This is a list of Bible passages that are interesting for reasons that do not bear on religion or theology. All quotations from the Authorized Version (King James Version) of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

Old Testament

1 Kings 7:23

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

This is the famous passage that implies that pi = 3, if taken literally, and if round is taken to mean circular, and if the measurements are taken to be precise, and if the diameter was measured across the outside of the brim.

1 Kings 13:27

And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.

The King James translators italicized words added by the translators which did not correspond literally to any specific words in the original texts. Occasionally this produced an unintentionally comic effect, as with the word him in this example.

2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37: these entire chapters are almost but not quite word-for-word identical.

1 Chronicles 1:25

Eber, Peleg, Reu,

Shortest verse in the Old Testament. (The numbering of verses is a Medieval innovation, and thus there is nothing intrinsically notable about these three words.)

Job 9:9

Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

Job 38:31-32

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

Only places in the Bible where a star (Arcturus), a constellation (Orion), and an asterism (the Pleiades) are mentioned by name.

Psalm 46:3

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Psalm 46:9

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

As sometimes presented: the forty-sixth word in the psalm is "shake" (in verse 3 above). If we decide, for some reason, not to count the "selah" at the end, the forty-sixth word from the end (in verse 9 above) is "spear." William Shakespeare was baptized in 1564, and could arguably have been 46 years old when the King James version was published in 1611, or when the translation was completed. Therefore: William Shakespeare was secretly one of the King James translators.

Psalm 119

Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem in the Hebrew alphabet; each section begins with a new letter.

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Correct wording of the verse very frequently misquoted as "Pride goeth before a fall."

New Testament

John 11:35

Jesus wept.

Shortest verse in the New Testament and shortest verse in the Bible. (The numbering of verses is a Medieval innovation, and thus there is nothing intrinsically notable about these two words.)