St. Auggy is WAY off.

Besides, everybody knows that the number 153 comes from multiplying the square of each digit of 153 (1 squared x 3 squared x 5 squared = 1 x 9 x 25 = 225) and subtracting the 72 disciples that Jesus sent out, you’d get… (drumroll…) 153!!!

(225 - 72 = 153).
 
Here’s what the Haydock Commentary has to say. “Ver. 11. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three; a figure of the great number to be converted by the labours of the apostles. (Witham)”
 
cyberwolf001 said:
Your kidding right? Releveant how!? Fishers of men bro! Go preach to all the nations! 🙂

Also it’s interesting noting that using the classical 15 decade rosary you pray 153 Hail Marys.
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I thought the 153 Hail Mary’s were broken up from 150- one for each Psalm and 3 for Faith Hope and Charity or for the Pope.
 
Tim Staples points out in one of his CD sets that it’s also important to note that Peter pulled the fish out by himself. Tim says that if you’ve ever tried to hold up a stringer of 10 fish, you know how difficult it can be. St. Peter pulls up 153! He, supernaturally empowered by Christ, does what no other man could be capable of.

Pointing to the papacy, maybe?

I think so.

God Bless,
RyanL
 
NotWorthy said:
Besides, everybody knows that the number 153 comes from multiplying the square of each digit of 153 (1 squared x 3 squared x 5 squared = 1 x 9 x 25 = 225) and subtracting the 72 disciples that Jesus sent out, you’d get… (drumroll…) 153!!!

(225 - 72 = 153).
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Whateveh!

If you simply take the 3 persons of the Blessed Trinity, add them to the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, then add that to the product of the 10 commandments, the 2 fishes, and the 5 loaves, you get…

3 + 50 + (10 x 2 x 5) = 153.

OBVIOUSLY, that’s the right answer. :rolleyes:

Er…or maybe…take 70 x 7 (the number of times to forgive), subtract the number of books in the Bible (73) and the number of psalms (150), reduce that by the product of the 10 commandments + the number of cardinal sins (7), then subtract 100 holy martyrs from the product of 12 (apostles) and 12 (tribes)…and what do you get? That’s right. 153.

Hey…it could be that if you take the CUBE of each of the three numbers…153 = (1x1x1) + (5x5x5) + (3x3x3) = 1 + 125 + 27 = 153. :eek:

Wait…maybe it’s just the psalms plus the number of persons in the Trinity…um…well…I’ll get back to you… 😛

God Bless,
RyanL
 
Randy_Carson said:
Species of fish? Hmmm…interesting but relevant how?

It is my understanding that the ancients thought there were 153 NATIONS at the time. Therefore, the catch of fish represented Peter, the fisher of men, achieving a catch from all nations (“make disciples of all nations”).

Note that the net was not torn meaning that none would be lost.

Hope this helps. :tiphat:
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And what helps this is the word torn in Greek is “Schiso”, so the net is brought in without tear or Schism.
 
stbruno said:
11
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
This was part of today’s scripture reading at daily mass.
And our priest mentioned specifically…why did they catch 153 fish?

Short answer: Apparently, there are 153 known species of fish in the world today. So by catching that number, it also means that his disciples should preach the gospel to all nations…throughout the world, not just stay in those safe places that they were familiar with.

Thought it was a very interesting concept! Happy Easter!
%between%
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From Douay Rheims:

Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken.

Note the plural term: fishes.
In Semitic languages, the plural form does not signify numbers of individuals, but rather, numbers of species.
Our use of ‘fish’ and ‘fishes’ as plurals also reflects this difference.
 
Sabda said:
St Augustine had some pretty interesting things to say about this particular passage if your interested in reading about it. 🙂 If you go down to passage #8 he discusses just what exactly the 153 represent. Hint, it’s not the # 153 but what makes up the #153. 😉

newadvent.org/fathers/1701122.htm
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Wow! I’m new here so I can say this. Did St. Augustine have lots of time on his hands?
 
Ramalama said:
Wow! I’m new here so I can say this. Did St. Augustine have lots of time on his hands?
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Are you talking about before his conversion or after? If your familiar with St. Auggy’s young adulthood, you’ll know what I mean. 🙂
 
RyanL said:
Whateveh!

If you simply take the 3 persons of the Blessed Trinity, add them to the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost, then add that to the product of the 10 commandments, the 2 fishes, and the 5 loaves, you get…

3 + 50 + (10 x 2 x 5) = 153.

OBVIOUSLY, that’s the right answer. :rolleyes:

Er…or maybe…take 70 x 7 (the number of times to forgive), subtract the number of books in the Bible (73) and the number of psalms (150), reduce that by the product of the 10 commandments + the number of cardinal sins (7), then subtract 100 holy martyrs from the product of 12 (apostles) and 12 (tribes)…and what do you get? That’s right. 153.

Hey…it could be that if you take the CUBE of each of the three numbers…153 = (1x1x1) + (5x5x5) + (3x3x3) = 1 + 125 + 27 = 153. :eek:

Wait…maybe it’s just the psalms plus the number of persons in the Trinity…um…well…I’ll get back to you… 😛

God Bless,
RyanL
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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
PrayRosaryDaily said:
I found it interesting that for a long time the full rosary contained 153 Hail Mary’s just like the 153 fish at the end of John’s Gospel. Something I never noticed until I had seen a Father Corapi video where he brought it up.

I never knew about the 153 nations or known species of fish and how Jesus may be asking the apostles to bring him men from all the countries symbolized by all the species of fish.
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I thought it has always been 150 for the 150 psalms the people religious recited every day?
 
jack_hawkins said:
I thought it has always been 150 for the 150 psalms the people religious recited every day?
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You are correct. The Hail Mary’s were the “Psalms for the Illiterate”. Many people couldn’t read, hence they had trouble with all those Psalms.

One of the end products of this illiteracy was the Rosary.
 
PrayRosaryDaily said:
I found it interesting that for a long time the full rosary contained 153 Hail Mary’s just like the 153 fish at the end of John’s Gospel. Something I never noticed until I had seen a Father Corapi video where he brought it up.

I never knew about the 153 nations or known species of fish and how Jesus may be asking the apostles to bring him men from all the countries symbolized by all the species of fish.
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In English gematria (where “a”=1; “b”=2; “c”=3, etc.) the value for “The Number of God”=153; there are now “20 Mysteries” (=153) of The Rosary; “Mary + Rosary”=153; “Jesus’ Mother”=153; recall it was “7” Disciples who caught the fish; “7” is a big number with God; “Number_7” is “73_7” → “737”; 73’-7"=883"; 883 is the 153rd sequential prime number (SPN; … BTW … the value for “prime numbers”=153); 73 hrs. and 7 min. would be expressed as 73:07 … pointing at “7307”; 7307-153=“7154”; the side-by-side value for the letters in “G_O_D” are “7_15_4” → “7154”; recall it was Jesus’ 3rd time to appear since His Resurrection (BTW … “The TIME Number”=153; “Appearance Number”=153); “Third_Appearance” is “59_80” → “5980”; 5980+“883”=6863 which is the “883rd” SPN; 7154-6863=“291” which is the value of my name; “one hundred and fifty-three fish”=291 … more …
 
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