Recently, I was thinking about John 3:16, which is, probably, the most famous scripture verse in all the Bible. I mean, when was the last time you saw some dude, all dressed up at a football game on national TV, holding a sign that reads "Leviticus 3:16"? Never? That's what I thought. Anyway, as I was thinking about this very thing, I got to wondering about all the other 3:16s in the Bible. While I was at home sick, yesterday, I compiled all of them (from the NIV) and have provided them below. Below the verses, I share a few random, unfiltered thoughts that arose while I was doing this little exercise.
Grace and peace to all of you,
Dave
Genesis 3:16: To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Exodus 3:16: Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
Leviticus 3:16: The priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the Lord’s.
Numbers 3:16: So Moses counted them, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 3:16: But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites.
Joshua 3:16: the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
Judges 3:16: Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.
Ruth 3:16: When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her
1 Samuel 3:16: but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.” Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
2 Samuel 3:16: Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So he went back.
1 Kings 3:16: Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
2 Kings 3:16: and he said, “This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches.
1 Chronicles 3:16: The successors of Jehoiakim: Jehoiachin his son, and Zedekiah.
2 Chronicles 3:16: He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.
Ezra 3:16 does not exist.
Nehemiah 3:16: Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of Beth Zur, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Heroes.
Esther 3:16 does not exist.
Job 3:16: Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
Psalm 3:16 does not exist.
Proverbs 3:16: Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
Ecclesiastes 3:16: And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
Song of Songs 3:16 does not exist.
Isaiah 3:16: The Lord says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
Jeremiah 3:16: In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
Lamentations 3:16: He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
Ezekiel 3:16: At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me:
Daniel 3:16: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
Hosea 3:16 does not exist.
Joel 3:16: The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of israel.
Amos 3:16 does not exist.
Obadiah 3:16 does not exist.
Jonah 3:16 does not exist.
Micah 3:16 does not exist.
Nahum 3:16: You have increased the number of your merchants till they are more than the stars of the sky, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away.
Habakkuk 3:16: I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.
Zephaniah 3:16: On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.
Haggai 3:16 does not exist.
Zechariah 3:16 does not exist.
Malachi 3:16: Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
Matthew 3:16: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
Mark 3:16: These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);
Luke 3:16: John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
John 3:16 does not exist. (Just kidding.)
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Acts 3:16: By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
Romans 3:16: ruin and misery mark their ways,
1 Corinthians 3:16: Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
2 Corinthians 3:16: But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Galatians 3:16: The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.
Ephesians 3:16: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Philippians 3:16: Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Colossians 3:16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
1 Thessalonians 3:16 does not exist.
2 Thessalonians 3:16: Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
1 Timothy 3:16: Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
Titus 3:16 does not exist.
Philemon 3:16 does not exist.
Hebrews 3:16: Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
James 3:16: For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
1 Peter 3:16: keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
2 Peter 3:16: He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
1 John 3:16: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
2 John 3:16 does not exist.
3 John 3:16 does not exist.
Jude 3:16 does not exist.
Revelation 3:16: So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Some Unfiltered Thoughts on this Exercise
- For some reason, the verse 2 Kings 3:16 keeps hitting my funny-bone (kind of like the Kenny G make it stop guy on "Psych"): and he said, “This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches.
- The verse in 1 Kings 3:16 is also kind of funny: Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
- Isn't it interesting how the 45+ verses above, when taken together, give you a smattering of the histroy and flavor for the whole Bible as well as for each book within the Bible. I just find that kind of thing fascinating.
- Chapter and verse references were not included with the original writing.
- Don't build an argument or a theological view point around a single verse, and don't string two verses together to make an argument either (Believe me, I have heard this done in sermons before.). A wonderful example of such a thing would be the stringing together of 1 Kings 3:16 with 2 Kings 3:16: Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. And he said, "This is what the Lord says: 'Make this valley full of ditches.'"
- What does John 3:15 say? that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him."
- Okay...how'bout 3:17? For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
- Regarding the above, I had to look them up.
- My favorite verse from the above (after John 3:16) is 1 John 3:16, which reads, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- The only verse from the above, besides John 3:16, that I had memorized prior to doing this exercise is Colossians 3:16, which reads, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
- To me, the most disturbing of any of the above is Revelation 3:16, which reads, So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
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