Verses that people know - on TV

[SamSpade]

I've been around evangelical churches for decades; I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools - and I was part of a cult where it was not unusual for people to have whole books of the Bible committed to memory - sometimes in the original Koine Greek (New Testament).

So my experience over the last several decades is that people who really read their Bibles probably know anywhere from 200+ verses that they can either recite verbatim - or give a reasonable guess at. That sounds like a lot, but if you read the Bible a lot, it only comes down to a few verses from each book.

From those 200+ - probably only several dozen they know WELL.

But what happens *OFTEN* on TV is there will be some reference to some verse in the Bible and some random person present will quote it and give the reference. A verse that probably the most vigorous student of the Bible only vaguely could think of - and they will even quote the Latin Vulgate on TV.

This happens all the time on TV and in movies - someone will know some verse that - NO ONE KNOWS - because it fits the story line.

Of course, the REASON is fairly clear, and being sometimes familiar with the writer - it's because they're not religious, they did not grow up going to Sunday school and they don't know church culture. I mean, it's embarrassing enough when a politician will mess up a quote.

 

[Toxick]

Ezekiel 25:17 - The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

 

[GURPS]

Ezekiel 25:17 - The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

if you are quoting Pulp Fiction that's bull#### .... it was made up




https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-Bible-verse-that-Samuel-L-Jackson-says-in-Pulp-Fiction

They "quote" Ezekiel 25:17, but it is really a made up quotation, it doesn't exist in the Bible. It is sort of a mishmosh of Ezekiel 25:17 and Psalm 23.

Ezekiel 25:17
I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, (or valley of darkness)
I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me…

Pulp fiction:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.
Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

The stuff about "brother's keeper" comes from the Genesis story of Cain and Abel.

But yeah, not a real quotation. Made up for the movie.

 

[SamSpade]

Ezekiel 25:17 - The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

Exactly - THE most famous Bible quote which of course, does not exist.

When I first heard it, I knew it was crap. The clue was "brother's keeper", a term that occurs ONCE in the Bible and in no way resembles the modern meaning - the concept of someone responsible for the well being of another person. Cain uses it to mock God because he takes care of animals. He uses it as to say "Abel isn't my PET, God. Who do you think I am?".

The second clue was the next phrase - "finder of lost children". Frankly - it doesn't even make sense.

Lastly - although the quote - which is pretty LONG for a single verse - uses Bible type words but honestly doesn't say a Bible type thing. For example, God calls his people his own - or his children - or his flock - but never his brothers. Jesus calls them brothers, but the God of the Old Testament does not.

 

[GURPS]

Exactly - THE most famous Bible quote which of course, does not exist.

I wonder how many liberals and atheists can quote it ....
[did I repeat myself]

 

[SamSpade]

I wonder how many liberals and atheists can quote it ....
[did I repeat myself]

What gets me ALMOST as much as - people quoting obscure Bible verses as if everyone knows them who knows the Bible - is famous people MIS quoting the Bible to mean something other than it means.

Most famous is Al Gore and Matthew 6:21.
But almost as much is EVERYONE's is Matthew 7:1. Do not judge lest ye be judged.

It is not SO MUCH an admonition to never judge as much as to never judge someone by a standard that YOU YOURSELF WOULD FAIL.

You are required to admonish and rebuke your brothers when they fall short of the Scriptures - but you need to be sure you're on the moral high ground.
You don't tell your best friend to stop cheating on his wife when you're the biggest cheat in town.
Later in the Scriptures Jesus says to remove the plank - and THEN make a right judgment.

It doesn't mean - never judge - it means don't judge when you're a colossal hypocrite.

 

[vraiblonde]

Ezekiel 25:17 - The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

It's okay, Tox - I understood that you were being tongue in cheek.

 

[vraiblonde]

As an atheist, it annoys me when I know more about what the Bible says that "Christians" do. It's their manual, the very least they could do is know what it says.

 

[Toxick]

It's okay, Tox - I understood that you were being tongue in cheek.

Sometimes I think I should work on my delivery because when I'm being facetious, people often (usually) think I'm dead serious - and extremely stupid. It happens even more often in real life because I have a deadpan delivery and when I do that, I get those blank looks of people who are thinking "Is this guy for real? Should I call him on that?" So I consider that maybe I should make it more clear when I'm engaging sarcastic irony...



Then I think "NAAAAAAH!"

 

[Toxick]

As an atheist, it annoys me when I know more about what the Bible says that "Christians" do. It's their manual, the very least they could do is know what it says.

As a Christian that annoys me too. I do not have very many biblical quotes committed to memory, when I read the bible, I generally read it in context, as I would any other book. I find it more meaningful to read that way than memorization by rote. It seems to me that it's the ideas which are important - rather than specific syntax, so although I can tell you the gist of various passages, I cannot recite them verbatim.

There are a few notable exceptions.


Psalm 137
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us
He who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Revelation 13
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is Six hundred threescore and six

And my favorite:
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 

[NextJen]

My peeve is when people say, the Bible says 'money is the root of all evil'. No, the Bible does not say that. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money itself can be used for many good purposes, such as supporting missionaries or feeding starving people.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

 

[SamSpade]

It's okay, Tox - I understood that you were being tongue in cheek.

???

So did I. I also just know the Bible well enough that it took two seconds of Samuel L Jackson to know he was making it up. All that analysis transpired in my head in that short a time frame. I didn't need to check it.
Kind of like hearing Shakespeare quoted using 20th century words.

Kind of the way my BS meter works in political stuff.

And my OP was not about Christians knowing the Bible - it was more about NON-Christians knowing obscure Bible verses off the top of their head and in the original Koine Greek.

When that guy in "Remember the Titans" starts singing Isaiah - that's a well known and much loved verse among evangelicals. It's even quoted in "Chariots of Fire".
When some new FBI agent knows an obscure and mundane verse from Isaiah (in "Ransom") - and in Latin - it's *weird*.

And you know - some stuff they just get wrong in movies. In Star Trek II, Bones mentioned that God made the world in six days (correct).
In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey says seven (wrong).