Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,208,091 members, 8,001,488 topics. Date: Wednesday, 13 November 2024 at 11:14 AM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / What Verse Is in the Center of the Bible? (1361 Views)
The Center Cannot Hold / What The Bible Has To Say About Ebola Virus & Its Solution / Wikileaks Founder Assange The Center Of Worldwide Attention (2) (3) (4)
(1) (Reply)
What Verse Is in the Center of the Bible? by THEVOICE3: 11:52pm On Nov 02, 2012 |
What Verse Is in the Center of the Bible? When you open your Bible right to the middle, what verse do you find? Many Christians believe the center of the Bible is Psalm 118, which is preceded by 594 chapters and followed by 594 chapters. Psalm 118 is also preceded by the shortest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 117, and followed by the longest chapter, Psalm 119. If you add 594 and 594 together, you get 1188, and the center verse of Psalm 118 is Psalm 118:8. However, there is some controversy over whether this is true, and some Christians suggest that other verses are the central verses (all references English Standard Version). The contents Psalm 118:8 is an entreaty from the psalmist for those who hear his words to turn to God rather than earthly powers: "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." Psalm 118 as a whole praises God for his might, care for his people and for saving his people from the depths of their distress. Psalm 118 is often quoted along with the verse that follows it: "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes." Taken together, these verses are a good example of parallelism in Hebrew poetry, where a verse is followed by one that echoes the first verse's sentiment with slightly different wording. The math However, the math naming this verse the center of the Bible is incorrect, even though the belief persists that Psalm 118:8 is the central verse of the Bible. Although there are 1189 chapters in the Bible, Psalm 118 is not the 595th chapter, but is instead the 596th chapter, placing it one off the center. The idea that Psalm 118 is the Bible's middle chapter is easily debunked with simple addition. Just count up to the 595th chapter, and you discover that chapter 118 is not in the middle at all. The real center So what verse is at the center of the Bible? That depends on how you count. If you take "middle verse" to mean "middle verse of the middle chapter," then the true middle verse is really the two verses of Psalm 117: "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" Alternatively, if you count every single verse in the Bible and divide that number by two, you get Psalm 103:1-2. This is because there are 31,102 verses in the Bible, so verses 15551 and 15552 would form the middle portion. The lesson There is no verse at the center of the Bible. There are an even number of verses in the text, so the closest you get to a center verse is Psalm 103:1-2: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Do not get caught up in numerical speculation, as it is easy to see numbers fitting together if you really want them to, regardless of authorial intent. Relying on the Bible is more complex than simply looking for numbers to conveniently add up. In the original text of the Bible, there were no chapter and verse distinctions at all. A French printer named Robert Estienne finalized the chapter and verse divisions in 1551. source;http://teens.answers.com/religion |
(1) (Reply)
Where Is Billyonaire? / Sokoto State Government Wrote To Evict Churches From Their Worship Centers. / 2 Persons Die In Nyanya-mararaba Accident
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 16 |