Bible Verse Challenge - I Dare You!

A couple of months ago, my friend Jeff issued an interesting Bible challenge: take your birthday and find all of the verses in the Bible that correspond to the date. The month is the chapter and the day is the verse. For example, my birthday is October 17. So, I have to go to every book of the Bible, find the tenth chapter, and read the seventeenth verse. Obviously, not every book has ten chapters and not every tenth chapter has seventeen verses; so, I won’t be finding a verse in every book. In fact, only those born on or before January 13^th will have 66 verses.

Well, I finally took up that challenge and here are my results from my NIV Bible. Obviously, the odd quips in parentheses are mine.

Genesis 10:17 - Hivites, Arkites, Sinites (Not a very stellar beginning, is it?)

Exodus 10:17 - Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me. (Now we’re talking!)

Leviticus 10:17 - Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the LORD.

Numbers 10:17 - Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.

Deuteronomy 10:17 - For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. (AMEN!!)

Joshua 10:17 - When Joshua was told that the five kings had been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah, (for the record, sentence fragments freak out grammar geeks!)

Judges 10:17 - When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.

Ruth 10:17 – N/A

1 Samuel 10:17 – Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the LORD at Mizpah

2 Samuel 10:17 - When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him.

1 Kings 10:17 - He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

2 Kings 10:17 - When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah.

1 Chronicles 10:17 – N/A

2 Chronicles 10:17 – But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

Ezra 10:17 - and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women.

Nehemiah 10:17 - Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur

Esther 10:17 – N/A

Job 10:17 - You bring new witnesses against me
   and increase your anger toward me;
   your forces come against me wave upon wave. (ouch!)

Psalm 10:17 - You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted;
   you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

Proverbs 10:17 - Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,
   but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

Ecclesiastes 10:17 - Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth
   and whose princes eat at a proper time—
   for strength and not for drunkenness.

Song of Songs 10:17 – N/A

Isaiah 10:17 - The Light of Israel will become a fire,
   their Holy One a flame;
in a single day it will burn and consume
   his thorns and his briers.

Jeremiah 10:17 - Gather up your belongings to leave the land,
   you who live under siege. (I would love to!)

Lamentations 10:17 – N/A

Ezekiel 10:17 - When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

Daniel 10:17 - How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.” (there are many days that this could be me talking!)

Hosea 10:17 – N/A

Joel 10:17 – N/A

Amos 10:17 – N/A

Obadiah 10:17 – N/A

Jonah 10:17 – N/A

Micah 10:17 – N/A

Nahum 10:17 – N/A

Habakkuk 10:17 – N/A (yawn…)

Zephaniah 10:17 – N/A

Haggai 10:17 – N/A

Zechariah 10:17 – N/A

Malachi 10:17 – N/A

Matthew 10:17 – Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.

Mark 10:17 - As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Luke 10:17 - The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

John 10:17 - The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.

Acts 10:17 - While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate.

Romans 10:17 - Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (AMEN!)

1Corinthians 10:17 - Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

2Corinthians 10:17 - But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Galatians 10:17 – N/A

Ephesians 10:17 – N/A

Philippians 10:17 – N/A

Colossians 10:17 – N/A

1 Thessalonians 10:17 – N/A

2 Thessalonians 10:17 – N/A

1 Timothy 10:17 – N/A

2 Timothy 10:17 – N/A

Titus 10:17 – N/A

Philemon 10:17 – N/A

Hebrews 10:17 – Then he adds:
   “Their sins and lawless acts
   I will remember no more.”

James 10:17 – N/A

1Peter 10:17 – N/A

2Peter 10:17 – N/A

1John 10:17 – N/A

2John 10:17 – N/A

3John 10:17 – N/A

Jude 10:17 – N/A

Revelation 10:17 – N/A

What an interesting exercise that turned out to be!! Not only did I get reacquainted with all of the books of the Bible, but I was also reminded of how easily verses can be taken out of context. Single verses standing alone do not tell the whole story.

I’ve read through most of the Bible. Some of it three and four times. However, some of the Old Testament still sits untouched. What exactly was going on in Ezra that “by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women?” That sound pretty ominous doesn’t it?

I also can across some favorites like “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” from Romans. Then again, anything from Romans is awesome to me.

The next time you’re sitting and waiting make sure you have your Bible and a notebook handy. This is a great exercise to pass the time while waiting for your child at youth, or at co-op, or at dance, or at choir, or at…you get the idea. I dare you to try it!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty