50 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Bible

Which psalm's Hebrew title, 'Mizmor l'Todah', names it as a song for the thank offering in the Temple?

Psalm 100 opens 'Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands' and became the hymn 'All People That on Earth Do Dwell', sung to the tune Old Hundredth.

Complete the King James line: 'Serve the LORD with ______: come before his presence with singing'?

The word is 'gladness'; the verse is the second line of the psalm that begins 'Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands' and ends 'his truth endureth to all generations'.

Which psalm repeats 'for his mercy endureth for ever' in the second half of every verse?

Psalm 136, called the Great Hallel in Jewish tradition, runs through creation, the Exodus and the conquest, answering each of its 26 verses with 'for his mercy endureth for ever'.

Which psalm opens 'It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD' and is subtitled a song 'for the sabbath day'?

Psalm 92 carries the superscription 'A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day' and is sung in synagogues at the Friday-evening Kabbalat Shabbat service that welcomes the Sabbath.

'Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his ______' (Psalm 103:2). Which word completes the verse?

The psalm then lists them: forgiveness, healing, redemption from destruction and satisfying your mouth with good things.

Jesus healed ten lepers on the way to Jerusalem, but only one came back to thank him. What was that man?

Jesus asked, 'Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?' The story appears only in Luke's Gospel.

Which Gospel is the only one to record the story of the ten lepers?

Only Luke records the ten lepers, in chapter 17, between Jesus's sayings on forgiveness and faith and his teaching on the coming of the kingdom.

Before feeding the five thousand, Jesus took five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven and did what?

Jesus 'gave thanks' (John 6:11) and broke the loaves before distributing them; the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle besides the resurrection told in all four Gospels.

After the feeding of the four thousand, how many baskets of leftovers did the disciples collect?

Seven baskets were gathered (Matthew 15:37); Jesus had 'given thanks' over seven loaves and a few small fish, and this second feeding appears only in Matthew and Mark.

Which visitors to the newborn Jesus 'returned, glorifying and praising God'?

The shepherds, told of the birth by an angel in the fields near Bethlehem, went back 'glorifying and praising God' after finding the child in the manger.

'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.' Jesus prayed these words just before doing what?

He added that he said it aloud for the sake of the crowd, 'that they may believe that thou hast sent me', then called Lazarus out.

In one of Jesus's parables, which character prays 'God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are'?

The Pharisee prays this in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican; the tax collector standing far off asks only for mercy, and Jesus says he, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Which elderly prophetess 'gave thanks likewise unto the Lord' when the infant Jesus was presented?

Anna, a widow of about 84 who 'departed not from the temple', gave thanks and then spoke of the child to all who looked for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Which verse reads (KJV) 'In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you'?

It is 1 Thessalonians 5:18, following two even shorter commands, 'Rejoice evermore' (verse 16) and 'Pray without ceasing' (verse 17).

'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication...' opens a verse in which New Testament letter?

It is Philippians 4:6, and the reward follows in the next verse: 'the peace of God, which passeth all understanding'.

Which psalm opens 'O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name'?

Psalm 105 opens with that call and then retells Israel's story from the covenant with Abraham through the Exodus; the same words begin David's song of thanks in 1 Chronicles 16.

In Romans 1, the pagans 'became vain in their ______'. Which word fills the blank?

The result, he says, was that 'their foolish heart was darkened'. It is the New Testament's bluntest statement that ingratitude is a root sin.

Which letter says every creature of God is good 'if it be received with thanksgiving'?

It is 1 Timothy 4:4, answering teachers who forbade marriage and certain foods: every creature of God is good and 'nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving'.

'Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift' closes which chapter, one about a collection for the poor?

It is 2 Corinthians 9:15; the chapter is about the collection for the Jerusalem saints and cheerful giving, with 'God loveth a cheerful giver' at verse 7.

Which Old Testament prophet prayed a psalm of thanksgiving from inside a great fish?

Jonah prayed it from inside the fish; the prayer ends 'Salvation is of the LORD', and the fish then vomits him out upon the dry land (Jonah 2:10).

Daniel was thrown to the lions for praying how many times a day toward Jerusalem?

Daniel 6:10 says he knelt 'three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime', defying Darius's thirty-day ban on petitions to anyone but the king.

Hannah's Old Testament song of thanksgiving celebrates the birth of which son she had promised to God?

The son was Samuel, a name Hannah explained as 'asked of the LORD'; her song begins 'My heart rejoiceth in the LORD' and is often compared with the Magnificat.

Mary's song of praise, the Magnificat, is spoken when she visits which relative?

Elisabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist, who leapt in her womb at Mary's greeting. The Latin name comes from its first word, 'magnifies'.

'Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD.' What had just happened?

Miriam then took a timbrel and led the women in the same refrain. Some scholars think the Song of the Sea is the oldest text in the Bible.

'Then sang Deborah and Barak' opens a victory song in which book of the Bible?

It is Judges 5, celebrating the defeat of Jabin king of Canaan and his general Sisera, whom Jael finished off with a tent peg in the previous chapter.

How many extra years of life had God promised King Hezekiah after his illness?

God added fifteen years (Isaiah 38:5); the sign was the shadow going back ten degrees on the sundial of Ahaz, and Isaiah 38 preserves 'the writing of Hezekiah' after his recovery.

On bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, David handed a psalm of thanks to which musician and his brethren?

The text, in 1 Chronicles 16, begins 'Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name'. Asaph's name is on twelve of the psalms.

At the dedication of Jerusalem's rebuilt wall, Nehemiah appointed 'two great companies' to do what?

One choir went right toward the dung gate, the other left, and they met at the house of God with trumpets and cymbals.

When the Second Temple's foundation was laid in Ezra 3, the young shouted for joy while the old men did what?

The noise of weeping and shouting mixed so that people could not tell one from the other, and it was heard far off.

In Leviticus 7, what had to accompany the animal sacrifice in a peace offering 'for a thanksgiving'?

The thanksgiving peace offering (Hebrew todah) had to come with unleavened cakes and wafers mingled with oil and also leavened bread (Leviticus 7:12-13), alongside the animal.

Which Deuteronomy verse, 'When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD', grounds grace after meals?

It is Deuteronomy 8:10, the verse behind the Jewish Birkat Hamazon, the blessing said after any meal with bread; Christian grace before meals is traced instead to Jesus giving thanks before eating.

Deuteronomy 26's firstfruits speech begins 'A ______ ready to perish was my father'. What fills the blank?

It is a compressed history of Jacob going down to Egypt, slavery, and the Exodus, ending with the basket of produce set before the altar.

During which seven-day autumn harvest festival do Jews eat meals in temporary huts?

Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, begins on 15 Tishrei; Leviticus 23 ties it both to the harvest ingathering and to Israel's dwelling in booths in the wilderness.

Shavuot falls how many days after Passover?

Shavuot comes fifty days after Passover, counted from the omer (Leviticus 23:16); Acts 2 sets the first Christian Pentecost on that day, and the Book of Ruth is read in synagogues.

In Genesis 4, Cain brought 'the fruit of the ground' as an offering. What did Abel bring?

God had regard for Abel's gift but not Cain's, the quarrel that leads to the first murder. It is the Bible's first recorded offering.

Which king of Salem brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram after his rescue of Lot?

Melchizedek, 'priest of the most high God', received a tenth of everything from Abram, the Bible's first tithe; Psalm 110 and Hebrews 7 treat him as a type of Christ's priesthood.

In Acts 16, what happened after Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises at midnight in prison?

The jailer, about to kill himself, was stopped by Paul's shout that all the prisoners were still there, and was baptised that night with his household.

How many souls were aboard the ship in Paul's shipwreck voyage in Acts 27?

Acts 27:37 counts 'two hundred threescore and sixteen souls', that is 276; after fourteen days fasting Paul thanked God before them all and ate, the wheat was thrown overboard, and everyone reached Malta.

In Revelation 11, who fall on their faces and say 'We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty'?

The twenty-four elders, seated before God on their thrones, fall on their faces after the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15-17), thanking him for taking his great power and beginning to reign.

Which English Bible translation, nicknamed the 'Breeches Bible', did the Pilgrims carry on the Mayflower?

The Geneva Bible, first published in full in 1560, was the Pilgrims' Bible and Shakespeare's; its nickname comes from Genesis 3:7, where Adam and Eve sew themselves 'breeches'.

Which US president's 1863 proclamation set the last Thursday of November as a day of 'Thanksgiving and Praise'?

Abraham Lincoln issued it on 3 October 1863, after Gettysburg and Vicksburg; the magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale, author of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', had lobbied presidents for years for a national day.

Lutheran pastor Martin Rinkart wrote 'Now Thank We All Our God' around 1636 during which conflict?

The Thirty Years' War (1618-48) brought siege, famine and plague to Eilenburg; in 1637 Rinkart was the only pastor left there, burying dozens of people a day, and Catherine Winkworth made the English translation.

'We Gather Together' was written in 1597 to celebrate a Dutch victory over which country?

Adrianus Valerius wrote it to mark the Dutch victory over Spain's army at the Battle of Turnhout in 1597; under Philip II, Dutch Protestants had been forbidden to gather for worship, which gives the title its bite.

Who wrote the harvest hymn 'Come, Ye Thankful People, Come' in 1844?

Henry Alford, vicar of Wymeswold in Leicestershire from 1835 and later Dean of Canterbury, first published it in his Psalms and Hymns of 1844 under the title 'After Harvest'.

Which bishop wrote the Doxology 'Praise God, from whom all blessings flow' in 1674?

Thomas Ken, later Bishop of Bath and Wells, wrote it as the closing stanza of his Morning and Evening Hymns for the scholars of Winchester College; it is usually sung to Old Hundredth.

Which Pilgrim governor wrote the history 'Of Plymouth Plantation'?

William Bradford, governor of Plymouth for some thirty years, wrote Of Plymouth Plantation between 1630 and 1651; the manuscript vanished during the Revolution and turned up in London in 1855.

Seventeenth-century accounts describe the Pilgrims' 1621 event not as a day of thanksgiving but as what?

Edward Winslow's 1621 letter describes a harvest celebration at Plymouth, with fowling, feasting and Massasoit's ninety men, over several days; the first recorded civil day of thanksgiving in New England came in 1623.

Which psalm, beloved of mariners, thanks God for rescuing those who 'went down to the sea in ships'?

Psalm 107 opens Book 5 of the psalter with 'O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good' and recalls four rescues: desert wanderers, prisoners, the sick, and sailors in a storm.

Psalm 118, 'O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good', is the last of which group of psalms?

Psalm 118 closes the Egyptian Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118, sung on the pilgrim festivals, at Hanukkah and at the Passover Seder; its closing verses are each said twice in the liturgy.

Which Psalm 118 verse did Jesus quote to the chief priests, per Matthew's Gospel?

Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22, 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone', to the chief priests and elders in Matthew 21:42, then warns that the kingdom will be taken from them.