Okay, so this is my attempt to make the books of the Bible easy to remember.
These are the odd ways I use to help me remember. Many times I will think of an odd rhyming word in order to remember another word. Or I will create a silly story to help me remember something in more length. Well, I thought I’d share what I use to help me remember the books of the Bible.
I first tried this out on facebook and got a pretty good response to the New Testament. The Old Testament is a little more difficult. You will have to be familiar with the book names. Every word that represents a book of the Bible will be capitalized if it does not already have its own name. So, here’s my stab at it. Let’s see how it goes.
OLD TESTAMENT
1. Pentateuch:
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
2. Peculiar People:
- Joshua Judged Ruth. He took Samuel 2x’s to both Kings and Chronicled each event.
- Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester had the Job of Writing Wisdom Passionately.
- Isaiah and Jeremiah Lamented over something easy.
- Daniel Hosed Joel and Amos Obeyed Jonah.
- Micah’s Humming Habit helped Zephaniah Hack Zechariah and Malachi.
Here’s “Peculiar People” explained:
- Joshua Judged (Judges) Ruth. He took Samuel 2x’s (1 & 2 Samuel) to both Kings (1 & 2 Kings) and Chronicled each event (1 & 2 Chronicles).
- Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester had the Job of Writing Wisdom (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) Passionately (Song of Solomon).
- Isaiah and Jeremiah Lamented (Lamentations) over something easy (Ezekiel).
- Daniel Hosed (Hosea) Joel and Amos Obeyed (Obadiah) Jonah.
- Micah’s Humming (Nahum) Habit (Habakkuk) helped Zephaniah Hack (Haggai) Zechariah and Malachi.
still with me?
NEW TESTAMENT
1. The Gospels:
- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
2. After the Gospels:
- Acts
- Romans
- 1 & 2 Corinthians
3. GEPC (General Electric Power Company—or God’s Eternal Providential Care)
- Galatians (“General” or “God’s”)
- Ephesians (“Electric”)
- Philippians (“Power”)
- Colossians (“Company”)
4. These Three “T’s”
- 1 & 2 Thessalonians (“These” helps to remember “Thess” for
“Thessalonians”) - 1 & 2 Timothy
- Titus
5. Fill the coffee James for 2 Peter’s and 3 John’s
- Philemon (Fill is short for Phil.)
- Hebrews (He brews the coffee)
- James
- 1 & 2 Peter (2 Peter’s)
- 1, 2 & 3 John (3 John’s)
6. Dude, it’s the end!
- Jude (Rhymes with “Dude”)
- Revelation (The End)
And there you have it! Okay, Let me know what you think. Does this help? Is it too hard to remember? Leave your comments below. Thanks for your input!
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General Electric, I love it. My attempts to memorize the books of the bible are always more of a blunt force trauma approach. If these kind of memory aids work, go for it. It is clearly more creative and thoughtful than my approach.
lol. I didn't create the General Electric thing though. I changed it to God's Eternal Providential Care.
This is GREAT!! What else do you teach?
It's the reps that really make it work. Whatever system you use will work great if you work the system enough.
The system works! Work the system!
You should know, memorizing Greek and all!
I suppose I will get that soon enough.
The only reason I can remember the books (in decent order) is because they were drilled into my head when I was 4 or 5 as part of a weekly Bible memory program.
Memory at a young age is priceless not because I actually understood any of it with any depth, but because what goes in when you are young sticks. Half the verses know now were ones I learned before the age of 10.
Same with my [rough] spanish. I can remember more of the vocab from when I was 8-10 than all of what I learned later in high school.
Bottom line: If you're struggling to remember the books of the Bible, wrestling to memorize verses, or whatever else (as I am): Do your children a favor and start them young. Doesn't matter if they have a John Piper depth understanding of it. Just get it in there. It'll be nearly permanent. And priceless in the long run.
Good thoughts. I think you're right about the memory thing. We soak it up when we're young!
my friend taught me a chant for the minor prophet books.
you are supposed to raise your hands in the air and cry out:
Ho-Jo-Am-Ob-Jo-Mi-Na
Ha-Ze-Ha-Ze
MA!
Not very Christian-like, but it works
Woh, that's hilarious! I can just picture that! lol.
Thanks for stopping by!
What is the point, though, with spending time and energy on learning this by heart? You save like one second each time, because you don’t neet to look at the index?
I think you could spend your time more wisely, unless this is just to show off. As one commenter said, knowing the order of books is not the same thing as understandig. To me, understanding is more important, and that is where you should spend your time.
I agree. Understanding is more important. Let us not forget that we can show off in our understanding as well.