50 Fun Facts About Bible Numbers

Peter writes that only 'a few people' were saved through water in Noah's ark—how many in all?

Only 8 people were saved through the flood—Noah, his wife, their three sons and the sons' wives—while everyone else on earth perished. Peter calls them 'a few people, eight in all' and cites them as proof that God waits patiently.

Peter answers scoffers who doubt Christ's return: with the Lord, a day is like how many years?

Peter writes that with the Lord a day is like 1,000 years, borrowing Psalm 90's line that a thousand years are 'like a day that has just gone by'. His point is that God's delay is patience, not slowness.

After Jesus fed a crowd with five loaves and two fish, how many basketfuls of scraps were gathered?

The disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces, and this feeding of the five thousand is the one miracle every Gospel records. Mark's second feeding ends with a different count, which Jesus later quizzes the disciples on.

Jesus's second feeding miracle started from seven loaves and a few fish; about how many people ate?

About 4,000 ate in the second feeding, which ended with seven basketfuls left over and took place after Jesus passed through the Gentile Decapolis. He later asks the disciples to recall both leftover counts.

When the demons called Legion entered a herd on a nearby hillside, about how many animals drowned?

About 2,000 pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned after the impure spirits entered them, and the frightened townspeople begged Jesus to leave. A legion was a Roman unit of several thousand soldiers.

How many foxes did Samson tie tail to tail with torches to burn the Philistines' grain?

Samson tied 300 foxes tail to tail in pairs with a torch between them and burned up the Philistines' standing grain, vineyards and olive groves. It was revenge for his father-in-law giving his wife to another man.

How many stone jars, each holding twenty to thirty gallons, did Jesus have filled at the wedding?

The 6 stone jars, kept for Jewish ceremonial washing, held twenty to thirty gallons each, so Jesus's first sign produced hundreds of bottles' worth of wine. The master of the banquet had no idea where it came from.

God's last words to Jonah count how many people who 'cannot tell their right hand from their left'?

More than 120,000 people in Nineveh cannot tell their right hand from their left, God says—'and also many animals'—and that question is the book's final line. Jonah is left sulking over a withered plant.

When Elijah complained he alone was left, God said how many in Israel had never bowed to Baal?

God told a despairing Elijah that 7,000 in Israel had never bowed to Baal nor kissed him, answering the prophet's claim that he was the only one left. Paul quotes the verse in Romans as proof of a faithful remnant.

Joshua's tally of kings beaten west of the Jordan ends with the king of Tirzah—how many in all?

Joshua's list runs to 31 kings in all, each city named with the tally 'one' beside it like a ledger, from Jericho and Ai down to Tirzah. Sihon and Og had already fallen east of the Jordan.

Caleb asked Joshua for the hill country of Hebron, saying he was as strong as ever—how old was he?

Caleb was 85 when he claimed Hebron, insisting he was as vigorous as at 40 when Moses sent him to spy out the land, and he went on to drive the Anakites out of it. Forty-five years had passed since Kadesh Barnea.

Zacchaeus the chief tax collector vowed to repay anyone he had cheated how many times over?

Fourfold restitution—4 times the amount—was what Zacchaeus promised anyone he had cheated, the penalty Exodus set for a stolen sheep, plus half his possessions to the poor. Jesus answered that salvation had come to his house.

Over how many provinces, 'stretching from India to Cush', did the Xerxes of the Book of Esther rule?

Xerxes ruled 127 provinces from India to Cush, and the Hebrew text calls him Ahasuerus, a king most scholars identify with Xerxes I of Persia. Esther opens with him showing off that empire at a lavish banquet in Susa.

About how many believers were present when Peter proposed choosing a replacement for Judas?

About 120 believers were in the room when Peter proposed replacing Judas, the whole church at that moment, gathered in the upstairs room where they were staying. Two candidates were put forward and lots were cast.

Leviticus names which year the jubilee, when land returns to its family and Hebrew slaves go free?

The 50th year was the jubilee, coming after seven cycles of seven sabbath years, when debts were released, land went back to its original family and Hebrew slaves were freed. The Liberty Bell carries its verse about proclaiming liberty.

Adam outlived most of his descendants listed in Genesis 5—how many years did the first man live?

Adam lived 930 years, and only three men in the Genesis 5 genealogy—Jared, Methuselah and Noah—are given longer lives. The chapter's refrain 'and then he died' breaks only once.

Matthew's genealogy of Jesus is arranged in three blocks of how many generations each?

Matthew counts 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 to the exile and 14 to the Messiah, and the Hebrew letters of David's name add up to that very number. The scheme skips several kings named in Chronicles to make it work.

How long do Jesus and James both say the sky was shut in the drought of Elijah's time?

Jesus put Elijah's drought at 3.5 years, and James repeats the figure, though 1 Kings only says the rain returned 'in the third year'. The same span, as 42 months, shows up again in Revelation.

The invalid Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda had been unable to walk for how many years?

The man at Bethesda had been an invalid for 38 years, the same span Deuteronomy gives for Israel's wandering from Kadesh Barnea to the Zered Valley. Jesus healed him on a Sabbath, which started the row with the authorities.

Genesis 5 says God took Enoch away instead of letting him die—how many years had he lived?

Enoch lived 365 years—a year of days—and Genesis says he 'walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away'. Hebrews later lists him among the heroes of faith who 'did not experience death'.

Genesis says the waters flooded the earth for how many days before they began to recede?

The waters flooded the earth for 150 days, far longer than the rain itself, and only then did the ark come to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah did not step out until more than a year after the flood began.

How old was Abram when he left Harran for Canaan at God's command, taking Lot with him?

Abram was 75 when he set out from Harran with Lot, and a quarter-century of waiting for the promised son still lay ahead of him. Genesis gives his father Terah 205 years.

How many trained men born in his household did Abram muster to rescue Lot from the raiding kings?

Abram's 318 trained men chased the coalition of kings as far as Dan and brought back Lot with all his goods. On the way home Abram refused the king of Sodom's offer to keep the spoils, so no one could say he had made Abram rich.

Numbers opens with a census of men twenty and older able to fight—what total did it reach?

The Sinai census came to 603,550 men of fighting age, and Exodus records the identical figure from the half-shekel offering collected from every man counted. The Levites were left out and counted separately.

At Gideon's first cut, when anyone who trembled with fear was told to go home, how many men left?

Gideon's first cut sent 22,000 men home, because God said the army was too big for Israel not to boast 'my own strength has saved me'. A second test at the water pared the rest down to a handful.

Sisera's Canaanite army, routed at the River Kishon, had how many chariots fitted with iron?

Sisera's 900 iron chariots had oppressed Israel for twenty years, until Barak's foot soldiers routed them at the Kishon and Sisera fled on foot. The victory song in Judges 5 says the river itself swept the army away.

Goliath's bronze coat of scale armor, worn with a bronze helmet, weighed how much?

Goliath's coat of scale armor weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze, about 125 pounds, before counting his helmet, leg armor, javelin and a spear with a 600-shekel iron point. David refused Saul's armor because he had never tested it.

David paid Saul how many Philistine foreskins as the bride price for Michal, double what was asked?

David brought Saul 200 Philistine foreskins, double the bride price Saul had set in the hope that David would die trying to collect it. Michal loved David, and Saul became more afraid of him than ever.

After seven and a half years ruling from Hebron, David reigned in Jerusalem for how many years?

David reigned 33 years in Jerusalem after his years in Hebron, a forty-year reign in all, and the city he took from the Jebusites is still called the City of David. He was thirty when he became king.

Alongside thousands of proverbs, 1 Kings says Solomon's songs numbered how many?

Solomon's songs numbered 1,005, and the same passage credits him with thousands of proverbs and lectures on plants, animals, birds, reptiles and fish. Both Proverbs and the Song of Songs open with his name.

Solomon finished the temple, then spent how many years building his own palace complex?

Solomon's palace took 13 years, nearly twice as long as the temple he built first, and the complex included the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon with its rows of cedar pillars. Readers have long noted which project got more of his time.

How many men did Elisha feed with twenty barley loaves, with bread still left over afterward?

Elisha fed 100 men with twenty barley loaves and some heads of new grain, and they ate and had some left over, centuries before the Gospel feedings. The bread had been brought to him as a firstfruits gift from Baal Shalishah.

Haman offered to pay how much silver into the royal treasury to fund the destruction of the Jews?

Haman offered 10,000 talents of silver to fund the destruction of the Jews, and Xerxes answered by handing him the royal signet ring to seal the decree. A single courtier's refusal to bow had set the plot in motion.

After his fortunes were restored, Job owned how many camels—double the herd he had lost?

Job ended with 6,000 camels, along with 14,000 sheep and twice as many oxen and donkeys as before—each figure exactly double what he had lost. He also had seven sons and three daughters again.

How tall was the gold image Nebuchadnezzar set up on the plain of Dura for everyone to worship?

Nebuchadnezzar's gold image stood 60 cubits high, about 90 feet, and its ten-to-one height-to-width ratio has led many readers to picture an obelisk rather than a statue. Refusing to bow to it sent three officials into the furnace.

In Jesus's parable, the Samaritan gave the innkeeper how much, promising to cover any extra expense?

The Samaritan paid the innkeeper 2 denarii, roughly two days' wages for a laborer, and promised to cover any extra expense when he came back. Two passers-by from the temple establishment had already crossed the road to avoid the man.

When Jesus spoke of raising the temple in three days, his hearers said it had taken how many years?

Herod's temple had been 46 years in the building when Jesus spoke, and it was still unfinished—work went on into the 60s AD, only a few years before Rome destroyed it. John adds that Jesus meant the temple of his body.

Lamech, ninth in Genesis 5's line from Adam, lived how many years—a number of one repeated digit?

Lamech lived 777 years, a triple seven beside Methuselah's record in the same chapter, and a different Lamech in Genesis 4 boasts that he will be avenged seventy-seven times. Genesis 5 gives every patriarch's age to the year.

How many community leaders offering incense in the revolt against Moses and Aaron died by fire?

The rebellion's 250 well-known community leaders were consumed by fire from the Lord as they offered incense, while the earth swallowed the ringleaders' households. Their bronze censers were hammered into a covering for the altar.

Each Philistine ruler offered Samson's lover how much silver to learn his secret?

Each of the Philistine rulers offered 1,100 shekels of silver—a fortune, paid in full once Samson's hair was cut—to learn how he could be overpowered. Judges 17 uses the same odd sum for the silver Micah stole from his mother.

1 Kings dates the start of Solomon's temple to which year after the Israelites came out of Egypt?

Solomon began the temple in the 480th year after the exodus, in the fourth year of his reign, a date that anchors the whole traditional chronology from Moses to the kings. Counted back from about 966 BC, it puts the exodus near 1446 BC.

Joshua son of Nun, buried at Timnath Serah after leading the conquest of Canaan, died at what age?

Joshua died at 110, the same age Genesis gives Joseph, and was buried on his own inheritance at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. His farewell speech gave Israel the line 'as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord'.

The widowed prophetess of Luke 2, who never left the temple and saw the infant Jesus, was how old?

Anna was 84, a widow who never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day, when she saw the infant Jesus and told everyone awaiting Jerusalem's redemption about him. Some read Luke as saying she was widowed 84 years.

After a vision promised 'no one is going to attack and harm you', how long did Paul stay in Corinth?

Paul stayed 18 months in Corinth, a year and a half in a port city notorious for vice, long enough to found the church that received his Corinthian letters. Gallio, the proconsul who threw out the case against him, dates Paul's career.

Converts at Ephesus burned their sorcery scrolls in public—what value did the scrolls add up to?

The sorcery scrolls burned at Ephesus were valued at 50,000 drachmas, a drachma being a day's wage, so the bonfire cost its owners well over a century of combined labor. The riot of the silversmiths followed soon after.

In 2 Corinthians, how often does Paul say he took 'the forty lashes minus one' from the Jews?

Paul took the forty lashes minus one 5 times, the synagogue maximum under Deuteronomy's cap of forty, and lists it beside three beatings with rods, a stoning and three shipwrecks. It all comes from his own reluctant 'boasting'.

The angel measuring the New Jerusalem 'using human measurement' found its wall to be how thick?

The wall of the New Jerusalem measures 144 cubits, the square of the number shared by Israel's tribes and the apostles, and the city itself is a cube of 12,000 stadia on each side. Its wall is jasper and its street pure gold.

When Jacob was presented to Pharaoh, he gave his age as how many 'few and difficult' years?

Jacob told Pharaoh his 130 years had been few and difficult compared with his fathers' pilgrimages, yet he went on to live 17 more in Egypt and died at 147. He blessed Pharaoh before leaving the audience.

Before his seven-day banquet in Susa, how long did Xerxes display 'the vast wealth of his kingdom'?

Xerxes showed off his wealth for 180 days, then threw a seven-day banquet for everyone in Susa, where wine was served in goblets of gold, 'each one different'. Queen Vashti's refusal to appear at it cost her the crown.

Israel's first high priest Aaron died on Mount Hor at what age, his garments passed to Eleazar?

Aaron died on Mount Hor at 123, stripped of his priestly garments by Moses, who put them on Eleazar while the whole community watched father and son climb the mountain. Israel mourned him for thirty days.