Ideas and Tools for Memorizing the Bible

Memorizing Poetry, Speeches, Books
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Structure

The Bible is made up of 2 testaments, the old and the new.

The testaments are made of books.

The new testament has 27 books; 3^3 for 3 in 1 God. The Bible itself is made of 66 books; the number of man is 666, but the Bible is a book made with one digit left to make room for God.

66 - 27 leaves 39; if this isn’t enough, 39 / 3 is 13, which we can think of as Jacob and his twelve sons + Abraham and the 12 tribes of Israel + Jesus and his 12 apostles.

Each of these books has a name, a certain number of chapters, an ordinal position, and of course, actual content, which we can reduce to a few core themes.

The books themselves are made up of chapters. There are 1,189 chapters in the bible. If you’re acquainted with corny jokes, and know there are 1000ish chapters of the Bible, then you can remember this by, “Why was 6 afraid of 11? Because 11 8 9.” Chapters each have a book, an ordinal number, a number of verses, and actual content, but there are summaries available for every chapter here.

The verse in each chapter have an ordinal number, and belong to a chapter, book, testament and translation.

In order to help me think about this structure, I’ve been making a Bible database and library in python, available here for the curious, but mostly useless right now.

In addition, there are other ways to think about the Bible and give it structure. The books of the bible are grouped together in different categories. There are several different ways that people do this. But I’m trying to memorize the Potestant Testaments. Each category of book has a name, a certain number of books, and an ordinal position.

Old Testament:

Torah / Pentatuech (5 Books; Written by Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number, Deuteronomy)
Historical (12 Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)
Wisdom (5 Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon / Songs)
Major Prophets (5 Books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel)
Minor Prophets (12 Books: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

In many ways the whole Bible is the echo of the Torah; Just like the Toah is made up of five books, the Old Testament is split into 5 major sections: Torah, History, Wisdom, Major Prophets, Mino Prophets; Just like the Torah has two books of law (Leviticus and Deuteronomy), the Old Testament has two parts of Prophecy: Major and Minor.

The first part of the Old Testament is about the Past, starting, with the prehistory of Moses, and continuing into History, with the establishment of the kingdom and the exile. The last part is about the future, told by people who can tell the future (Prophets), split into two categories, the Major and the Minor, the more important coming first. Wisdom is in the middle, helping us navigate between the past and the future.

The Torah is also called the Pentatuech, “Penta” means 5. The Torah has 5 books.

The Historical Books talk about the history of the Hebrews in Israel, and has 12 books for the twelve tribes of Israel.

There are 5 books of Wisdom, just as all wisdom is rooted in ancient past.

There are likewise 5 Major Prophets and 12 Minor Prophets: just as the future repeats the patterns of the past; the Major Prophets are first in line and our less numerous than the Minor Prophets.

New Testament

Gospels (4 Book: Mathew, Mark, Luke, John)

Historical (1 Book: Acts)

The Pauline Epistles (13 Books: Romans, 1 Corinthian, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon)

The General Epistles (8 Books: Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude)

Apocalypse (1 Book: Revelation)

There are 5 types of New Testament books, in reflection of the Old Testament and the original Torah. It’s structured much the same way, with two books dedicated to the past, first of Jesus and then the Acts of the Apostles, except that Christians think that the Messiah has already come and the Holy Spirit is with us now, so there are two sections dedicated to the present, The Pauline and General Epistles, and a single book written about the future, Revelation. All surviving Christianity stems from Paul’s influence, and many more of his books made it into the New Testament, so Paul’s letters come before the others.

There are four Gospels Gospel means “Good News,” and there are several ways to remember there are four: one for each direction in whence the good news spread, the four audiences of the Gospel: Jews, Romans, Greeks, and the outside world, the four holy beasts of the Cherubim: Lion, Eagle, Ox, and Man.

There is one book describing the Acts of the Apostles, for the one God.

Paul wrote 13 Epistles; one for each of the attendees of the Last Supper; Jesus and the twelve apostles.
There are 8 general epistles; 1 for each day of the week, plus one more for the following Sunday, when Christ rose.

And there’s only one book for the one future of the Church: Revelation.

Alright. Pop Quiz:

How many books are in the bible?
What are the testaments of the Bible?

How many books are in each? (If you know how many books are in the Bible, you can add them up to check.)
How many sections are there in the Old Testament?

What are their names?

How many books are in each? (If you know how many books are in the testament, you can add them up to check.)

How many sections are there in the New Testament?

What are their names?

How many books are in each? (If you know how many books are in the testament, you can add them up to check.)

How many chapters are in the Bible?

After I wrote this, I realized I had already memorized all the information here. Next up, I’d like to:

Write out how to memorize all the books of the Bible in order.

Alright. Since the point of this is to actually learn and memorize the bible in order to think deeply about it, I’d like to think about it logically to get it into my brain, and how it fits together. So, in order to facilitate this, we should try to interact with it, and to get a bit of a high-level view of it, we can tertiary sources. So, we can read bible chapter summaries, read wikipedia articles and watch videos to see how this all fits together.

Torah

Genesis means beginning, and explains its ordinal place as the first book of the Bible and the Torah. It describes history from creation of the world and of the Hebrews until the Joseph moves the Hebrews to Egypt.

Exodus describes the story of the Hebrews enslavement and escape in and escape from Egypt. God comes in the form of a burning bush to send Moses to rescue them, but at first he rejects the call, saying he has a stutter, so God says he can have his brother, Aaron, speak for him. So there are two prophets for the second book of the bible, Moses and his brother Aaron.

After Leviticus is about how Moses couldn’t enter into the Tent to see God, so that God, because even very good men have to be ritually pure to be able to enter the tabernacle. So God explains a bunch of rules of ritual purity and sacrifice that make up the core of Leviticus. It’s probably best to remember Leviticus as naturally following Exodus, ordinally and chronologically, but this might also help: Leviticus means Law, and Law has 3 letters, for the 3rd book of the Torah and the Bible.

Finally able to enter into the Tabernacle, the Israelites head out to Canaan. But before they go, they first form a census, to “Number” the Israelites, from which the Book of Numbers get its name. When they get there, the Israelites find out that the Canaanites are enormous giants and recoil and fear. God punishes them by making them wander the desert for 40 years. Again, probably best remembered by how it naturally follows Leviticus, but there are a few helpful mnemonics I can think of: In Numbers the Israelites wander the desert for four(ty) years; also, in Watership Down the highest number that rabbits can count to is four (since they only have four toes on their paw.)

After wandering the desert for forty years, the Israelites can finally enter the promised land. Moses, not having hopes for the Israelites after decades of rebellion, lays down more laws (Deuteronomy = Second Law) to keep them on the straight and narrow. At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses dies. It might be helpful to think of Deuteronomy as the last book of the Torah, itself containing five books.

To help with recalling the books of the Torah in order, it may be helpful to remember, “God’s Eternal Love Never Dies” => Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deutronomy.

History

Joshua is a sort of “new Moses” who takes over after Moses dies. The Book of Joshua is mostly about how the God grants Canaan to the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership. Joshua is the 6th book of the Bible, and Joshua has six letters; Joshua is the first leader after Moses, and so it makes sense that he’d be the beginning of History after the books of Moses (the Torah.)

Judges is about how, having taken the land of Canaan, the Israelites lacked a king and enforcement of God’s law. Instead, they shifted back and forth between lawlessness and oppression by Canaanite groups and law and victory under local warlords called Judges. Probably the most famous Judge is Samson, but Gideon, Deborah and nine others are among the Judges. It’s most helpful to think of Judges as the second book following Joshua, with Israel in Canaan but without a king or strong military. (Need a cute mnemonic for this.)

Ruth
Write out how to memorize the number of chapters in each book.
Write out how the larger books are split into sections and how to memorize them. (The last 14 chapters of Genesis are mostly about Joseph, for example.)
Write out how to memorize the gist of every chapter in the bible, as well as create pegs for eventually memorizing the verses.
Make an anki deck to help people keep this in memory, with mnemonics on the back side to help people re enter the information into memory.
Make tools to help people learn and remember this stuff.
Write down my process for memorizing the verses of the bible.

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Still doing work on it over here. Currently memorizing the members of my major system (up to 172, for the number of verses in the 119th Psalm, the longest chapter of the bible.

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Congratulations on your ambitious project. My goals are also long-term project based memorizing over 2000 chess games.

It is good to also work on some short-form competitive memory casually because this basic skills practice will help you gain insights that will affect your long-term project. Random words especially.

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I’ve since memorize the books and my number objects; currently working on objects and mnemonics for every chapter here.

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@FluffyRibbit, how is your system coming along? After the design, the proof is in the recall. I changed my system at least three times during my scripture memorization.

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Cool which major changes? Entire system swap or just swapping images in your system?

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I still have a lot of confidence in my basic ideas. (although, because I’m using specific images for each chapter, some of the images are probably more marginal and will need to be replaced once I get farther along and put them into practice.) The problem, currently, is one of distraction. I’m currently trying to construct a tool to help myself learn Hebrew using mnemonics based on the etymology of proto-sinotic (using this as a starting point.)

For those interested in the system:

The rough outline is available here.

The system for chapters and numbers of verses in chapters is split in two, with the Old Testament and New Testament.

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I’m working on Hebrew at the moment. I’d be interested to hear about any techniques you come up with. :slight_smile:

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@zweb_chess, the three systems progressed from a little narrative structure to a more developed story. The ability of loci to expand and contain any subject, item, or elaboration was key in increasing the detail in the images while still maintaining relevant images for recall.

I started with the books of the Bible, creating substitute words and elaborating them into a terrain. Then I created a story for them with subjects to remember the order. I added the chapter number and scripture numbers as items, subjects, whatever, to have a starting point or cue for the text.

The second system added groupings of terrains around the chapters of each book so that there were between 5 and 7 chapters per sub-terrain. The stories became more detailed and vivid but not well tied to the meaning of the verses. I was uncomfortable with the bizarre imagery because the images didn’t help me recall themes.

So to fix that, I added the brief sentence summaries from each chapter found in many editions at the beginning of the chapter that generalize the chapter. Now the sub-terrains have become containers for other terrains with more imagery to add the main items or subjects of the chapter. Each chapter now has a main terrain , a sub-terrain, and a specific terrain (this would be the locus). Verses now make much more sense in context and visual cues are plentiful.

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@Josh, I had started memorizing Hebrew also a few years back and got the alphabet, vowels and basic conversational words down. I used a shaper system for the alphabet and vowels, and substitute words for my vocabulary. But Portuguese has taken over my language studies.

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It looks like Hebrew letters actually go back to Egyptian hieroglyphics, so you can use the letters as not only a system of consonants that describe pronunciation, but also a system of ideographs to construct word meanings. Knowing this, I’m basically trying to build a Hebrew equivalent of Wani Kani, but step one is to scrape the site I linked as a scaffold to get me started, since I’m still figuring out a lot of the etymology myself.

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from wikipedia

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[Old Testament] I can not download this file . Can you send it to my email ？ [email protected] .Thanks !

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It’s pretty enormous, and when I tried to download it myself, I ended up having to download it a tab at a time.

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Hey guys, did you know you could just ask ChatGPT to write mnemonic poems for you?

Sure, here are some couplets that list the number of chapters in each book of the Bible in order:

Genesis has fifty chapters, a story of creation it does venture
Exodus with forty chapters, of Israel’s liberation and adventure

Leviticus with twenty-seven chapters, on laws and sacrifices it does dwell
Numbers with thirty-six chapters, a census and journey it does tell

Deuteronomy with thirty-four chapters, Moses’ final words to the nation
Joshua with twenty-four chapters, Israel’s conquest and formation

Judges with twenty-one chapters, Israel’s leadership struggle it shows
Ruth with four chapters, a love story it bestows

First Samuel with thirty-one chapters, from judges to kings it does bring
Second Samuel with twenty-four chapters, on King David it does sing

First Kings with twenty-two chapters, on Solomon’s reign it does report
Second Kings with twenty-five chapters, Israel’s downfall it does escort

First Chronicles with twenty-nine chapters, genealogies it does expound
Second Chronicles with thirty-six chapters, on Judah’s history it does surround

Ezra with ten chapters, on the return from exile it does tell
Nehemiah with thirteen chapters, rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall it does propel

Esther with ten chapters, how a Jewish girl became a queen it conveys
Job with forty-two chapters, a story of suffering it displays

Psalms with one hundred fifty chapters, a collection of songs and prayers
Proverbs with thirty-one chapters, on wisdom and instruction it bears

Ecclesiastes with twelve chapters, the meaning of life it does search
Song of Solomon with eight chapters, a love poem it does perch

Isaiah with sixty-six chapters, a prophecy of the coming Messiah
Jeremiah with fifty-two chapters, Judah’s judgment it does prophesize

Lamentations with five chapters, on Jerusalem’s destruction it does cry
Ezekiel with forty-eight chapters, a vision of restoration it does imply

Daniel with twelve chapters, visions and dreams it does impart
Hosea with fourteen chapters, on God’s love and judgment it does start

Joel with three chapters, a prophecy of judgment it does convey
Amos with nine chapters, on social justice it does relay

Obadiah with one chapter, a judgment on Edom it does express
Jonah with four chapters, how God’s mercy Nineveh did bless

Micah with seven chapters, on social justice and redemption it does proclaim
Nahum with three chapters, on Nineveh’s judgment it does blame

Habakkuk with three chapters, on God’s justice it does enquire
Zephaniah with three chapters, a prophecy of judgment it does inspire

Haggai with two chapters, on rebuilding the temple it does urge
Zechariah with fourteen chapters, visions of the Messiah it does merge

Malachi with four chapters, a prophecy of judgment and hope it does bring
That’s all the books in the Bible, each with its own distinct ring.

Certainly, here are some couplets that list the number of chapters in each book of the New Testament in order:

Matthew with twenty-eight chapters, a Gospel on Jesus’ birth, life, and passion
Mark with sixteen chapters, a Gospel on Jesus’ teachings and compassion

Luke with twenty-four chapters, a Gospel on Jesus’ humanity and love
John with twenty-one chapters, a Gospel on Jesus’ divinity from above

Acts with twenty-eight chapters, on the early Church’s growth and mission
Romans with sixteen chapters, on justification by faith and salvation

First Corinthians with sixteen chapters, on issues in the Church and love’s role
Second Corinthians with thirteen chapters, on Paul’s ministry and the new covenant’s whole

Galatians with six chapters, on salvation by faith alone and freedom from the law
Ephesians with six chapters, on the unity and spiritual blessings of Christ we saw

Philippians with four chapters, on rejoicing in the Lord and humility
Colossians with four chapters, on Christ’s supremacy and living in stability

First Thessalonians with five chapters, on the second coming and holy living
Second Thessalonians with three chapters, on the second coming’s timing and misgiving

First Timothy with six chapters, on church leadership and sound doctrine’s defense
Second Timothy with four chapters, on finishing strong in faith’s immense

Titus with three chapters, on leadership qualities and sound instruction
Philemon with one chapter, on a slave’s freedom and reconciliation’s production

Hebrews with thirteen chapters, on Christ’s superiority and our great High Priest
James with five chapters, on faith and works and endurance’s feast

First Peter with five chapters, on Christian suffering and living hope’s station
Second Peter with three chapters, on false teachers and Christ’s second advent’s creation

First John with five chapters, on God’s love and truth and fellowship’s source
Second John with one chapter, on walking in love and avoiding false course

Third John with one chapter, on hospitality and commendation’s letter
Jude with one chapter, on contending for the faith and false teachers’ fetter

Revelation with twenty-two chapters, on the end times and Christ’s victorious reign
That’s all the books in the New Testament, may their message be our heart’s main.

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As an ex Hebrew teacher, (many years ago now), the best way to learn Hebrew, or any new alphabet is to learn the language. It’s painful for a while but it comes along surprisingly quickly.

When you read English you don’t sound out the letters, you may not even pay attention to them, you recognize the word.

I would not invest much in mnemonics designed just to acquire the alphabet.

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The idea was not to use the mnemonic to memorize the alphabet; that would mostly be a waste of time: just use Anki like a grownup. The idea was to use the meanings of the letters to more easily remember the meanings of the Hebrew roots, like,

Av → Aleph Beyt →
Aleph → Ox → Strength
Beyt → House
“The father is the strength of the house”

Et cetera. I did work on a system to do this for quite some time, which is on my github, here: GitHub - RomanADavis/play-hebrew-wanikani

But I haven’t felt like I was able to work on it for a long time, so it mostly lies abandoned. Right now, I’m doing something a bit more brute force, where I read the Hebrew bible on Sefaria, get the roots with the built in Lexicon tool, and the write out the words, bit by bit, by hand. It’s slow. It’s not efficient. But it’s what I feel I can do right now, so that’s what I’m doing.

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