Jehovah...
Did you ever wonder who Jehovah was (as in “Jehovah’s Witnesses”)?
It is an older form of the name of God. In the original Hebrew Old Testament, God’s name is Yahweh, a name meaning (probably) “I Cause to Be” or “I am What I Am.”
Most English Bibles now translate Yahweh as “the LORD.”
But some older Bibles (the King James Version, for example) sometimes used the name Jehovah—which, believe it or not, is a form of the name Yahweh. (If you have a King James Bible, you’ll find Jehovah in Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; and Isa. 12:2.)
Most newer translations do not use Jehovah at all. The name occurs in a lot of old hymns.
The Shortest Verse...
It’s only two words, “Jesus wept,” found in John 11:35. He wept over the death of His friend Lazarus, whom He then raised from the dead.
The Shortest Books...
The shortest book in the Old Testament is the one-chapter book of Obadiah.
The shortest book in the New Testament—and the entire Bible—is 3 John. Philemon, 2 John, and Jude are also one-chapter books.
Six Books From Three...
Six books in the Old Testament were originally just three. First and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles were originally just Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.
Because they were so large and bulky in the form of scrolls, they were each divided in two.
A Psalm of David...
There are 150 psalms, and 73 are attributed to David, Israel’s king.
The Old Testament makes it clear that David had musical and poetic gifts (1 Sam. 16:16 –18; 2 Sam 1:19–27; 3:33–34). In 2 Samuel 23:1, David is called “the sweet psalmist of Israel.”
Some of the best-loved psalms—such as Psalm 23, the “shepherd Psalm,” and Psalm 51, the “confession Psalm”—are labeled “psalms of David.”
Psalm 18 is almost exactly like David’s song in 1 Samuel 22."
The “we” passages Acts, like the gospel of Luke, was written by Luke, whom the apostle Paul calls “Luke the beloved physician” (Col 4:14).
In several passages of Acts, Luke writes in first person plural—“we.” The “we” passages are 16:10–17; 20:5–15; 21:18; and 27:1–28:16.
All the “We” sections focus on the activity of Paul, so he and Luke were apparently fellow missionaries.
The fact that Luke was an eyewitness of these events adds a nice touch of authenticity.
Letters or Epistles? Is there a difference?
A letter is usually one person’s private communication to another.
An epistle is more “public,” addressed to a group or designed to be circulated.
The first parts of the New Testament to be written were Paul’s epistles to the various Christian communities he visited.
In these letters he gave moral advice, explained Christian beliefs, and dealt with questions and controversies he had heard of.
Most epistles thus seem more like sermons than letters, though the writers often added personal notes at the end, speaking to individuals they knew.
It is correct to say either “Paul’s letter to the Romans” or “Paul’s epistle to the Romans,” but, technically, Romans is more of an epistle than a letter.
Bible Paper
This is the thin but durable (and relatively expensive) paper used in Bibles and some other books. (It’s also called “India paper.”)
In our own day, acid-free paper means that most books will hold up well as they age.
But, as a look at old books in libraries will prove, earlier papers aged horribly, yellowing and falling to shreds—except for Bible paper, which did and does last.
Study Bibles
Some Bibles are “just Bible,” the text of the Old and New Testaments and nothing else.
But most contain some aids to the reader—at the minimum, footnotes explaining difficult phrases.
Study Bibles with extensive footnotes and introductions to the various books in the Bible are very popular now, and they have been popular ever since the printing press made Bibles available to the general public.
The Reformation in the 1500s opened the Bible to the laity, and most readers like some notes to aid their understanding.
The trend today seems to be “niche markets” for study Bibles—geared for mothers, fathers, teens, senior adults, and so on.
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has no eyebrows or eyelashes. Some believe that it was fashionable at the time in Renaissance Florence to pluck them off. More recently, however, it's been claimed that she did have both eyebrows and eyelashes in the original painting, but that these have been lost due to cleaning and restoration work carried out over the years. The fashionable moustache was airbrushed out before going to press.
A Quick Trim And A Vasectomy Please!
Have you ever wondered why barber shops are traditionally represented by a pole with alternating red and white stripes twisted around it?
Well, back in the Middle Ages, barbers weren't just about giving you a trim and a shave. They also served as dentists and surgeons! Yep, as soon as he was finished sculpting your rockabilly quiff, your friendly neighborhood barber would be happy to pull your teeth, extract your blood, or hack off that lump sticking out of the side of your neck.
And as to the red and white stripes, there are two theories.
According to one field of thought, this was purely symbolic. If a barber was also a surgeon/dentist he indicated it with the famous pole – red indicating all the bloody stuff and white representing the standard barber stuff.
Others, however, suggest that it started out in a more macabre fashion.
Basically, after a hard day's trimming goatees and chopping off limbs, blood-soaked bandages were washed and hung out on a pole to dry. These would then twist around in the wind forming something resembling the symbol we know today.
Things You Really Don't Want to Hear In The Operating Room
Nobody likes the idea of having surgery. Worse still is the idea of having surgery while wide awake. Worst of all is the idea of having surgery while wide awake and hearing one of these...
- "Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what's that?"
- "That's cool! Can you make his leg twitch too?"
- "Better save that. We'll need it for the autopsy."
- "Hand me that....uh....that uh....thingie."
- "Could you stop that thing from beating? It's throwing my concentration off."
- "What do you mean, 'You want a divorce!?'"
- "This is truly a freak of nature."
- "Darn! Page 47 is missing from the manual!"
- "What's this doing here?"
20 Things We've Learned From Movies
Movies are good for entertainment, but often not so good at reflecting real life. Here are twenty things that routinely happen in movies which make you wonder if the people behind them live in the same planet as the rest of us...
- During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
- Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
- The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.
- Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.
- All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
- All grocery shopping bags are made out of brown paper and contain at least one stick of French bread.
- If being fired at by German soldiers, hide in a river - or even a bath. German bullets are unable to penetrate water.
- If you find yourself caught up in a misunderstanding that could be cleared up quickly with a simple explanation, for goodness sake, keep your mouth shut.
- It's always possible to park directly outside the building you're visiting.
- Freelance helicopter pilots are always eager to accept bookings from international terrorist organizations
- even though the job will require them to shoot total strangers and will end in their own certain death as the helicopter explodes in a ball of flames. - When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.
- Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning even though their husband and children never have time to eat it.
- You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
- You can tell if somebody is British because they'll be wearing a bow tie.
- Honest and hard working policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement.
- Having a job of any kind will make fathers forget their son's eighth birthday.
- The more a man and a woman hate each other, the more likely they will fall in love.
- Kitchens don't have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead.
- It's not necessary to say hello or good-bye when beginning or ending phone conversations.
- It doesn't matter if you're heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts
– your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors
Quotes...
Have you ever wondered why barber shops are traditionally represented by a pole with alternating red and white stripes twisted around it?
Well, back in the Middle Ages, barbers weren't just about giving you a trim and a shave. They also served as dentists and surgeons! Yep, as soon as he was finished sculpting your rockabilly quiff, your friendly neighborhood barber would be happy to pull your teeth, extract your blood, or hack off that lump sticking out of the side of your neck.
And as to the red and white stripes, there are two theories.
According to one field of thought, this was purely symbolic. If a barber was also a surgeon/dentist he indicated it with the famous pole – red indicating all the bloody stuff and white representing the standard barber stuff.
Others, however, suggest that it started out in a more macabre fashion.
Basically, after a hard day's trimming goatees and chopping off limbs, blood-soaked bandages were washed and hung out on a pole to dry. These would then twist around in the wind forming something resembling the symbol we know today.
Things You Really Don't Want to Hear In The Operating Room
Nobody likes the idea of having surgery. Worse still is the idea of having surgery while wide awake. Worst of all is the idea of having surgery while wide awake and hearing one of these...
- "Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what's that?"
- "That's cool! Can you make his leg twitch too?"
- "Better save that. We'll need it for the autopsy."
- "Hand me that....uh....that uh....thingie."
- "Could you stop that thing from beating? It's throwing my concentration off."
- "What do you mean, 'You want a divorce!?'"
- "This is truly a freak of nature."
- "Darn! Page 47 is missing from the manual!"
- "What's this doing here?"
20 Things We've Learned From Movies
Movies are good for entertainment, but often not so good at reflecting real life. Here are twenty things that routinely happen in movies which make you wonder if the people behind them live in the same planet as the rest of us...
- During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.
- Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.
- The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.
- Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.
- All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
- All grocery shopping bags are made out of brown paper and contain at least one stick of French bread.
- If being fired at by German soldiers, hide in a river - or even a bath. German bullets are unable to penetrate water.
- If you find yourself caught up in a misunderstanding that could be cleared up quickly with a simple explanation, for goodness sake, keep your mouth shut.
- It's always possible to park directly outside the building you're visiting.
- Freelance helicopter pilots are always eager to accept bookings from international terrorist organizations
- even though the job will require them to shoot total strangers and will end in their own certain death as the helicopter explodes in a ball of flames. - When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.
- Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning even though their husband and children never have time to eat it.
- You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
- You can tell if somebody is British because they'll be wearing a bow tie.
- Honest and hard working policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement.
- Having a job of any kind will make fathers forget their son's eighth birthday.
- The more a man and a woman hate each other, the more likely they will fall in love.
- Kitchens don't have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead.
- It's not necessary to say hello or good-bye when beginning or ending phone conversations.
- It doesn't matter if you're heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts
– your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors
Quotes...
