Circulation of the Bible in the world. The most widely read publication in the world: Is the Bible a book or Holy Scripture? the most diverse Book

The Bible is an amazing book, if only because for more than 2000 years it has been the work most in demand by mankind. Interest in the Holy Scripture does not fade away without any advertising and it does not leave any of its readers indifferent.

In today's TOP, we have collected 50 interesting facts about the Book of Books for our readers. We hope that you will find them not only entertaining, but also useful.

1. The Bible has no title

The word "Bible" comes from the ancient Greek "βύβλος" - "papyrus, book." The vast majority of books have the title: “Three Comrades”, “The Tale of Bygone Years”, “Odyssey”. But the Bible doesn't need a name. All people on earth simply say “book” and their interlocutors immediately understand that we are talking about the “Book of Books”.

2. Largest circulation

As of 2013, more than 6,000,000 Bibles or individual biblical books have already been published in the world, which is more than 6 times the number of copies of the next most popular publication. More than 32,500 new Bibles come out of the printing press around the world every day.

3. Engine of progress

Printing presses were invented and improved primarily for the purpose of publishing the Bible! In 1300, the cost of a handwritten book was equal to the cost of a castle. Publications printed in 1500 cost as much as a team of thoroughbred horses, and in 1700 they cost as much as a pair of good shoes. Finally, by 1900, the cost of the Bible reached the price of several dozen eggs and the Holy Scriptures became available to everyone.

More than forty people worked on the texts of the Holy Scripture from the 15th century BC to the 1st century after the Nativity of Christ, that is, for 1600 years, many of whom did not even know each other. However, there are no obvious contradictions or inconsistencies in the Bible.

5. Translations

The Bible has been fully or partially translated into 2,377 languages ​​and dialects, and has been fully published in 422 languages ​​(according to the German Biblical Society at the beginning of 2005).

6. "Collection of Fairy Tales"

Some people question the inspiration of Holy Scripture. However, the Bible is a book created by a huge number of authors who had extensive life experience in completely different areas, so a priori it cannot be a “Collection of stupid fairy tales.”

Among the biblical writers: kings (Solomon, David), shepherd (Amos), doctor (Luke), fishermen (Peter and John), prophets (Moses, Isaiah, Daniel), general (Joshua), artisan (Apostle Paul), official (Apostle Matthew), etc. Some of them were not Jews, but Greeks or even Roman citizens.

7. Mother of Enlightenment

Today, the proportion of literate and educated people among Christians is higher than among atheists and representatives of other faiths. For men, this share is 88% of the total number, and for women - 81%.

Often, previously unenlightened peoples received, along with Christianity, their own writing, literature and history and the associated sharp cultural upsurge, which was associated with the need to master literacy and receive a good education to read the Bible and understand their faith.

8. Prophecies

The texts of the Old Testament contain prophecies that were fulfilled hundreds of years later. There are also prophecies in the New Testament, and many of them have also already been fulfilled in history, which further indicates the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

9. Canonical and non-canonical books

The Bible consists of two large sections: the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament contains 39 canonical, that is, books recognized by the Church, and the New Testament - 27. Another 11 books of the Old Testament are not included in the church canon, but are present in the Slavic Bible.

10. Chapters and verses

The Bible was divided into chapters by Canterbury Bishop Stephen Langton in the 13th century, and into verses in the 16th century by the French printer Robert Etienne, after which the Bible acquired its modern appearance and ease of citation (book: chapter: verse).

11. Urgently needed

According to law enforcement officials, the Bible is even stolen more often than other books...

12. Surprisingly accurate book

In 1947, the Qumran Bible scrolls, dating from the 1st century, were discovered. When comparing with Bibles of the 10th century, scientists discovered that for a thousand years the Bible did not undergo any major changes that would affect its content, while many other works changed noticeably over time when rewritten.

13. Grandfather of humanity

The oldest person described in the Bible is Methuselah, who was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the forefather Adam (8th generation). He died at the age of 969. But in those days, most people lived about 900 years... Later, “lawlessness increased” in humanity and the Lord shortened people’s lives to modern 80-120 years.

14. Words in the Bible

The words “Do not be afraid” appear in the Bible 365 times, the number of days in a year. The word "Christian" appears only 3 times. In the Hebrew text, the verb “Bara” - “To create from nothing” occurs three times: during the creation of the world, the creation of living beings (living souls) and the creation of man.

15. Comments and quotes

Holy Scripture is the most quoted and commented work in the world. Only in the Oxford Library and on the 1st Epistle of the Apostle John the Theologian alone are collected such a number of works that they occupy a room of 20 sq.m.

16. Reading time

17. Scottish curiosity

The Bible is not completely translated into Scots. However, there is a translation into Scots of the New Testament by William Lorimer. It is notable for the fact that Satan's speech is rendered in ordinary English.

18. Biblical names

The longest name found in the Bible is Mager-shelal-hash-baz. The Lord told the prophet Isaiah to name his son, born of a prophetess, by this name. It means “quick in spoil” and “quick in execution” (Isa. 8:3).

19. King and Prophet David

The creator of the Psalter, King David, was very loved by God. If only because after the name of Jesus Christ, his name is mentioned in biblical texts most often: 1118 times.

The smallest Bible (the New Testament) was printed at the end of the 19th century using the photomechanical reduction method. The resulting book was 1.9*1.6 cm in size and less than 1 cm thick. A small magnifying glass was inserted into the cover of each Bible to read the text.

21. Muslims

The founder of Islam, Muhammad, was familiar with the texts of the Holy Scriptures and used them when writing the Koran. Muslims revere the Old Testament forefathers and Jesus Christ, whom they consider one of the prophets.

22. Oath on the Bible

The American tradition of swearing on the Bible contradicts the text of Holy Scripture: “Again you have heard that it was said to the ancients: Do not break your oath, but fulfill your oaths before the Lord. But I say to you: do not swear at all: not by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your word be: yes, yes; no no; and anything beyond this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33-37).

The most expensive Bible is considered to be the Bible of the German pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, published in 1456. Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Bible, of which only 21 books have survived. Various copies of it are estimated at $25-35,000,000.

Even more expensive was the Codex Sinaiticus, which belonged to the Russian imperial house and was sold by the Bolsheviks to Great Britain for $510,000,000.

24. Biblical kings

The longest reigning king in the Bible was King Manasseh, who was on the throne for 55 years (2 Kings 21:1). The least reigning king was Zimri, who wore the crown for only seven days (1 Kings 16:15).

25. Brothers and sisters of the Lord

The Gospel mentions the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. But these are not His brothers, but the sons and daughters of Joseph the Betrothed from his first marriage. Joseph himself was only the named husband of the Mother of God and kept her virginity all his life. And the Brothers of the Lord later became His apostles. One of them, James the Brother of the Lord, led the first Christian community in Jerusalem.

26. Codex Sinaiticus

The oldest complete copy of the New Testament is part of the Codex Sinaiticus (IV century). Parts of it are stored in Russia, Great Britain, Germany and Sinai.

27. Canon of the New Testament

The first of the most authoritative authors to list all the canonical books of the New Testament was Pope Athanasius the Great of Alexandria. Later, the canon was fixed at the local Council of Laodicea in 360 and finally confirmed at the VI Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 680.

It is interesting that all 4 Gospels included in the canon were distributed in a huge number of handwritten copies among Christians of the 1st-2nd centuries and were universally accepted as true.

28. Persecution

The Bible is the most persecuted book. In all of history, no other work is known against which laws were passed, for violation of which the death penalty was imposed. For example, in North Korea you can be executed for reading the Bible. In the Soviet Union, Bibles were forcibly confiscated from the population, and those in whose possession copies were found could be subject to reprisals.

29. The most ancient finds

The oldest Bible verses are found in Numbers 6:22-27 and are engraved on two pieces of silver found under the Church of Scotland in Jerusalem in 1979. The products and engravings date back to the beginning of the 6th century BC.

30. Words and letters

There are 3,566,480 letters in the Holy Scriptures, grouped into 773,692 or 773,746 words, depending on the method of counting.

31. The shortest verse

The shortest verse in the Bible is found in John 11:35 and it sounds like “Jesus shed tears.”

32. Longest verse

The longest verse in the Bible belongs to the book of Esther. This is the ninth verse of the eighth chapter, consisting of 90 words and describing the Persian empire.

33. Children's Bible

Publications representing an adapted retelling of biblical events for children and richly supplied with bright illustrations appeared relatively recently - in the second half of the 19th century, but quickly gained popularity. The most famous of them was compiled by Borislav Arapovich and Vera Mattemlyaki and published by the Stockholm Bible Translation Institute in 30 languages ​​with a total circulation of approximately 8,000,000 copies.

34. Russian Bible Society

The Russian Bible Society was founded in 1813 to replicate and distribute the Holy Scriptures among the peoples of Russia and by 1826 managed to translate the Bible into 26 languages ​​of the peoples of the country and publish more than half a million editions, after which it was closed. In 1990, the Russian Bible Society was revived and in 2011 published the complete Bible in a modern Russian translation.

35. First and last

The first word of the Bible is “In the beginning”, the last is “Amen”, that is, from the Hebrew “truth”.

36. Ball and gravity

During the “Age of Enlightenment” (from the 15th century after Christ), scientists were just beginning to understand the laws of gravity and the fact that the earth is spherical, but this was reported in the Bible ten centuries before the birth of Christ: Isaiah 40:22 and Job 26:7 .

37. Harmony of the Bible

The Bible has 1189 chapters: 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New Testament. The middle chapter is Psalm 117. At the same time, Psalm 116 of the Psalter is the shortest, and Psalm 118 is the longest. The central verse of Psalm 117 is: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in Man.”

38. The most

The wisest man in the world, according to the Bible, was the Jewish king Solomon, the strongest was Samson, who single-handedly tore out and carried the fortress gates onto the mountain, the most victorious was Gideon, who killed 135,000 Midianites with a squad of 200 Jewish soldiers.

39. Illustrations

The first illustrations for the Bible were made by Jews living in Alexandria around the 3rd century BC, but most modern illustrated publications use paintings by the famous 19th century French artist Gustave Doré, which have received universal recognition as the most successful.

The largest Bible in the world was made in two years by carpenter from Los Angeles (California, USA) Louis Vainay. For his copy of the King James Bible, he used a prefabricated homemade printing press. The height of the book was 110.5 centimeters, the width when opened was 249 centimeters, and the weight was 496 kilograms.

41. Bible in Zion

In ancient times, for volumes of the Holy Scriptures, a special book depository was often made in the form of a church or chapel, where the volumes were placed on the side in special openings - “Zion”. In modern Russia, the Deutsch publishing house decided to repeat this experience and released the 6-volume “Bible in Zion” made of bronze and silver with gilding.

42. Saves lives

The Bible not only saves human souls from eternal destruction, instructing in the truths revealed by God, but, often, literally saves the lives of its carriers, stopping bullets and shell fragments. Thus, during the First World War, the German soldier Kurt Geller, reading the Bible in a dugout, was saved by it from fragments of a shell that hit the room. All his colleagues died, and the fragment intended for him was stuck in the Book of Books. And there are many such cases.

There is a special organization in the world, “Voice of the Martyrs,” whose declared purpose is to distribute the Bible where it is prohibited by law. Its founder, Richard Wurmbrand, rescued Jewish children from ghettos and preached in German bomb shelters during World War II, and in 1945-1947 distributed more than 1,000,000 Gospels to Soviet soldiers in Europe, disguising the books as Soviet propaganda.

44. Rainbow

According to the Bible, rainbows appeared for a reason. This beautiful atmospheric phenomenon became a symbol of the covenant between God and the family of the forefather Noah that humanity would never again be destroyed by a flood.

45. Soviet Bible

The world-famous children's writer Korney Chukovsky was a believer and spent his entire life thinking about how to introduce Soviet children to the Bible. Under the yoke of censorship, he had to disguise biblical stories as “ancient legends” and replace the word “God” with “Yahweh the Wizard.” But even in this form, his “Tower of Babel and Other Ancient Legends,” published in 1968, irritated the authorities so much that the already published books were almost completely withdrawn from circulation and destroyed.

46. ​​Joseph Bible of Bhopal

An enthusiast from India, Joseph Bhopal, rewrote all the verses of the New Testament by hand in 123 days. He later continued his work, which resulted in the creation of the world's largest handwritten Bible of 16,000 pages. The calligrapher's edition weighs 61 kilograms.

47. Biblical studies

The scientific discipline that studies the Bible from various angles is called biblical studies. It developed around the 16th century and is actively developing in most of the world's largest universities. Sweden, the USA, Israel, Great Britain, Germany and Spain have become modern centers of biblical studies.

48. The Historicity of the Bible

The historicity of the Holy Scriptures is recognized by scientists only partially and only starting from the era of Ancient Israel (VIII-VII centuries BC and later). However, the earlier events described in the Bible - the global flood, the exodus of the Jews from Egypt - are now and then confirmed by the discoveries of biblical archeology, geology and other scientific disciplines.

49. Synodal Bible

This is the name of one of the most authoritative Russian-language editions of the Bible, published in the 19th century by the Holy Synod. This translation of the Bible was close in form to prose poems, as it had a special emotionality and rhythm. Soon after its publication, Bible study circles began to appear en masse among Russian peasants.

50. Biblical languages

Most of the original Bible was written in Hebrew, some of its books in Aramaic, and most of the New Testament - the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and their epistles - was written in Greek. The first of the most authoritative translations of the Bible were made into Greek (“Septuagint” - “translation of the seventy”) and Latin (“Vulgate” by Blessed Jerome of Stridon).

Selection by Andrey Szegeda

Victoria asks
Answered by Maxim Balaklitsky, 10/16/2009

Victoria!

Read about this, for example, the following:

Sixteen Differences in the Bible

Today the question is often asked why the Bible has a special place among other books, while there are a great many of them - various sacred and philosophical works, treatises.

Others agree that the Bible is a special Book, but at the same time they believe that it can hardly help in everyday practical life, in business, study, career, everyday life, because it rather speaks of some kind of restrictions, past and future than about the present.

Still others believe that the messages contained in the Bible can certainly be called treasures, but only purely spiritual ones, of little use in modern life, and this group of people often includes those who consider themselves Christians.

Why should one still prefer the Bible to other religious or philosophical books? Why is this Book special?

The fact is that the Bible has several striking differences that set it apart from all other books. Let's look at these differences from the point of view of facts, without any biased and unbiased comments, which we invite our readers to make.

So the Bible for today is:

the most widely published book in the world.

The daily circulation of the Bible is 32,876 copies (every second one Bible is printed in the world). The number of Bibles printed in the 20th century alone amounts to many tens of billions. Statistically following this Book are the works of Mao Zedong, which are several tens of thousands times smaller in number.

The most translated book in the world.

To date, it has been translated into more than 2036 languages ​​and dialects of the earth.

the most read book.

Despite the huge circulations in which the Bible is published, the demand for it constantly exceeds supply and every year publishers are forced to increase its circulation.

the most popular book.

It is known from the history of literature that different years had their own particularly popular books, for which, as they say, there was a real “chase”. But time passed, and interest in them disappeared. So in the 60-70s, subscription editions of Russian and foreign classics were very rare, in the 80s - books by V. Pikul and A. Christie. Today these books can be easily purchased on any counter.

The Bible has been enjoying increasing interest and popularity for almost 2000 years, being the No. 1 bestseller today.

the most accessible for everyone with any level of education.

Today we cannot name books that are read with equal interest by an illiterate resident of a remote Siberian village and a Moscow academician, and the level of their understanding of the truths they read and the events set forth in the Bible is practically no different. The Bible can be read and understood without any special preparation. But try, without having a special education, to read, and even with understanding and interest, works on chemistry or physics, to understand the intricacies of poetry, not to fall asleep over “thick” novels and not to get confused in the series of historical events set out in chronicles and annals.

the most diverse Book.

The Bible literally amazes any reader with a variety of literary genres - this is a historical chronicle (Book of Kings, Chronicles), and lyrics, poetry (Song of Solomon, Psalms, Book of Job), parables (Book of Proverbs of Solomon, Book of Ecclesiastes), biographies (Gospel), diaries (Acts of the Apostles), allegory (Revelation), prophecies (Books of the Prophets), laws (Books of Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), etc.

Not only does no other book contain all of these genres at the same time, but even the presence of 2-3 of them is extremely rare. Thanks to such diversity, you can read the Bible at any stage of your life, in any mood, finding answers to literally all the questions and queries of your soul.

the largest in terms of the number of authors.

the longest in terms of writing time.

The books that make up the Bible were written from the 15th century BC. until the 1st century AD, i.e. for 1600 years!

the most complete and without a single contradiction.

Despite the fact that the Bible was written by 40 authors who lived in different centuries, had very different education and social status, were of different nationalities and cultural traditions, its books not only do not contradict, but complement each other and contribute to a deep understanding of the truths set out in them . We mentioned above that often, even in the works of the same author, devoted to the same topic, there are often contradictions or changes in views and opinions, this fact is especially well known to scientists, and this is completely understandable and natural, since science moves forward , and what previously seemed undeniable and correct, over time becomes outdated and changes, giving way to new facts, often proving the opposite. What can we say about the fact that if we take for research the works of 40 different scientists on the same topic, then how many opinions and the most varied evidence we can come across. And if we go even further and try to investigate some scientific problem, which was studied by, say, 40 scientists, but who lived not only in different centuries, but also in different eras, then will we encounter the unity of their views - absolutely without any contradictions? Answer this question yourself.

This remarkable phenomenon of the perfect integrity and “unity” of the Holy Scriptures could not be explained even by the most ardent opponents of the Bible in Soviet times.

largest in volume.

The Holy Scripture is an entire library, consisting of 66 books and occupying the first place in volume among all books that have ever existed and exist.

the most commented book.

Various numbers of comments are often written on various fiction, historical, philosophical, etc. books, the volume of which often exceeds the volume of the book itself. The more comments are devoted to a particular work, the more valuable it is considered, because this indicates that its appearance aroused great interest.

So, the Bible today is recognized as the Book on which the largest number of commentaries have been written. In the Oxford Library alone, so many works have been written on one First Epistle of the Apostle John, the volume of which occupies a room of more than 20 square meters. m.

the most expensive Book.

The most expensive book in the world, for which the highest amount was paid, is the Codex Sinaiticus (an ancient manuscript of the Bible), sold by the Soviet government to Great Britain for $510,000 in 1923!

The Ostroh Bible by Ivan Fedorov and the Latin Vulgate by Guttenberg are slightly inferior to it in price.

the cheapest book.

At the same time that the Bible is the most expensive Book, it is also the cheapest, and sometimes its multimillion-dollar copies are generally distributed free of charge.

the most persecuted Book in the world.

Despite its enormous demand and veneration, the Bible is also the most persecuted Book. History does not know of examples when, over the course of 2000 years, state laws were issued against any book, the violators of which would be punished by death.

In Hitler's Germany and the USSR, many books were banned, the owners of which were persecuted, but this lasted a very short period. The paradox of the persecution of the Bible is that it was banned not only by opponents of Christianity, but also by the official Christian Church itself! Such church laws, in particular, include the decisions of the Council of Toulouse in 1229, when it was forbidden, on pain of death, to read the Bible to secular persons. At the Council of Terracona, which took place 15 years later, in 1244, the ban on reading the Bible also extended to clergy and clergy! Let us give an example typical of that time: on the orders of one Catholic bishop, an entire edition of Bibles was destroyed in the flames of a fire for fear that they would get to people who would be able to read about the truths set forth in it and understand how great the deviation of the official church from the Word of God was.

Among secular, state laws, one can point out the decree of Emperor Diocletian of 303 AD, in which those who read and keep the Bible were sentenced to death. Very similar was the decree of the government of the French Republic of 1793, according to which all Bibles were burned and their owners, who continued to revere God, were destroyed. This law lasted until 1797, when the government was forced to repeal this decree due to the fact that the moral decline of society had reached incredible proportions.

In the 30s, the same laws were in force in our country, which the older generation remembers well.

the most accurate Book.

Despite the enormous criticism to which the Bible was subjected, especially in Soviet times, as a false and dangerous Book, today it is recognized by absolutely everyone as one of the most accurate ancient historical sources.

prophetic book.

Prophecies, as one scholar puts it, put the stamp of Divinity on the Bible. According to estimates, the Holy Scripture contains over 3000 prophecies relating both to states -, etc., nations -, etc., cities -, etc., and to individuals, such as, for example, etc., religions - Canaanite, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc.

In addition, Bible prophecies apply to our planet.

The peculiarity of biblical prophecies, which fundamentally distinguishes them from the predictions of ancient and modern eastern sages, astrologers, spiritualists, magicians, sorcerers, fortune tellers, so-called clairvoyants, including Nostradamus, is that their meaning can be understood by anyone without special comments, but only on the basis of knowledge of the Bible and history. The prophecies of the Bible cannot and simply cannot be interpreted in different ways (unless, of course, such a goal is pursued!), for they are distinguished by extreme clarity and clarity. Read for example, 14 and you will find out their meaning yourself.

So, we have seen that the Bible has several striking features that fundamentally distinguish it from any other books. But one of its main differences is the influence of the Bible both on the development of nations and states, and on the individual. Compare modern Christian countries with countries professing other religions. On the one hand, the USA, Canada and Western Europe, and on the other, African countries with their pagan cults, Asia with Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, the former USSR and countries of socialist orientation with theirs. The standard of living in these countries and their development speak for themselves. But more than that, the first group of states also has its own gradation. And we mentioned this above. Countries where the majority of the population are Protestants who especially revere the Bible, and which include the USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, are ahead in their development of purely Catholic and Orthodox countries, where the study of the Bible was either persecuted or not encouraged, these include Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and many other countries.

Sincerely,
Maksim

Read more on the topic "The Bible. About the Book of Books":

In Soviet times, there lived one famous scientist, academician I.P. Pavlov, founder of the doctrine of higher nervous activity. One day he was sitting on a park bench reading the Bible. And several people from among the Soviet youth passed nearby. Seeing him with a book in his handoh, one of them asked:
- What are you reading, grandfather?
“The Bible,” came the answer.
- Oh, darkness! - the young people waved their hands. They, of course, did not suspect that beforethe great scientist sat with them.
So what is the Bible?

1. The Bible is published in the largest circulation.

The total circulation of the Bible is about 6 billion. The number of Bibles printed in the 20th century alone amounts to many tens of billions. (Following this Book in terms of statistics are the works of Mao Zedong in China, which, however, are also inferior in number to it by several tens of thousands of times.)

2. The Bible is the most read book in the world.

Despite the huge circulations in which the Bible is published, the demand for it constantly exceeds the supply, and every year publishers are forced to increase its circulation. Every nation has its own famous poets and writers. For example, in Russia these are books by Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin. Everyone in our country has read them at least once. How many of you have even heard of Henry Lawson or Paterson? How, haven't you heard? After all, these are the most famous writers in Australia. Who has heard of Rabindranath Tagore or Shorotchondro Chottopadshai? Well, it’s not easy for us to pronounce these names. But they are one of the most famous writers in India.
But the Bible is a book for all nations. She is widely known all over the world.

3. The Bible has been translated into the largest number of languages.

In more than 2300 languages ​​and dialects around the world. And this number is supplemented every year with new, even little-known, languages ​​and dialects. For example, in recent years, representatives of such small nationalities as the Irakw (in Tanzania), the Sgaw (in Burma), the Gumuz (in Ethiopia), etc. have had the opportunity to join the Bible in their native language.

So why is the Bible the most famous book in human history?

What makes it unique, different from all other books? What is its real value?

The Bible is the Book through which God Himself is revealed to humanity.
This is the Word of God.

God Himself gave this Book to people. In it He revealed to man His essence and the nature of His relationships with people. The Bible answers such eternal questions as: the origin of the Universe and man, the meaning of life, what awaits a person after death, what happiness consists of, etc.
They say that once the famous English physicist Michael Faraday was sitting at his desk and reading the Bible. His friend came in and saw Faraday sitting with his head in his hands. The friend asked fearfully: “What’s wrong with you, Michael? Are you feeling unwell?” “Oh no,” Faraday replied, “I am amazed why people prefer to wander in the unknown on many important issues, while God gave them such a wonderful book of Revelation?!”

How did this Book appear? Did God really write its words with his own hand?

Of course not. The words of the Bible were written by about 40 different people over a period of approximately 1,600 years. But what these people wrote did not come from themselves, but from the One who gave them the necessary words for this, inspired them. Here's what the Bible says about her:

“For prophecy was never made by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” 1 "All Scripture is inspired by God." 2

In other words, God is the inspirer, the Author of the Bible. This is clearly seen when you realize that the Bible was written by completely different people who lived in different centuries and even millennia, had very different education and social status, came from different nationalities and cultural traditions - and, nevertheless, between what they wrote there are no contradictions; on the contrary, they only complement each other, promoting a deeper understanding of the truths presented. This remarkable phenomenon of the perfect integrity and unity of Holy Scripture baffled even the most ardent opponents of the Bible in Soviet times. As the famous French philosopher Emmanuel Kant once wrote: “By its content, the Bible itself testifies to its Divine origin. The existence of the Bible as a book is the greatest benefit for all people.”

Famous people about the Bible:

Many famous writers, philosophers, and scientists treated the Bible with deep respect, believing in it as the Word of God. Here's what some of them said:

IN AND. Belinsky:

“There is a book in which everything is said, everything is decided, after which there is no doubt about anything, an immortal, holy book, a book of eternal truth, eternal life - the Gospel. All progress of mankind, all successes in the sciences, in philosophy lie only in greater penetration into the secret depths of this divine book."

A.S. Pushkin:

“I think that we will never give the people anything better than Scripture... The Bible is universal. This is the only book in the world: it has everything.”

Isaac Newton:

"The Bible contains more evidence of authenticity than all secular history."

M. Faraday:

"As tears come from the heart and are directed to the heart, so the Bible comes from God. And whoever is from God listens to its voice."

F.M. Dostoevsky:

“Lord! what kind of book is this Holy Scripture, what a miracle and what power is given to man with it! And how many mysteries are resolved and revealed! I love this book! Death to the people without God’s Word.”

How to read the Bible to understand its meaning?

The Bible is an amazing book. Despite the fact that it is very ancient (it began to be written 3.5 thousand years ago and was completed 1.9 thousand years ago), it is nevertheless accessible and relevant for a person living in the 21st century. But at the same time, to read it, you need a special approach to it. If you read the Bible like the morning newspaper, you will find it boring and incomprehensible. That's not what the Bible is for. It was given for people of all times and peoples who lived in different centuries and in different cultures. And therefore, to understand it you need to read it correctly.
Here are some tips on how to read the Bible to understand its truth.

1. Contact its Author - God.

It is obvious. Who better to reveal the meaning of a book than its author. So turn to God and ask Him to help you understand the Bible. You can say to God something like this: “God, I believe the Bible is Your Word and I want to understand it, please help me.”

2. Honestly accept everything written in it.

What does it mean?
There is one children's fairy tale that tells about a Hippopotamus who considered himself very beautiful. And then one day they gave him a mirror so that he could look at himself. When Behemoth looked at what he really was, he shouted: “This is not true, this mirror is lying! I’m not like that!” And out of anger he smashed it on the ground.
The Bible is also a kind of mirror. She speaks directly about who I am. It also reveals all the bad things that are in me. Thus, a person is faced with a choice: either listen to her, honestly admitting who I am, and, having repented, ask God to help me change and improve my life. Or simply slam the Bible and say: this Mirror is lying, there is nothing terrible here, because almost everyone lives like this now. The Bible itself says the following about this:

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword: it pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is nothing hidden from Him, but everything is naked and open before His eyes: to Him we will give report". 3

Why was the Bible a forbidden book in Soviet times? Why, too, in the Middle Ages, even church rulers, under pain of death, forbade ordinary people to read the Bible? Because the Bible reveals the truth. Am I ready to accept the honest truth? Or will it depend on whether I like her?

3. Don’t stop at the unknown.

If you ask God to help you understand the truth of the Bible, honestly accept everything written in it, and devote time to reading at least the New Testament, then you will see for yourself what result this will bring in your life. This is the most important book that has ever been written. And most of humanity's ills are rooted in the fact that many people have not even discovered it in their entire lives. It’s not for nothing that the Bible itself writes about it this way:

"The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine. They will invite and eagerly listen to those teachers who will tell them only what they themselves want to hear. They will stop listening to the truth and turn to fiction." 4

Today we are surrounded everywhere by a huge amount of daily information: on the Internet, on TV, in newspapers, radio, etc. But the one who stops to listen to what really matters, the Word of God, builds his life on timeless, eternal truths, and he will never regret it.

The Bible is the most interesting book ever created on earth. It is the most read, popular, causes the most comments and controversy, and also contains unique secrets of modern science.

In the history of literature there have been many works that became world bestsellers, interest in which lasted for years. But time passed, and interest in them disappeared.

And the Bible, without any advertising, has been popular for almost 2000 years, being today the No. 1 bestseller. The daily circulation of the Bible is 32,876 copies, that is, one Bible is printed every second in the world.

The Bible has been translated into more than 1,200 languages ​​around the world. No other book can even come close to this result.

Despite this, in some countries of the world there is a ban on reading the Bible, every second one copy of the printed Holy Scripture appears somewhere, this number includes the publishing of the New Testament, as part of the Holy Book.

2. The largest number of translations have been made based on the Bible.

The scrolls found were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. In the 21st century, Holy Scripture is read in more than 3,223 languages ​​and dialects around the world.

3. This is a modern bestseller, whose popularity is growing every year. People read the same Book of Books, regardless of their position in society and skin color, age and gender, physics and poetry. This God's message needs no advertising.

4. Forty authors wrote the Holy Message under the guidance of the Creator, among whom there are kings like David and Solomon, the shepherd Amos, the doctor Luke, the fisherman Peter, the great and small prophets Moses, Daniel, Malachi, Hosea and many others.

national;
age;
cultural;
social.

5. The oldest Bible is also the most expensive book, for which more than half a million dollars were paid. For this price, the Codex Sinaiticus was sold in 1923 by the authorities of the country of the Soviets of England in order to purchase food.

6 .There is no printed message in the world more persecuted than the Holy Scriptures, both then and now. Many people gave their lives for the right to read the Holy Message.

It is not surprising that people were punished for distributing Christian scrolls:

Romans;
French revolutionaries ordered all Bibles to be burned in 1793;
The Germans, and then the authorities of the USSR, threw people into hard labor for storing Holy Scripture.
It is scary to realize that in 1244 the early Church elevated the Book of Books to the rank of inviolable for secular people, and then for ordinary priests.

Catholic priests burned Bibles to prevent people from reading them from discovering the truth about God's power and mercy.

Catholic priests burned Bibles to prevent people from reading God's Word

7. The Bible is a book of prophecies, and 3000 of them have already come true, this is a small list that concerns:

countries such as Rome, Türkiye, Greece, USA;
cities including Jerusalem, Damascus and Thebes;
personalities in the person of Alexander the Great, kings Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar;
religions of Egypt, Babylon, Canaanites.
All the great catastrophes occurring in the modern world have already been described in God's message.

Attention! To read prophecies you do not need to be a fortuneteller, clairvoyant or psychic. It is enough to carefully read the text and compare it with current events.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote about the destruction of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:37), the fall of Nineveh was predicted by Nahum (Nahum 1:8), and the evangelist Matthew spoke about the war between nations (Matthew 24:7).

8 . The Vatican Museum houses the most ancient Bible written in 350.

9 . The first Holy Epistles were written in one text, chapters and verses in the scriptures appeared thanks to Bishop Stephen Langton. This happened in 1214.

The current division system was first printed in 1560 in English.

10 . God said “Rejoice” and “Do not be afraid” 365 times in his messages. For every day of the year, Christians have the promise of the Creator that He is always there, you just need to be able to trust Him with your life, and then you can rejoice.

11 . There is no book in the world on whose events more commentaries have been written than the Holy Epistle.

12 . You will spend 37 hours reading the Old Testament, and in just 11 hours you can read the New Testament.

13 . The English edition of the Holy Scriptures in 631 was almost completely destroyed due to a gross error; in the 10 commandments they “lost” a piece of “not” and issued “Commit adultery!” Unique copies of this publication can only be found in private collections.

This is interesting - facts from the Bible

The oldest person, who lived 969 years, is Methuselah (Genesis 5:21-27), who was the son of Enoch. Enoch is one of the few righteous people taken to heaven alive. Enoch left the house and disappeared (Gen. 5:24).

For his betrayal, Judas received an amount equal to a worker’s salary for 4 months. The price of betrayal is always low, as is the action.

The strongest biblical hero is Samson.

The wisest man on earth since the creation of the world remains King Solomon, who, thanks to his wisdom, built the richest kingdom.

The faithful and obedient warrior Gideon defeated 135 thousand Midianites. (Judges 7:16-21)

A man after God's own heart, King David, being a shepherd boy, killed the tallest biblical character with one stone - Goliath, whose height was 3 meters (1 Samuel 17:8-21).

The age of the earth may be millions of years old, but the global flood that destroyed the earth, people, flora and fauna was about 5,000 years ago.

For atheists and doubters

Nothing in the Bible goes against science. If you really wish, you can find answers to all the questions underlying modern discoveries in the holy book.

The science of genetics began to develop in the last century, studying chromosomes, refuting the theory of evolution, which asserted the possibility of degeneration from species to species, monkeys into humans, as a final result.

Genesis 1 tells us that God created several types of plants and animals.

Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity in the 18th century, and Job wrote that the earth hangs “on nothing.” (Job 26:7).

The Italian Torricelli proved in the 17th century that air can be weighed, but Job also claimed the same thing (Job 28:25).

For a long time, people thought that the earth was flat and supported by three pillars, and the prophet Isaiah argued that the Creator reigns over the “circle of the earth” (Is. 40:22).

Unique Creations of God

The Almighty created His creations unique, each species is a prototype of one or another scientific discovery made centuries later.

Electric fish live thanks to batteries.

A unique compass helps migratory birds navigate during their flights.

A natural pump exists in tall trees, helping water reach the very top, and sometimes this is 100 meters.

Multi-colored fireflies brighten warm nights with their lanterns that are more efficient than incandescent lamps.

Echolocation helps porpoises, whales and bats move through space.

Nautiluses and cuttlefish move up and down thanks to microscopic radiolarians.

This is not a complete list of God’s unique creations, by studying which people learned to create something similar. And how many gifts from the Creator are still unopened?

Today the Internet contains a rich library of materials devoted to the history and principles of Christian doctrine. The Bible is the most read and published book in the world, because... it is truly unique and contains divine revelation.

Here are a few facts about this amazing Book:

1. The Bible is published in the largest circulation

The total circulation of the Bible is more than 8 billion. Almost all of this number of Bibles were printed during the last two centuries. No other book at all times has ever been published in such quantity. The daily circulation of the Bible is 32,876 copies (every second one Bible is printed in the world)

2. The Bible is the most read book in the world

Despite the huge circulations in which the Bible is published, the demand for it is constantly growing, and every year publishers are forced to increase its circulation. Every nation has its own famous poets and writers. For example, in Russia these are books by Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin. Everyone in our country has read them at least once. How many of you have even heard of Henry Lawson or Paterson? How, haven't you heard? After all, these are the most famous writers in Australia. Who has heard of Rabindranath Tagore or Shorotchondro Chottopadshai? Well, it’s not easy for us to pronounce these names. But they are one of the most famous writers in India. But the Bible is a book for all nations. It is widely known all over the world and interest in it is constantly growing.

3. The Bible has been translated into the most languages

The Bible has been translated into more than 2,500 languages ​​and dialects around the world. And this number is supplemented every year with more and more new, even little-known, languages ​​and dialects. For example, in recent years, representatives of such small nationalities as the Irakw (in Tanzania), the Sgaw (in Burma), the Gumuz (in Ethiopia), etc. have had the opportunity to join the Bible in their native language.

4. The Bible is the Most Diverse Book

The Bible literally amazes any reader with a variety of literary genres - this is a historical chronicle (Book of Kings, Chronicles), and lyrics, poetry (Song of Solomon, Psalms, Book of Job), parables (Book of Proverbs of Solomon, Book of Ecclesiastes), biographies (Gospel), diaries (Acts of the Apostles), allegory (Revelation), prophecies (Books of the Prophets), laws (Books of Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), etc.

Not only does no other book contain all of these genres at the same time, but even the presence of 2-3 of them is extremely rare. Thanks to such diversity, you can read the Bible at any stage of your life, in any mood, finding answers to literally all the questions and queries of your soul.

5. The Bible islargest in terms of number of authors

6. The Bible islongest time to write

The books that make up the Bible were written from the 15th century BC. until the 1st century AD, i.e. for 1600 years!

7. The Bible isthe most complete and without a single contradiction

Despite the fact that the Bible was written by 40 authors who lived in different centuries, had very different education and social status, were of different nationalities and cultural traditions, its books not only do not contradict, but complement each other and contribute to a deep understanding of the truths set out in them . We mentioned above that often, even in the works of the same author, devoted to the same topic, there are often contradictions or changes in views and opinions, this fact is especially well known to scientists, and this is completely understandable and natural, since science moves forward , and what previously seemed undeniable and correct, over time becomes outdated and changes, giving way to new facts, often proving the opposite. What can we say about the fact that if we take for research the works of 40 different scientists on the same topic, then how many opinions and the most varied evidence we can come across. And if we go even further and try to investigate some scientific problem, which was studied by, say, 40 scientists, but who lived not only in different centuries, but also in different eras, then will we encounter the unity of their views - absolutely without any contradictions? Answer this question yourself.

This remarkable phenomenon of the perfect integrity and “unity” of the Holy Scriptures could not be explained even by the most ardent opponents of the Bible in Soviet times.

8. The Bible islargest in volume

The Holy Scripture is an entire library consisting of 66 canonical books (39 books of the Old Testament and 27 of the New Testament) and ranks first in volume among all books that have ever existed and exist.

9. The Bible is the most commented book

Various numbers of comments are often written on various fiction, historical, philosophical, etc. books, the volume of which often exceeds the volume of the book itself. The more comments are devoted to a particular work, the more valuable it is considered, because this indicates that its appearance aroused great interest.

So, the Bible today is recognized as the Book on which the largest number of commentaries have been written. In the Oxford Library alone, so many works have been written on one First Epistle of the Apostle John, the volume of which occupies a room of more than 20 square meters. m.

10. The Bible is the most expensive book

The most expensive book in the world, for which the highest amount was paid, is the Codex Sinaiticus (an ancient manuscript of the Bible), sold by the Soviet government to Great Britain for $510,000 in 1923!

The Ostroh Bible by Ivan Fedorov and the Latin Vulgate by Guttenberg are slightly inferior to it in price.

11. The Bible isthe cheapest book

At the same time that the Bible is the most expensive Book, it is also the cheapest, and sometimes its multimillion-dollar copies are generally distributed free of charge.

12. The Bible isthe most persecuted book in the world

History does not know of examples when, over the course of 2000 years, state laws were issued against any book, the violators of which would be punished by death.

In Hitler's Germany and the USSR, many books were banned, the owners of which were persecuted, but this lasted a very short period. The paradox of the persecution of the Bible is that it was banned not only by opponents of Christianity, but also by the official Christian Church itself! Such church laws, in particular, include the decisions of the Council of Toulouse in 1229, when it was forbidden, on pain of death, to read the Bible to secular persons. At the Council of Terracona, which took place 15 years later, in 1244, the ban on reading the Bible also extended to clergy and clergy! Let us give an example typical of that time: on the orders of one Catholic bishop, an entire edition of Bibles was destroyed in the flames of a fire for fear that they would get to people who would be able to read about the truths set forth in it and understand how great the deviation of the official church from the Word of God was.

Among secular, state laws, one can point out the decree of Emperor Diocletian of 303 AD, in which those who read and keep the Bible were sentenced to death. Very similar was the decree of the government of the French Republic of 1793, according to which all Bibles were burned and their owners, who continued to revere God, were destroyed. This law lasted until 1797, when the government was forced to repeal this decree due to the fact that the moral decline of society had reached incredible proportions.

In the 30s, the same laws were in force in our country, which the older generation remembers well.

13. The Bible is the most accurate Book

Despite the enormous criticism to which the Bible was subjected, especially in Soviet times, as a false and dangerous Book, today it is recognized by absolutely everyone as one of the most accurate ancient historical sources.

14. The Bible is a Prophetic Book

Prophecies, as one scholar puts it, put the stamp of Divinity on the Bible. According to estimates, the Holy Scripture contains over 3,000 prophecies relating both to states - Babylon, Rome, Greece, Assyria, USA, Turkey, Egypt, the Arab Caliphate, etc., peoples - Israelites, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, etc., cities - Damascus, Jerusalem, Thebes, Memphis, etc., and to individuals, such as Alexander the Great, Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, etc., religions - Canaanite, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc.

Additionally, Bible prophecies relate to natural disasters, church history, and the spread of the Gospel throughout our planet.

The peculiarity of biblical prophecies, which fundamentally distinguishes them from the predictions of ancient and modern eastern sages, astrologers, spiritualists, magicians, sorcerers, fortune tellers, so-called clairvoyants, including Nostradamus, is that their meaning can be understood by anyone without special comments, but only on the basis of knowledge of the Bible and history. The prophecies of the Bible cannot and simply cannot be interpreted in different ways (unless, of course, such a goal is pursued!), for they are distinguished by extreme clarity and clarity. Read for example Ezek. 26:3-5, Jeremiah. 51:37, Nahum 1:8, Matt. 24:7, 14 and you yourself will know their meaning.

According to the site: Bible and science

So, we have seen that the Bible has several striking features that fundamentally distinguish it from any other books. But one of its main differences is the influence of the Bible both on the development of nations and states, and on the individual.

At our mission, we will give the New Testament to anyone who wants it.

• History of the Synodal Bible