Commentary on The One-leaf Bible Commentary: Genesis-Malachi

Genesis: 91 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

One three-word summary of the book of Genesis is Generations to Joseph.

Genesis 1: Daybreak (1)

Genesis 2: Newlyweds (2)

Esther 2 has the same heading as Genesis 2.

Genesis 3: Messiah (see Malachi 3) (3)

Genesis 4: Respect (God had respect unto Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s) (4)

Genesis 5: Lineage (5)

Genesis 6: Ship (6)

Genesis 7: Cataclysm (7)

Genesis 8: Offering (8)

Genesis 9: Bow (9)

Genesis 10: Three Houses (11)

Genesis 11: Tongue Twister (13)

Genesis 12: Eternal Nation (15)

Genesis 13: Eternal Homeland (17)

Genesis 14: Eternal Ruler (19)

Genesis 15: Eternal Land (21)

Genesis 16: Eternal Jackass (23)

Note the term פרא (pr’) ‘wild donkey’ in verse 12 of the Masoretic Hebrew text, as reflected in the Revised Version of the Bible (Westcott, Hort, et al. 1885), the American Standard Version (Schaff et al. 1901 [1885]), the New American Standard Bible, the Jerusalem Bible (Jones 1968 [1966]), the New International Version (Barker et al. 2011), and dozens of other modern English translations.

Genesis 17: Eternal Covenant (25)

Genesis 18: Destruction Foretold (27)

Genesis 19: Depraved Perverts (see also Judges 19) (29)

Genesis 20: Unhitched Sarah (31)

Genesis 21: Weaning Day (33)

Genesis 22: Nearly Knifed (35)

Genesis 23: Negotiating Machpelah (37)

Genesis 24: Hunting Rebecca (39)

Genesis 25: Enticing Lentils (41)

Genesis 26: Unhitched Shewoman (43)

For the unhyphenated noun shewoman, see Byrne 1910, Oates 1971 [1996], 38; Drennen 1985, 14; Love 2006, 213, under “Hilton, Sue”; and Brisson, Magerko, and Paiva 2011, 40.

Genesis 27: Hunter’s Curse (45)

Genesis 28: Angels’ Footladder (47)

See Kleiman 1980, 22; Iribarne 1990 [1965], 80; Asfahl 2003 [1984], 141, 150; Kelly 2006 [2005], 132; and Mahaffey 2014, 254 for the word footladder.

Genesis 29: Unexpected Bride (49)

Genesis 30: Multiplied Sons (51)

Genesis 31: Mesopotamia, Adieu! (53)

Genesis 32: Hamstring Injury (55)

Genesis 33: Emotional Homecoming (57)

Genesis 34: Marriage Reception (59)

Genesis 35: Mortal Labor (61)

Genesis 36: Mountaineers’ Genealogy (63)

Genesis 37: Manycolored Coat (65)

Genesis 38: Mortgage Foreclosed (67)

Genesis 39: Mocking Potiphar (69)

Genesis 40: Revelatory Slumbers (71)

Genesis 41: Ruler’s Dreams (73)

Genesis 42: Reveal Youngster! (75)

Genesis 43: Requirement Met (77)

Genesis 44: Runt Arrested (79)

Genesis 45: Rediscovered Alive (81)

Genesis 46: Relocating Egyptward (83)

Genesis 47: Russian Communism (85)

Genesis 48: Heirs Flipped (87)

Genesis 49: [In] Articulo [Mortis] Blessings (89)

Genesis 50: Lamenting Israel (91)

Exodus: 71 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Exodus is Exit from Egypt.

Exodus 1: Drownings (92)

Exodus 2: Nobleman [Moses] (93)

Exodus 3: Am (I am that I am) (94)

Exodus 4: Orator (95)

Exodus 5: Let [my people go!] (96)

Exodus 6: Jehovah (97)

Exodus 7: Crimson (98)

Exodus 8: Frogland (99)

Exodus 9: Pestilences (100)

Exodus 10: Dark Woes (102)

Exodus 11: Death Threat (104)

Exodus 12: Death Angel (106)

Exodus 13: Traveling Milepost (108)

Exodus 14: Drowned Army (110)

Exodus 15: Water Lines (112)

Exodus 16: Divine Chef (114)

Exodus 17: Water Conflict (116)

Exodus 18: Delegating Verdicts (118)

Exodus 19: Torah Pact (120)

Exodus 20: Numbered Statutes (122)

Exodus 21: Uniform Tally (< lex talionis) (124)

Exodus 22 Honor Neighbors (126)

Exodus 23: Angelic Marshall (128)

Exodus 24: [The] Invisible Revealed (130)

Exodus 25: Install Altarhouse (132)

For examples of the word altarhouse, see Haverfield 1898, 197-199; Petitjean 1969, 249, note 4; Boadt 1984, 461; Stover 1998, 199 and throughout; and Canavan 2017, 175. 

For examples of the word altarhouse, see Haverfield 1898, 197-199; Petitjean 1969, 249, note 4; Boadt 1984, 461; Stover 1998, 199 and throughout; and Canavan 2017, 175. 

Exodus 26: Enveiled Cherubim (134)

Exodus 27: Networked Haikal (136)

Exodus 28: Inscribed Ephod (138)

Exodus 29: Install Priests! (140)

Exodus 30: Modeling Substitution (142)

Exodus 31: Monoliths Delivered (144)

Exodus 32: Molten Weaner (146)

Exodus 33: Moses’s Mousehole (148)

Exodus 34: Mitzvoth Rewritten (150)

Exodus 35: Master Oholiab (152)

Exodus 36: Mammoth Generosity (154)

Exodus 37: Mercy[-seat] Covered (156)

Exodus 38: Metals’ Valuation (158)

Exodus 39: Modish Prelate (160)

Exodus 40: Resplendent Sanctuary (162)

Leviticus: 45 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Leviticus is Levites and Sacrifices.

Leviticus 1: Torched (163)

Leviticus 2: Unleavened (164)

Leviticus 3: Makepeace (165)

Leviticus 4: Artlessly (166)

Leviticus 5: Ewelamb (167)

Leviticus 6: Shrift (168)

Leviticus 7: Cutoff (169)

Leviticus 8: Vested! (170)

Leviticus 9: Barbecue (171)

Leviticus 10: Deceased Sons (173)

Leviticus 11: Dietary Directives (175)

Leviticus 12: Delivery Uncleanness (177)

Leviticus 13: Dermatologist’s Manual (179)

Leviticus 14: Outcasts’ Rehabilitation (181)

Leviticus 15: Touching Liquids (183)

Leviticus 16: Others’ Judgment (185)

Leviticus 17: Débuting Code (start of the Holiness Code) (187)

Leviticus 18: Outbreeding Formula (189)

Leviticus 19: Decalogue Applied (191)

Leviticus 20: Unnatural Sex (193)

Leviticus 21: Undefiled Divines (195)

Leviticus 22: Unflawed Animals (197)

Leviticus 23: Annual Memorials (199)

Leviticus 24: Nuked Reviler (201)

Leviticus 25: Insolvents’ Holiday (203)

Leviticus 26: Ending H (end of the Holiness Code) (205)

Leviticus 27: Indexed Gifts (207)

Numbers: 63 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Numbers is Numbering the Israelites.

Numbers 1: Tally (208)

Numbers 2: Encampment (209)

Numbers 3: Ministers (see also 1 Corinthians 3 and 1 Timothy 3) (210)

Numbers 4: Redcaps (211)

Numbers 5: Loin (212)

Numbers 6: John (213)

Numbers 7: Countdown (214)

Numbers 8: Offered (215)

Numbers 9: Passover (216)

Numbers 10: Deserting Sinai (Israel deserts the desert) (218)

Numbers 11: Dead Ducks (220)

Numbers 12: Disfigured Naysayer (222)

Numbers 13: Twelve Messengers (224)

Numbers 14: Denied Rest (226)

Numbers 15: Dead Lumberjack (228)

Numbers 16: Dathan’s Journey (230)

Numbers 17: Drupe Crop (232)

Numbers 18: Divines’ Food (234)

Numbers 19: Tinted Bovine (236)

Numbers 20: Insubordinate Spokesman (238)

Numbers 21: Inflamed Adder (240)

Numbers 22: Intelligent Animal (242)

Numbers 23: Inspired Marionette (244)

Numbers 24: Unwelcome Redeemer (246)

Numbers 25: Infidelity Lanced (248)

Numbers 26: New Generation (250)

Numbers 27: Nun [that is, Nun’s son] Consecrated (252)

Numbers 28: Ontime Offerings (254)

Numbers 29: Ingathering Observances (256)

Numbers 30: Women Sworn (258)

Numbers 31: Midian Destroyed (260)

Numbers 32: Homesteading Inland (262)

Numbers 33: Multiplied Moves (264)

Numbers 34: Empire’s Reaches (266)

Numbers 35: Manslayers’ Limbo(s) (268)

Numbers 36: Maintaining Genome (270)

Deuteronomy: 59 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Deuteronomy is Duplicate of Law.

Deuteronomy 1: Disqualified (271)

Deuteronomy 2: Northward (272)

Deuteronomy 3: Mountaintop (273)

Deuteronomy 4: Refuges (274)

Deuteronomy 5: Law (275)

Deuteronomy 6: Shema (276)

Deuteronomy 7: Exterminate (277)

Deuteronomy 8: Fulfill (278)

Deuteronomy 9: Backsliders! (279)

Deuteronomy 10: Decalogue Saved (281)

Deuteronomy 11: Two Heights (283)

Deuteronomy 12: Deuteronomic Handbook (285)

Deuteronomy 13: Deceivers’ Miracles (287)

Deuteronomy 14: Outlawed Recipes (289)

Deuteronomy 15: Debtors’ Holiday (291)

Deuteronomy 16: To Jerusalem (293)

Deuteronomy 17: Tripartite Government (295)

Deuteronomy 18: Deliverer Forecast (297)

Deuteronomy 19: Defendants Protected (299)

Deuteronomy 20: No Survivors (301)

Deuteronomy 21: Unsolved Deaths (303)

Deuteronomy 22: Another’s Interests (305)

Deuteronomy 23: Undocumented Immigrants (307)

Deuteronomy 24: Unalienable Rights (309)

Deuteronomy 25: No Laughingstock (311)

Deuteronomy 26: Another Shema (313)

Deuteronomy 27: Nablus’s Curses (315)

Deuteronomy 28: One Vote (317)

Deuteronomy 29: New Pact (319)

Deuteronomy 30: Immutable Eschatology (321)

Deuteronomy 31: Moses Designate (323)

Deuteronomy 32: Moses’s Anthem (325)

Deuteronomy 33: Millennial Images (327)

Deuteronomy 34: Moses RIP (329)

Joshua: 39 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Joshua is Jihad in Canaan.

Joshua 1: Drafted (330)

Joshua 2: Ancestress (331)

Joshua 3: Moses (see also 2 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 3) (332)

Joshua 4: Rocks (333)

Joshua 5: Lancets (334)

Joshua 6: Jericho (335)

Joshua 7: Achan (336)

Joshua 8: Victory (337)

Joshua 9: Bamboozled (338)

Joshua 10: Daystar Stilled (340)

Joshua 11: Total Triumph (342)

Joshua 12: 33 Annihilated (344)

Joshua 13: Tomorrow’s Homesteads (346)

Joshua 14: Detective’s Reward (348)

Joshua 15: David’s Lot (350)

Joshua 16: Twins’ Share (352)

Joshua 17: Twins’ Claim (354)

Joshua 18: Twelfth’s Fields (356)

Joshua 19: Others’ Portfolios (358)

Joshua 20: Nonextraditing Cities (360)

Joshua 21: Handedover Towns (362)

For the word handedover, see Sehgal 1994, 43; Ahuja 1997, 165.

Joshua 22: No Anathema (364)

Joshua 23: Unrepeatable Homily (366)

Joshua 24: Unreplaced Heroes (368)

Judges: 33 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Joshua is Jewish Sin Cycles.

Judges 1: Thorns (369)

Judges 2: Nutshell (370)

Judges 3: Homicide (371)

Judges 4: Heroines (372)

Judges 5: Oldie (373)

Judges 6: Sheepskin (374)

Judges 7: Crackpots (375)

Judges 8: Aftermath (376)

Judges 9: Abimelech (377)

Judges 10: Tenderhearted Savior (379)

Judges 11: Daughter’s Dirge (381)

Judges 12: Tonguetwister Inquisition (383)

Judges 13: Daddy Manoah (385)

Judges 14: Deadly Riddle (387)

Judges 15: Tails Alight (389)

Judges 16: Delilah’s Sham (391)

At Judges 16:19-21, we witness Samson’s tragic baldness in Gaza; at Jeremiah 47:5, we read that tragic “Baldness is come upon Gaza” itself.

Judges 17: Thief Gains (393)

Judges 18: Dominie Filched (395)

Judges 19: Depraved Perverts (see also Genesis 19) (397)

Judges 20: Intestine Hostilities (399)

Judges 21: Unwelcome Wedlock (401)

Ruth: 4 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Ruth is Romance of Redemption.

Ruth 1: Widowed (402)

Ruth 2: Introduced (403)

Ruth 3: Midnighted (404)

Ruth 4: Redeemed (405)

1 Samuel: 53 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Samuel is Samuel and Saul.

1 Samuel 1: Dedicated (406)

1 Samuel 2: Anathema (407)

1 Samuel 3: Megaphone (408)

1 Samuel 4: Ark (409)

1 Samuel 5: Lesions (410)

1 Samuel 6: Jewels (see verse 8, KJV) (411)

1 Samuel 7: Clap (i.e., thunderclap) (412)

1 Samuel 8: Führer! (413)

1 Samuel 9: Burros (414)

1 Samuel 10: Tackling Saul (416)

1 Samuel 11: Hoodwinked Destroyers (418)

1 Samuel 12: Thunder Invoked (420)

1 Samuel 13: Twotiming Monarch (422)

1 Samuel 14: Dinnerless Warriors (424)

1 Samuel 15: Torn Lapel (426)

1 Samuel 16: David Chosen (428)

1 Samuel 17: Dispatching Goliath (430)

1 Samuel 18: Double Foreskins (432)

1 Samuel 19: Togless Prophet (see verse 24) (434)

1 Samuel 20: Anguished Sendoff (436)

1 Samuel 21: Hungry David (438)

1 Samuel 22: Enthusiastic Knifings (440)

1 Samuel 23: Nearly Murdered (442)

1 Samuel 24: Knifed Robe (444)

1 Samuel 25: Nabal’s Lunacy (446)

1 Samuel 26: Napping Watchmen (448)

1 Samuel 27: Unsuspecting Achish (450)

1 Samuel 28: Endor Voodoo (452)

1 Samuel 29: Unfought Battle (454)

1 Samuel 30: Minding Stuff (456)

1 Samuel 31: Monarch Dies (458)

2 Samuel: 39 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Samuel is Saga of David.

2 Samuel 1: Threnody (459)

2 Samuel 2: Anointed (see 1 Peter 2) (460)

2 Samuel 3: Michal (461)

2 Samuel 4: Retribution (462)

2 Samuel 5: Oil (463)

2 Samuel 6: Shekinah 4(64)

2 Samuel 7: Construction? (See also 1 Kings 7) (465)

2 Samuel 8: Victories (466)

2 Samuel 9: Paralytic (467)

2 Samuel 10: Dishonored Spokesmen (469)

2 Samuel 11: David’s Downfall (471)

2 Samuel 12: DA [District Attorney] Nathan (473)

2 Samuel 13: Dispatching Amnon (475)

2 Samuel 14: Widow’s Yarn (477)

2 Samuel 15: Throne Lost (479)

2 Samuel 16: Deserting Jerusalem (481)

2 Samuel 17: Ahithophel Expires (483)

2 Samuel 18: Tragic Victory (485)

2 Samuel 19: David’s Back! (487)

2 Samuel 20: Another Split (489)

2 Samuel 21: National Atonement (491)

2 Samuel 22: National Anthem (see Psalm 18) (493)

2 Samuel 23: Ending Message (495)

2 Samuel 24: Unauthorized Registration (497)

1 Kings: 35 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Kings is Kingdoms Divided.

1 Kings 1: Adonijah (498)

1 Kings 2 Endings (499)

1 Kings 3: Manchild (500)

1 Kings 4: Retinue (501)

1 Kings 5: Lumber (502)

1 Kings 6: Shrine (503)

1 Kings 7: Construction (see also 2 Samuel 7) (504)

1 Kings 8: Fog (505)

1 Kings 9: Epiphany (506)

1 Kings 10: Awed Sightseer (508)

1 Kings 11: Autocrat’s Idolatry (510)

1 Kings 12: Two Nations (512)

1 Kings 13: Outwitted Messenger (514)

1 Kings 14: Outwitted Rebel (516)

1 Kings 15: Doomsayer Legitimated (518)

1 Kings 16: Doomsayer Jehu (520)

1 Kings 17: Widow’s Cake (522)

1 Kings 18: Idolaters Vanquished (524)

1 Kings 19: Discreet Epiphany (526)

1 Kings 20: Unconquered Samaria (528)

1 Kings 21: Naboth’s Death (530)

1 Kings 22: Unusual Instruction (532)

2 Kings: 41 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Kings is Kingdoms Taken Captive.

2 Kings 1: Toast (533)

2 Kings 2: Windswept (534)

2 Kings 3: Mesha (535)

2 Kings 4: Reproduction (536)

2 Kings 5: Lepers (537)

2 Kings 6: Chariots (538)

2 Kings 7: Crushed (539)

2 Kings 8: Forewarnings (540)

2 Kings 9: Ahab (541)

2 Kings 10: Idolaters Snookered (543)

2 Kings 11: Athaliah’s “Dynasty” (545)

2 Kings 12: Temple Neglected (547)

2 Kings 13: Three Missiles (549)

2 Kings 14: Thistle Ruined (551)

2 Kings 15: Devout Leper (553)

2 Kings 16: Temple Changed (555)

2 Kings 17: Début Captivity (557)

2 Kings 18: Distressing Vernacular (559)

2 Kings 19: Dynamic Prayers (561)

2 Kings 20: Wandering Sun (563)

2 Kings 21: Unfortunate Delay? (565)

2 Kings 22: Nomos Uncovered (567)

2 Kings 23: Another Moses (see also Jeremiah 23) (569)

2 Kings 24: Hindmost Ruler (571)

2 Kings 25: Unavailing Walls (573)

1 Chronicles: 49 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Chronicles is Commentary on [the books of ] Samuel

1 Chronicles 1: Adam (574)

1 Chronicles: 2 Nation (575)

1 Chronicles 3: Monarch (576)

1 Chronicles 4: Regal (577)

1 Chronicles 5: Eldest (578)

1 Chronicles 6: Chaplains (579)

1 Chronicles7: X (580)

X = 10; 10 tribes’ genealogies by the end of this chapter--all except Dan and Zebulun.

1 Chronicles 8: Final (581)

1 Chronicles 9: Hub (582)

1 Chronicles 10: Dead Saul (584)

1 Chronicles 11: David’s Throne (586)

1 Chronicles 12: David’s Entourage (588)

1 Chronicles 13: Deadly Misstep (590)

1 Chronicles 14: Trees Rustle (592)

1 Chronicles 15: David’s Hula (594)

1 Chronicles 16: Dedicating Shrine (596)

1 Chronicles 17: Temple Cutoff (598)

1 Chronicles 18: Trampling Foes (600)

1 Chronicles 19: Without Beards (602)

1 Chronicles 20: Annihilating Sexdigitist (604)

1 Chronicles 21: Unconscionable Tally (606)

1 Chronicles 22: Noble Investor (608)

1 Chronicles 23: New Monarch (610)

1 Chronicles 24: Numbering Aaronites (612)

1 Chronicles 25: Ensembles Listed (614)

1 Chronicles 26: Entrance Watchers (616)

See Milnes, “Mohammed and the Miser,” line 14.

1 Chronicles 27: Numbering Captains (618)

1 Chronicles 28 Instructing Offspring (620)

1 Chronicles 29: Anointed [One] Perishes (622)

2 Chronicles: 63 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Chronicles is Commentary on [the books of] Kings.

2 Chronicles 1: Dream (623)

2 Chronicles 2: Neighborly (624)

2 Chronicles 3: Implementation (625)

2 Chronicles 4: Rig (626)

2 Chronicles 5: Lightproof (627)

2 Chronicles 6: Genuflection (628)

2 Chronicles 7: Combustion (629)

2 Chronicles 8: Ophir (630)

2 Chronicles 9: Princess (631)

2 Chronicles 10: With Scorpions (633)

2 Chronicles 11: Dutiful Triennium (635)

2 Chronicles 12: Deplumed Notables (637)

2 Chronicles 13: Dehorned Misbranders (639)

2 Chronicles 14: Ethiopians Routed (641)

2 Chronicles 15: Without Loopholes (643)

2 Chronicles 16 Disregarded Chiropodist (645)

2 Chronicles 17: Itinerant Catechists (647)

2 Chronicles 18: Dehorning Flunkey (649)

2 Chronicles 19: Tempered Blame (651)

2 Chronicles 20: Only Singing (653)

2 Chronicles 21: Intestines Drop (655)

2 Chronicles 22: Henpecked Nation (657)

2 Chronicles 23: Unsung Matriarch (659)

2 Chronicles 24: Underwriting Repairs (661)

2 Chronicles 25: Winner Loses (663)

2 Chronicles 26: Untouchable Chief (665)

2 Chronicles 27: Northeasterners Conquered (667)

2 Chronicles 28: No Ephraim (669)

2 Chronicles 29: Negligent Priests (671)

2 Chronicles 30: “Matzo” Hezekiah (673)

2 Chronicles 31: Mounded Tithes (675)

2 Chronicles 32: Monarch’s Ingratitude (678)

2 Chronicles 33: Humbled Manasseh (679)

2 Chronicles 34: Moses Rediscovered (681)

2 Chronicles 35 Mourning Leader (683)

2 Chronicles 36: Empty Jerusalem (685)

Ezra: 11 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Ezra is Erecting the Temple.

​​Ezra 1: Decree (686)

Ezra 2: Inventory (687)

Ezra 3: Meltdown (see verses 12-13) (688)

Ezra 4: Artaxerxes (689)

Ezra 5: Letter (690)

Ezra 6: Justified (691)

Ezra 7: Constitution (692)

Ezra 8: Voyage (693)

Ezra 9: Prayer (694)

Ezra 10: Divorcing Strangers (696)

Nehemiah: 17 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Nehemiah is New City Wall.

Nehemiah 1: ​​Tears (697)

Nehemiah 2: Inspection (698)

Nehemiah 3: Masons (699)

Nehemiah 4: Armed (700)

Nehemiah 5: Liberation (701)

Nehemiah 6: Chinked (702)

Nehemiah 7: Credentials (703)

Nehemiah 8: Footnoted (704)

Nehemiah 9: Penance (705)

Nehemiah 10: Deal Signed (707)

Nehemiah 11: Town Dwellers (709)

Nehemiah 12: Dike Inaugurated (711)

Nehemiah 13: Divorcing Moabites (713)

Esther: 11 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

​ A possible three-word summary of the book of Esther is Escape of Jews.

Esther 1: Divorce (714)

Esther 2: Newlyweds (see also Genesis 2) (715)

Esther 3: Haman (716)

Esther 4: Hour (717)

Esther 5: Leadup (718)

Esther 6: Cheerleader (719)

Esther 7: Execution (720)

Esther 8: Footnote (721)

Esther 9: Bloodbath (722)

Esther 10: Triumphant Semite (724)

Job: 76 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Job is Jehovah and Suffering.

Job 1: Downfall (725)

Job 2: Intensified (726)

Job 3: Malediction (727)

Job 4: Arraigner (Eliphaz is first to charge Job with wrongdoing) (728)

Job 5: Laugh (see verse 22) (729)

Job 6: Jobiad (730)

Jobiad is attested in Forsyth 1899, 255; compare Jeremiad. See also the online Oxford English Dictionary under -iad; retrieved August 30, 2022. In this chapter Job again takes the microphone to respond to Eliphaz’s charges against him.

Job 7: Grave (731)

Job 8: Uvildad (= Hebrew ובלדד = ‘and Bildad’) (732)

Job 9: Hopeless (733)

Job 10: Theomachy Scenario (735)

Job 11: Third Attacker (= Zophar) (737)

Job 12: Threesome Answered (739)

Job 13: Trusted Manslayer (741)

Job 14: Desiring Resurrection (743)

Job 15: Derisive Eliphaz (745)

Job 16: Daysman Wished (747)

Job 17: Daddy Corruption (see verse 14) (749)

Job 18: “Destruction!”—Uvildad (751)

Uvildad = Hebrew ​ובלדד— = “—Thus Bildad”; see verse 12.

Job 19: Deliverer Prophesied (753)

Job 20: [Zophar the] Naamathite: “Asps!” (See verses 14 and 16) (755)

Job 21: Ungodly Thrive! (757)

Job 22: Indicter: “Ini­qui­ties!” (759)

Eliphaz is the indicter here, just as he was the arraigner in chapter 4; see verses 5 and 23.

Job 23: Unseen Magistrate (761)

Job 24: Unfulfilled Retribution? (763)

Job 25: Number-two Allegator (Bildad always speaks second: after Elilphaz) (766)

Job 26: Engineering Genius (768)

Job 27: Integrity Guaranty (770)

Job 28: Understanding’s Vein (772)

Job 29: Nostalgic Panorama (774)

Job 30: Imps’ Song (776)

Job 31: Martyr Done (798)

Job 32: Embittered Youngster (see verse 4) (780)

Job 33: Miscast Messiah (782)

Job 34: Misapplied Orthodoxy (784)

Job 35: Misunderstood Almighty (786)

Job 36: Miscarried Justice (788)

Job 37: Minor Concludes (790)

Job 38: Majestic Vortex (792)

Job 39: Humbling Probe (794)

Job 40: Rugged Stegosaurus (796)

Job 41: Irrepressible Dragon (798)

Job 42: Rewarded Anew (800)

Psalms: 345 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Psalms is Praises and Petitions.

Book One of the Psalms: Psalms 1-41; see Longman 2014.

Psalm 1: Tree (see verse 3) (801)

Psalm 2: Nations (802)

Psalm 3: Molars (see verse 7) (803)

Psalm 4: Harvestmoon (see verse 7) (804)

See Psalm 4:7. Regarding the word harvestmoon, see James Joyce’s Ulysses as quoted in the online Oxford English Dictionary under poky.

Psalm 5: Lead (see verse 8) (805)

Psalm 6: Shrive! (806)

See Psalm 6:1-2, 4; this is the first of Cassiodorus’s 7 penitential Psalms.

Psalm 7: Cush (see the superscription) (807)

Psalm 8: Visitest (see verse 4) (808)

Psalm 9: Petard (809)

Compare Psalm 9:15 with Shakespeare, Hamlet iii. iv. 185: “Tis the sport to haue the enginer Hoist with his owne petar” (quoted in the online Oxford English Dictionary under hoise)

Psalm 10: Hidden Savior (811)

Psalm 11: Dove’s Tailspin (813)

Psalm 12: Tongue Knifed (see verse 3) (815)

Psalm 13: Divine Amnesia (817)

Psalm 14: Atheist’s Heart (819)

Psalm 15: Tabernacle’s Lodger (821)

Psalm 16: Death Cheated (see verses 1 and 10) (823)

Psalm 17: Dayspring’s Glory (see verses 3 and 15) (825)

Psalm 18: David’s Feet (see vv. 33, 50, 2 Samuel 22) (827)

Psalm 19: Double Epiphany (829)

Psalm 20: Anointed’s Salvation (see especially verse 6) (831)

Psalm 21: Endorsing David (833)

Psalm 22: Hanging Uncomforted (835)

Psalm 23: Untroubled Meadow (837)

Psalm 24: Universal Rule (839)

Psalm 25: Unto Lord (841)

Psalm 26: Innocent Judge (843)

Psalm 27: No Goosebumps (845)

Psalm 28: Not Voiceless (847)

Psalm 29: Unicorn Prances (849)

Psalm 30: Mountain Stands (851)

Psalm 31: Messiah’s Trust (853)

Psalm 32: Amnesty Anthem (855)

Psalm 32 is the second of Cassiodorus’s seven penitential Psalms.

Psalm 33: Omnipotence Immovable (857)

Psalm 34: Madman Rejoices (859)

Psalm 35: Humiliate Lions! (861)

Psalm 36: Mercy’s Shadow (863)

Psalm 37: “Meek” Crown (865)

Psalm 38: Master, Forgive! (third of Cassiodorus’s seven penitential Psalms) (867)

Psalm 39: Momentary Players (see Shakespeare, As You Like It, II, 7, 139) (869)

Psalm 40: Ear Surgery (871)

Psalm 41: Renegade Tiptoes (see v. 9) (873)

Book Two of the Psalms: Psalms 42-72; see Longman 2014.

Psalm 42: Hart’s Yen (875)

Psalm 43: Wherefore Melancholy? (877)

Psalm 44: Ears Heard (879)

Psalm 45: Heart’s Loves (see superscription) (881)

Psalm 46: “Refuge” Chapter (883)

Psalm 47: Earth, Clap! (885)

Psalm 48: Ariel Everlasting (886)

Psalm 49: Resurrection Hope (889)

Psalm 50: Lord Speaks (891)

Psalm 51: Lamenting Adultery (893)

Psalm 51 is the fourth of Cassiodorus’s seven penitential Psalms.

Psalm 52: Alien’s Undoing (895)

Psalm 53: Lordless Madman (897)

Psalm 54: Helper Revealed (899)

Psalm 55: Lucifer’s Lackey (901)

Psalm 56: Wailing Jar (903)

Psalm 57: Eleison, Kurie! (see the superscription; see also Psalm 142) (905)

Psalm 58: Lobeless Vipers (907)

Psalm 59: Like Poodles (909)

Psalm 60: Joab Smote (911)

Psalm 61: Sheltering Tower (913)

Psalm 62: Shall Not (915)

Psalm 63: Shadow-vested Monarch (918)

Psalm 64: Shooting Arrow (920)

Psalm 65: Joyful Landscape (922)

Psalm 66: Shout Joyfully (924)

Psalm 67: Jubilee Come (926)

Psalm 68: Jehovah Foreshortened (see Jah, KJV, v. 4) (928)

Psalm 69: Job’s Passion? (930)

Psalm 70: God, Haste! (932)

Psalm 71: Grayhead’s Trust (934)

Psalm 72: Chiliad’s Wonders (936)

Book Three of the Psalms: Psalms 73-89; see Longman 2014.

Psalm 73: Question Embalmed (938)

Psalm 74: Castoffs Irrevocably? (940)

Psalm 75: Cupped Lambrusco (942)

Psalm 76: Compass Judge (944)

Psalm 77: Clean gone? (946)

See Psalm 77:9.

Psalm 78: Exodus—Ephrata (948)

Psalm 79: Capital Polluted (950)

Psalm 80: Face Scintillates (952)

Psalm 81: If They’d (954)

Psalm 82: Foundations Unstable (956)

Psalm 83: Forsake Muteness (see verse 1) (958)

Psalm 84: Fortunate Redcap (960)

Psalm 85: Four Lips (962)

Psalm 86: Heavenward Shema (964)

Psalm 87: Foundation’s Glories (966)

Psalm 88: Forlorn Afterlife? (968)

Psalm 89: Everlasting Bloodline (970)

Book Four of the Psalms: Psalms 90-106; see Longman 2014.

Psalm 90: Pentateuchists’s Psalm (972)

Pentateuchist is attested in the Boston Review, November 1863, page 647.

Psalm 91: Protective Darkness (974)

Psalm 92: Privileged Unicorn (see verse 10) (976)

The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception tells us, “The rabbis considered alphabetic acrostics to be part of biblical poetry . . . They were also familiar with name acrostics and assumed them to be part of the biblical tradition, e.g. Pes[iqta ]Rab[bati] 46 ascribing Ps[alm] 92 to Moses on the basis of a name acrostic in the beginning words” (Hollender 2009): the first verse of Psalm 92 in the Hebrew Masoretic text is תמִזְמ֥וֹר שִׁ֗יר לְי֣וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ “A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath” (Fuller, Orchard, et al. 1973). The consonantal text for this verse is השבתמזמור שיר ליום (m-z-m-w-r sh-y-r l-y-w-m h-sh-b-t); when the first letter of each of its words is printed in bold (thus: (מזמור שיר ליום השבת), we can see that these initial letters, when read from right to left, as is usual in Hebrew, spell משלה, m-sh-l-h ‘she ruled’. But what if we simply (that is, arbitrarily) move the first letter of the third word of the verse, ליום (l-y-w-m) to the front of the line? Then we get למשה, l-m-sh-h—Hebrew for by Moses.

Here is William Braude’s translation of Pesiqta Rabbati’s testimony regarding the history of Psalm 92: “If Adam was saved from the judgment [of death for eating from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil], it was because of the Sabbath which interceded on his behalf . . . Hence it was Adam who composed the Psalm for the Sabbath as a song of joy, It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, etc. (Ps. 92:2). Moses was the one who gave this Psalm its heading made up of words which give an acrostic of his, Moses’, name: A Psalm, a song. For the Sabbath day.¹⁴ It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Braude’s rather charitable footnote 14 remarks, “In the Hebrew the first four words begin with the letters which, slightly rearranged, read ʟᴍšʜ, ‘by Moses.’” (Braude 1968, 790)

Psalm 93: Bespoke Majesty (978)

Psalm 94: Bring Retribution! (980)

Psalm 95: Process Lordward! (982)

Here process is to be read as a verb with stress on the final syllable.

Psalm 96: Première Chant (983)

Psalm 97: Bubbling Wax (986)

Psalm 98: Applauding Floods (988)

Psalm 99: Above People (990)

Psalm 100: Hath Sculpted Us (993)

Psalm 101: TV Slayer’s Oath (see verse 3) (996)

Psalm 102: Desolate Sinner’s Entreaty (999)

The fifth of Cassiodorus’s seven penitential Psalms.

Psalm 103: Transgressions’ Eastward Move (see verse 12) (1002)

Psalm 104: Divine Sovereignty Rehearsed (1005)

Psalm 105: Till Statehood Heilsgeschichte (1008)

Psalm 106: Desert Sinners Shriven (1011)

Book Five of the Psalms: Psalms 107-150; see Longman 2014.

Psalm 107: Drowning Sailors’ Gladness (see verses 23-31) (1014)

Psalm 108: Edom’s Soaring Footwear (see verse 9) (1017)

Psalm 109: At Satan’s Portal (see verses 6, 8) (1020)

Psalm 110: David’s Dispensationalist Eschatology (1023)

Psalm 111: Discernment’s Dawning Described (1026)

Psalm 112: Definitely Eternally Unmoved (1029)

Psalm 113: Tigris to Mediterranean (1032)

Psalm 114: Adios to Raameses (1035)

Psalm 115: The Third Hallel (1038)

Psalm 116: Disciples’ Deaths Cherished (1041)

Psalm 117: Tiny Divine Couplet (1044)

This is the Protestant Bible’s middle chapter and its shortest chapter, as well.

Psalm 118: Adoring Divine Vicar (1047)

The Messiah promised in Genesis 3 comes in the name of the Lord (verse 26)—comes as his Vicar.

Psalm 119: Teaching Torah’s ABCs (1050)

An alternative heading: “The Tamnay Apin” or “The Temanya Apin” (spelled as in Nulman 1996 [1993] under Alfa Beta) based on the designation תמניא אפי given to Psalm 119 in the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 4b(36); compare Qiddushin 31b(8); see Sokoloff 2002, under 1# אַפָּא and תמניא; see also Jastrow 1996 [1903] under תַּמְנֵי and אַפָּא I, and Melamed 2005 under תַּמְנֵי). This Aramaic phrase means “eight faces.”

Psalm 119 opens with eight verses in a row that begin with aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet—so each of those eight verses has aleph as its “face.” Next come eight verses in a row that begin with beth, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And so on through the entire Hebrew alphabet, up to the final eight verses of the Psalm, each of which begins with tav, the 22nd and final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So Psalm 119 contains exactly 176 verses (twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet times eight verses in a row beginning with each letter).

Psalm 120: Difficult Antiwar Stance (1053)

Psalm 121: Turn unto Dunes (1056)

Psalm 122: To Numinous Enclosure (1059)

Psalm 123: Turnspits and Maid (1062)

Psalm 124: Otherwise and Repeat (1065)

Psalm 125: Eternal Unmovable Hill (1068)

Psalm 126: Delight in Sheaves (see verse 6) (1071)

Psalm 127: Dreams and Quiver (1073)

Psalm 128: Devout Winegrower’s Wife (1077)

Psalm 129: Trenches on Back (1080)

Psalm 130: Deep Mourning Six (6th of Cassiodorus’s 7 penitential Psalms) (1083)

Psalm 131: Outgrowing Mother’s Teat (1086)

Psalm 132: Davidic Messiah Endorsed (1089)

Psalm 133: Dewy Mountains Hymn (1092)

Psalm 134: Temple: Midnight Worship (1095)

Psalm 135: Devout Monotheist’s Liturgy (1098)

Psalm 136: Eternal Mercy Chant (1101)

Psalm 137: Watering Mesopotamian Canals (1104)

Psalm 138: Deities’ Music Festival (1107)

Psalm 139: Downsitting Meets Uprising (= rising-up) (1110)

Psalm 140: Doeg Rides Saul (1113)

Psalm 141: Disdain Wrongdoers’ Dainties (1116)

Psalm 142: Additional Rockery Entreaty (1119)

See the psalm’s superscription and the second definition of rockery in the online Oxford English Dictionary; see also Psalm 57.

Psalm 143: Terminal Repentance Hymn (1122)

This is Cassiodorus’s seventh and final penitential Psalm.

Psalm 144: Two-part Warrior’s Refrain (1126)

Psalm 145: Doxology Repeating All (1129)

See verses 9, 10, 13-15, 17, 18, 20, and 21. In the King James Bible, Psalm 145 contains more instances of all than any other Psalm except Psalm 119. But note that Psalm 145 crams its 14 instances of all into a mere 21 verses, whereas Psalm 119 sprinkles its 17 alls throughout 176 verses, making it not only the longest of the Psalms but also the longest chapter in the Bible.

Psalm 146: Dust’s Return Chit (1132)

See Psalm 146:4.

Psalm 147: Translunar Roll Call (see verses 4-5) (1135)

Psalm 148: Terrestrial or Heavenly (1138)

Psalm 149: Turnkeys “Я” Believers (1141)

Psalm 150: Thirteen-fold Hallelujah Symphony (1145)

Commands to praise God using the verb הלל (hll) ‘praise’ appears in the Masoretic text of this short psalm thirteen times—more than twice as many ties as in any other psalm.

Proverbs: 54 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Proverbs is Prudence for Life.

Proverbs 1: Turn (1146)

See vv. 23, 32. Chapters 1-10 are mostly antithetical.

Proverbs 2: Hunt (1147)

Proverbs 3: Merchandise (1148)

Proverbs 4: Hear (1149)

Proverbs 5: Well (1150)

Proverbs 6: Judiciousness (1151)

Proverbs 7: Ox (1152)

Proverbs 8: Voice (1153)

Proverbs 9: Pillars (1154)

Pillars: see Proverbs 9:1.

Proverbs 10: Thus Solomon (1156)

Proverbs 11: Dichotomies’ Takeoff (1158)

Proverbs 12: Dichotomies Anew (1160)

Proverbs 13: Dichotomies Mainly (1162)

Proverbs 14: Dichotomies Rule (1164)

Proverbs 15: Dichotomies’ Aloha (1166)

Proverbs 16: Doublets’ Genesis (1168)

Chapters 16-24 of Proverbs are mostly synonymous.

Proverbs 17: Dichotomies Occasionally (1170)

Proverbs 18: Dichotomies Few (1172)

Proverbs 19: True Path (1174)

Proverbs 20: Noteworthy Sequelae (1176)

Proverbs 21: Invincible Deity (1178)

Proverbs 22: Nile Instructs (1180)

Proverbs 23: Another Amenemope (1182)

 See the ​Instruction of Amenemope.

Proverbs 24: Noteworthy Run-ons (1185)

Chapter 24 of Proverbs features a dozen sayings that run beyond a single verse, including Mark Water’s (2003) choices (page 693) for “Key Verse,” verse 10: “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small”; for “Key Word/Key Phrase,” verse 3: “By wisdom a house is built”; and for “Key ‘Quotable Quote’,”

verse 12: “Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.”

Proverbs 25: Another Library (1187)

See verse 1.

Proverbs 26: On Jackasses (1189)

Proverbs 27: Understanding Agape (1191)

See verses 5-6 and verses 9-10.

Proverbs 28: Antithetical Viewpoints (1193)

Proverbs 29: Understanding Power (1195)

Proverbs 30: Mathematician Socrates (1197)

Regarding the label mathematician: note that Proverbs 30 is the only chapter of Proverbs in the Stuttgart Vulgate (Gryson 2007) that includes any instances of the cardinal numerals two (see Fischer 1977 under duo), three (see Fischer 1977 under tres), or four (see Fischer 1977 under quattuor). The King James Bible presents the same picture (see Strong 2007 [1890])—though the original Hebrew of Proverbs does not (see Even-Shoshan 1997 under שְׁנַ֫יִ /שְׁתַּ֫יִם, שְׁלשָׁ /שָׁלשׁ, and אַרְבָּעָה/אַרְבַּע). This mathematical theme is largely due to the chapter’s numerical sayings, sometimes identified as being seven in number (see, for example, Garrett 1993, 45; Brenner 2004, 170; Waltke 2004, 27; Waltke 2005, 481; see also Bullock 1988, 161 and McCreesh 1995, 402).

Regarding the label Socrates: the words of Agur may seem out of place in Proverbs 30’s visio or vision or prophecy (see Proverbs 30:1: the Stuttgart Vulgate, Gryson 2007, identifies Agur’s words as a visio; the Douay-Rheims Bible, Martin 1610 [1578-1580], as a vision; the King James Bible, Andrewes et al. 1611, as a prophecy). But there can be wisdom in recognizing one’s own ignorance: “In the Apology we have the tale of Chaerephon’s visit to the oracle; he learns that ‘no one is wiser than Socrates’; whereupon Socrates undertakes his quest of a man wiser than himself; with the upshot that all other men are seen to be less wise in that they do not know of their own ignorance, whereas he not only does not have what they call wisdom, but knows that he does not.” (Cooper 1941, 11). See also, perhaps, Proverbs 17:28.

Proverbs 31: Mother’s Day (1199)

Ecclesiastes: 16 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Ecclesiastes is Emptiness beneath Sun.

Ecclesiastes 1: Turntable (1200)

Ecclesiastes 2: Enjoy (1201)

Ecclesiastes 3: Moment 1202

Ecclesiastes 4: RIP (= Rest in Peace) (1203)

Ecclesiastes 5: Laconic (1204)

Ecclesiastes 6: Shekels (1205)

Ecclesiastes 7: Coffin-cutter (1207)

Ecclesiastes 8: Fathomless (1208)

Ecclesiastes 9: Blind [Chance] (1209)

Ecclesiastes 10: Dead Houseflies (1211)

Ecclesiastes 11: Diversification’s Advantages (1213)

Ecclesiastes 12: The End (1215)

Song of Solomon: 8 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Song of Solomon is Soul Mates’ Frolics.

Song of Solomon 1: Twixt (see verse 13) (1216)

Song of Solomon 2: Necking (1217)

Song of Solomon 3: Midnight (1218)

Song of Solomon 4: Roes (see verse 5) (1219)

Song of Solomon 5: Lambasted (1220)

Song of Solomon 6: Shulamite (1221)

Song of Solomon 7: Clusters (1222)

Song of Solomon 8: Familiarity (1223)

Isaiah: 126 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Isaiah is Israel’s Coming Glory.

Isaiah 1: White (see verse 18) (1224)

Isaiah 2: Wonderland (the millennial reign of Yahweh; see verse 4) (1225)

Isaiah 3: Mincing (see verse 16) (1226)

Isaiah 4: Harem (see verse 1) (1227)

Isaiah 5: Wildgrapes (1228)

For the word wildgrapes, see Cotton Noe, “Golden Fleece” (1922), line 18.

Isaiah 6: Shekinah (1229)

Isaiah 7: Girl (see verse 14) (1230)

Isaiah 8: Footracer (1231)

For the word footracer, see The Big Rock Candy Mountain, by Wallace Stegner (2013 [1943]), page 363.

Isaiah 9: Prince [of Peace] (1232)

Isaiah 10: Doomed Assyria (see verse 12) (1234)

Isaiah 11: Adder’s Den (see verse 8) (1236)

Isaiah 12: Triumphant Anthem (1238)

Isaiah 13: Doomed Mesopotamians (1240)

Or Doomed Marduk: Marduk was the patron god of Babylon.

Isaiah 14: Devil’s Ruin (1242)

Isaiah 15: Dimon’s Lions (see verse 9) (1244)

Isaiah 16: Treaders Jobless (see verse 10) (1246)

Isaiah 17: Damascus’s Crash (1248)

Isaiah 18: Ethiopians’ Fall (1250)

Note the chapter heading in the 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible: “1 God in care of his people will destroy the Ethiopians. 7 An access thereby shall grow vnto [sic] the Church.”

Isaiah 19: Defeated Pyramid-builders (1253)

For the term Pyramid-builders, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under pyramid.

Isaiah 20: Naked Isaiah (1255)

Isaiah 21: No Doubt (1257)

Isaiah 22: Nail Unwalled (1259)

See verse 25. For the use of the verb unwall to mean remove from a wall, see Peters 1985, pages 409-410 (printed entirely in italics in the original): “Once the Tartars conquered a part of the Holy Land and captured Jerusalem, with a great carnage of the Saracens, and when they saw the Golden Gate was so beautiful, they decided to remove it from its place and take it to their own country, to the great Khan. But when the Tartars went to remove it, they were unable to do so. So they started to unwall it, but the deeper they dug, the deeper they found the gate ran. Seeing that they could not have it, their leader ordered that it be burned.”

Isaiah 23: Unpatchable Michelin (126)1

Michelin is one of the world’s best-known tyre companies; this chapter prophesies a coming overthrow of Tyre.

Isaiah 24: Wino Earth (1263)

Isaiah 25: Annihilation Licked (see verse 8) (1265)

Another possible heading here: Nergal Hollandaise, which views Nergal, a popular ancient god of the underworld, as a tasty sauce for Yahweh to swallow up.

Isaiah 26: Entire Shalom (1267)

See verse 3: the Hebrew phrase translated perfect peace there is simply שלום שלום—shalom shalom—with repetition for emphasis.

Isaiah 27: Nixed Crocodilian (1269)

Isaiah 28: Unintelligible Foreigners (1271)

Isaiah 29: Woe-enwrapped Beulah (1274)

Isaiah 30: Monthly Sanpro (see verse 22) (1276)

For the meaning and Sitz im Leben of sanpro, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under sanpro.

Isaiah 31: Mizraim’s Downfall (1278)

For Mizraim as a name for Egypt, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under royal; also Upham 1824, 108-109; Etheridge 1862, 59 and passim; Boylan 1902, passim; Marlowe 1938, 40 and passim; Stern 1977, 13 and passim; Robertson 2001, 8 and passim; and Hunt 2002, passim.

Isaiah 32: Millennial Nobility (1280)

Isaiah 33: Mutatis Mutandis (1282)

Isaiah 34: Amazed Armageddonists (1284)

See verse 5’s and 6’s references to Idumea, or Edom; Exodus 15:15 describes the dukes of Edom as amazed. For the use of the term Armageddonist to refer to one who participates in some sort of Armageddon, see, for example, Anderson 1950, 22; Yearsley 1986, 2.

Isaiah 35: Millennial Elation (1286)

Isaiah 36: Mesopotamian’s Wager (see verse 8) (1288)

Isaiah 37: Mesopotamian Killed (1290)

Isaiah 38: Medicinal Figs (1292)

Isaiah 39: Merodach Baladan (1294)

Isaiah 40: Renew Strength (see verse 31) (1296)

Isaiah 41: Worm’s Deliverance (see verse 14) (1298)

Isaiah 42: Reed Unbroken (1300)

Isaiah 43: Remember Me (see verse 26) (1302)

Isaiah 44: Worshipping Wroughtwork (1504)

For the word wroughtwork, see Sharpe 1925; Richardson 2009, 230.

Isaiah 45: Iranian Liberator (Cyrus the Great) (1306)

Isaiah 46: Ravened Shrine-gods (1308)

For the word choice ravened, see verse 11; for the spelling shrine-gods, see, for example, Clarke 1991 [1987], 162; Ellwood 2008, 154.

Isaiah 47: Ruined Chaldea (1311)

Another possible heading: Erstwhile Queen.

Isaiah 48: Harmony Forsworn (see verse 22; see Isaiah 58) (1313)

Isaiah 40: Rutted Palms (see verse 16) (1315)

Isaiah 50: Lord Smitten (see verse 6) (1317)

Isaiah 51: Aliyah Tunes (see verse 11) (1318)

Isaiah 52: Loathsome Anatomy (see verse 14) (2321)

Alternative: Lovely Anatomy (see verse 7).

Isaiah 53: Lamb’s Mission (1323)

Regarding the appropriateness of the term lamb in the above heading, see verse 6.

Isaiah 54: Larger Yurt (see verse 2) (1325)

Isaiah 55: Liquid Alms (1327)

Isaiah 56: Welcome, Gentiles! (1329)

Isaiah 57: Lacking Calm (see verse 21; see Isaiah 48) (1331)

Isaiah 58: Lord’s Fast (1333)

Isaiah 59: Limitless Pact (see verse 21) (1335)

Isaiah 60: Gentile Servants (1337)

Isaiah 61: Jesus’s Tidings (1339)

Isaiah 62: Jerusalem’s Honeymoon (1341)

Isaiah 63: Judge Messiah (1343)

Isaiah 64: Shameful Rags (1345)

Isaiah 65: Sheepish Wolf (see verse 25) (1347)

Isaiah 66: Jollier Genesis (1349)

Jeremiah: 95 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Jeremiah is Jerusalem Shall Rise.

Jeremiah 1: Touch (1350)

Jeremiah 2: Niter (see verse 22) (1351)

Jeremiah 3: More (see verse 11) (1352)

Jeremiah 4: Ruin (1353)

Jeremiah 5: Look (see verse 1) (1354)

Jeremiah 6: Shalom (see verse 14) (1355)

Jeremiah 7: Echolalia (see verse 4) (1356)

Jeremiah 8: FX (= effects) (1357)

See verse 10 of Jeremiah 8, where everything that people do is a show, like a movie’s special effects; and verse 11, where the “healing” of God’s people is mere sham.

Jeremiah 9: Absinthium (see verse 15) (1358)

Jeremiah 10: Dialect Statement (see verse 11’s quotation, written in Aramaic) (1360)

Jeremiah 11: Townies Doomed (see verse 6) (1362)

Jeremiah 12: Dappled Nighthawk (see verse 9) (1364)

Jeremiah 13: Ethiopian’s Melanin (see verse 23) (1366)

Jeremiah 14: Don’t Ora [pro nobis] (1368)

Jeremiah 15: Durable Wall (1370)

Jeremiah 16: Don’t Hitch! (1372)

Jeremiah 17: Diamond Cut (1374)

Jeremiah 18: Designer’s Freedom (1376)

Jeremiah 19: Dashed Pot (1378)

Jeremiah 20: Nicknamed Suffragan (1380)

Jeremiah 21: Nebuchadnezzar’s Destiny (1382)

Jeremiah 22: Nations’ Wonder (1384)

Jeremiah 23: Another Moses (see also 2 Kings 23) (1386)

Jeremiah 24: Anjeers Reviewed (1388)

Jeremiah 25: Enslaved LXX (1390)

In the heading Enslaved LXX, the character string LXX must count as a single word because it has the appearance of a single word: LXX must be pronounced as ell-ex-ex because this book’s mnemonic scheme demands an L-sound in the second word of chapter 25’s heading, and LXX must mean the number seventy, which in Roman numerals is written as LXX and which identifies the number of years Judah is to be enslaved in Babylon; see verse 11.

Jeremiah 26: Another Shiloh (1392)

Jeremiah 27: Neck Yokes (see verses 1-2; also verses 8, 11-12) (1394)

Jeremiah 28: Hananiah’s Funeral (1396)

Jeremiah 29: Enjoy Babylon! (1398)

Jeremiah 30: Messiah’s Salvation (1400)

Jeremiah 31: Millennial Testament (1402)

Jeremiah 32: Maverick Investment (1404)

Jeremiah 33: Messiah Must (see verses 17, 20-22, 25-26) (1406)

Jeremiah 34: Emancipation Reversed (see verses 8-22) (1408)

Jeremiah 35: Mimic Liquorlessness! (1410)

For the word liquorlessness, see Harvard Lampoon 1914.

Jeremiah 36: “Machete” Jehoiakim (see verses 22-23) (1412)

Jeremiah 37: Miraculous Chaldeans (see verses 9-10) (1414)

Jeremiah 38: Mired Visionary (1416)

Jeremiah 39: Metropolis Burned (1418)

Jeremiah 40: Released Seer (1420)

Jeremiah 41: Warden Destroyed (1422)

Jeremiah 42: Renounce Nile! (1424)

Jeremiah 43: Remnant Moved (1426)

Jeremiah 44: Remnant Rejected (1428)

Jeremiah 45: Recorder’s Lifeline (see verse 5) (1430)

Jeremiah 46: Remediless Egypt (see verses 11 and 28) (1432)

Jeremiah 47: Hairless Gaza (see verse 5) (1434)

Jeremiah 48: Horonaim’s Overhaul (see verses 3, 5, 34, and 47) (1436)

Jeremiah 49: Rabbah Plus (1438)

The word plus here bears two senses: (1) Rabbah itself, Ammon’s capital, “shal be destroyed into an heape” (verse 2, Douay-Rheims Bible, Martin 1582 [1578-1580]), yet—on the plus side—“after these thinges I wil make the captiues of the children of Ammon to returne, saith our Lord” (verse 6); (2) Jeremiah 49 does not simply address the future of Rabbah/Ammon, but rather reveals the destiny of Rabbah plus the prospects of Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, and Elam.

Jeremiah 50: Latterday Sodom (1440)

For the term latterday, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under asset, Barthesian, nicher, oxter, Paretian, Strangelove, and verismo.

Jeremiah 51: Always Desolate (1442)

Jeremiah 52: Looter Nebuzaradan (1444)

Lamentations: 5 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Lamentation is Lament over Jerusalem.

Lamentations 1: Desolate (1445)

Lamentations 2: Enemy (1446)

Lamentations 3: Mercies (see verses 22-23) (1447)

Lamentations 4: Reversal (1448)

Lamentations 5: Eleison (see verse 21) (1449)

Ezekiel: 88 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Ezekiel is Expectations for Temple.

Ezekiel 1: Disks (1450)

Ezekiel 2: Inducted (1451)

Ezekiel 3: Meal (1452)

Ezekiel 4: Ransom (see verses 4-6) (1453)

Ezekiel 5: Alopecia (see verse 1) (1454)

Ezekiel 6: Genocidelike (1455)

Compare and contrast verses verses 8-10 with verses 2-7 and 11-14. For the adjective genocidelike, see Dror 1980 [1971], 70; Foreign Broadcast Information Service 1983, 177; Ueki 1993, 364; Barranger 1995 [1980], 330; and Art 1998, 169.

Ezekiel 7: Cable (see verse 23) (1456)

Ezekiel 8: Everworsening (1457)

See verses 6, 13, and 15. The word everworsening appears in Empey and Lubeck 1973, 278; Lejeune 1978, 26,285; Foreign Broadcast Information Service 1980a, 11; Ryan 1991, 938; Wallace 1993, 306.

Ezekiel 9: Branded (see verses 4-6) (1458)

Ezekiel 10: Dé­jà‌ Zoo (1460)

Readers who remember the four creatures described in the first chapter of Ezekiel may experience a sense of déjà vu when they encounter the four creatures of chapter 10, which Ezekiel identifies as “the same faces, the same looks, I had seen by Chobar [Chebar]” as he had seen in chapter one (Ezekiel 10:22, Knox 1954 [1949]). Note, however, that chapter 10’s four creatures have the faces of men, lions, cherubs, and eagles (Ezekiel 10:14), whereas chapter 1’s four creatures bear the faces of men, lions, oxen, and eagles (Ezekiel 1:10).

Ezekiel 11: Deserting Temple (1462)

Ezekiel 12: Dig Underpass! (1464)

Ezekiel 13: Whitewashed Humpty (1466)

Wherein we learn just why Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Ezekiel 14: Daniel’s Worthies (see verses 14, 16, 18, and 20) (1468)

Ezekiel 15: Torched Liana (1470)

Ezekiel 16: Discarded Child (1472)

Ezekiel 17: Two Eagles (1474)

Ezekiel 18: Decalogue Flip (1476)

Ezekiel 19: Taken Princes (see verse) (1478)

Ezekiel 20: Nation’s Story (1480)

Ezekiel 21: Not Tableware (1482)

Ezekiel 22: Inclusions Incinerated (1484)

Ezekiel 23: Unfaithful Wombmates (1486)

For the word wombmates, see, for example, Myers 2013, 88; Hammer 2021, 118.

Ezekiel 24: Unmourned Heartthrob (see verse 16) (1488)

Ezekiel 25: Neighbors’ Elimination (1490)

See verses 1-7: the fate of the neighboring Ammonites; verses 8-14: neighboring Moab and Seir; and verses 15-17: the neighboring Philistines.

Ezekiel 26: Nebuchadnezzar’s Shoreland (1492)

Ezekiel 27: Uniroyal’s Collapse (1494)

Uniroyal = leading brand of tire = tyre (British spelling) = a pun for Tyre: see the online Oxford English Dictionary under pneu and tyre.

Ezekiel 28: Annihilating Phoeniciavilles (1496)

See Farr 1998 (420) for the name Phoeniciaville. Tyre (see verses 2-19) and Sidon (see verses 21-26) are Phoenician cities that figure prominently in the Bible; see Craigie 1985, 267.

Ezekiel 29: Nebuchadnezzar’s Pyramids (see verses 2-12 and 18-20) (1498)

Chapters 29 through 32 of Ezekiel focus especially on Egypt.

Ezekiel 30: Mizraim’s Slain (1500)

For Mizraim as a name for Egypt, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under royal; also Upham 1824, 108-109; Etheridge 1862, 59 and passim; Boylan 1902, passim; Marlowe 1938, 40 and passim; Stern 1977, 13 and passim; Robertson 2001, 8 and passim; and Hunt 2002, passim.

Ezekiel 31: Mesopotamian Tocsin (see verse 18) (1502)

Ezekiel 32: Mizraim Netted (see verse 3) (1504)

Ezekiel 29 through 32 focuses particularly on Egypt.

For Mizraim as a name for Egypt, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under royal; also Upham 1824, 108-109; Etheridge 1862, 59 and passim; Boylan 1902, passim; Marlowe 1938, 40 and passim; Stern 1977, 13 and passim; Robertson 2001, 8 and passim; and Hunt 2002, passim.

Ezekiel 33: Mayday Mandate (1506)

Ezekiel 34: Messianic Herdgroom (1508)

Ezekiel 35: Massacring Lentil-land (1511)

For the term lentil-land, see Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky 2009, 94. In this book’s heading for Ezekiel 35, Lentil-land refers to Edom, the land of Isaac’s son Esau.

According to Genesis 25:27-34, Esau earned the additional name Edom, which means red in Hebrew, when he sold his birthright to his twin brother for a single meal of bread and red lentil stew. The name Edom passed from Esau to his descendants and to the territory they inhabited. At Ezekiel 35:15, most modern English Bible versions translate the Hebrew word Edom as Edom, but some, such as the King James Bible, render the same word as Idumea. Ezekiel 35:15 associates Mount Seir with the land of Edom.

Ezekiel 36: Millennial Shangrila (1513)

For the spelling Shangrila, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under Shangri-La.

Ezekiel 37: Militarized Corpses (1515)

Ezekiel 38: Magog’s Fall (1517)

Ezekiel 39: Mass Burial (see verses 11-15) (1519)

Ezekiel 40: Oratory Surveyed (1521)

In the above heading oratory refers to a place of prayer (see Isaiah 56:7 and Mark 11:17).

Ezekiel 41: Readouts Advance (1523)

Here a readout is a record of output produced by a computer or scientific instrument (see the online Oxford English Dictionary under read-out). Perhaps we may be permitted to view the measuring reed of Ezekiel 40:3 as a scientific instrument. For the spelling readout, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under clock, clocking, draw, generation, multi-, Nixie, non-destructive, plated, R, read-out, register, rekey, servoing, spectrophotometer, teachable, and XOR.

Ezekiel 42: Room Numbers (1525)

Ezekiel 43: Aureole’s Homecoming (1527)

Ezekiel 44: Ruler’s Archway (1529)

Ezekiel 45: Ruler’s Lifestyle (1531)

Ezekiel 46: Ruler’s Jobs (1533)

Ezekiel 47: River Haikal (1535)

Ezekiel 48: Rectangular Fiefdoms (1537)

Daniel: 15 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Daniel is Days of Gentiles.

Daniel 1: Diet (1538)

Daniel 2: Nightmares (1539)

Daniel 3: Microwaved (1540)

Daniel 4: Ruminant (1541)

Daniel 5: Wallwriting (1542)

For representative instances of the word wallwriting, see Olcott 1923/1924, 802; Evans 1970 [1933], 472; Foreign Broadcast Information Service 1980b, 115; Trachtenberg 1989, 244; and Breytenbach 2002.

Daniel 6: Shishi (1543)

But when Daniel’s enemies and their families arrive, the shishi no longer seem purely decorative.

Daniel 7: Cornicle (1544)

See verses 8, 11, and 19-26. For the term cornicle ‘little horn’, see the online Oxford English Dictionary.

An alternative heading: Krone. The Circus Krone in Munich boasts the world’s largest circus tent, covering about the same acreage as an American football field.

Daniel 8: Fourth (1545)

Daniel 9: Heptads (1546)

Daniel 10: Dazzling Sign (1548)

Daniel 11: To Tribulation (1550)

Daniel 12: Tribulation Intervals (1552)

Hosea: 19 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Hosea is Harlot Samaria’s Future.

Hosea 1: Wedding (1553)

Hosea 2: Honeymoon (1554)

Hosea 3: Homecoming (1555)

Hosea 4: Arraignment (1556)

Hosea 5: Leaders (1557)

Hosea 6: Wishywashy (1558)

For the unhyphenated version of wishy-washy, see, for example, Joyce 1999 [1939], 191; Lewis 2005 [1922], 217; Kinney 2013, 218; Crusius and Channell 2015 [2006], 9; and Gladwin 2016 [1988].

Hosea 7: Chronic (1559)

Hosea 8: Vortex (1560)

See Hosea 8:7.

Hosea 9: Prostituted (see v. 1) (1561)

Hosea 10: Tilled—Sickled (1563)

Hosea 11: Devotion’s Tie (1565)

Hosea 12: Dreams Unlimited (1567)

See Hosea 12:10.

Hosea 13: Death Murdered (1569)

See Hosea 13:1, 14.

Hosea 14: Take Words (1571)

See Hosea 14:2.

Joel: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Joel is Jerusalem Cricket Invasion.

A possible three-word summary of the book of Joel is XXXX.

Joel 1: Devourers (1572)

Joel 2: Nigh (1573)

See Joel 2:1. Ephesians 2 has the same heading, Nigh.

Joel 3: Millennium (1574)

Zephaniah 3 has the same heading as Joel 3 does.

Amos: 9 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Amos is Affluent Samaria’s Fortunes.

Amos 1: Tapes (Tyre, Amon, Philistia, Edom, Syria) (1575)

Amos 2: NaCl (= Dead Sea borderlands) (1576)

Amos 3: Morsels (1577)

See Amos 3:12.

Amos 4: Herded (1578)

Amos 5: [Dr. Martin] Luther [King, Jr.] (1579)

See Amos 5:24.

Amos 6: Jolly (1580)

Amos 7: Called (1581)

See verses 10-16, especially verses 15-16.

Amos 8: Fruit (1582)

Amos 9: Planted (1583)

See Amos 9:15.

Obadiah: 1 Word Summarizes This Book

A possible three-word summary of the book of Obadiah is Obliteration of Edom.

Edom (1584)

Jonah: 4 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Jonah is Judgment Sidesteps Nineveh.

Jonah 1: Eaten (1585)

Jonah 2: Uneaten (1586)

See Micah 2:10.

Jonah 3: Mealless (1587)

See Micah 3:5, 7.

Jonah 5: Worm (1588)

See especially Jonah 5:7-11.

Micah: 7 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Micah is Millennium after Destruction.

Micah 1: Disrobed (1589)

See especially verses 6 and 11; compare verses 6 and 18.

Micah 2: Undressed (1590)

See Micah 2:8.

Micah 3: Mincemeat (1591)

See especially verses 2 and 3.

Micah 4: Ironhorn (1592)

See verse 13. For ironhorn referring to something that resembles iron horn(s) or has horn(s) composed of iron or resembling iron, see Martin 1976, 242; Vardeman 1986, 381; Martin 2004 [1977], 234; Hamilton 2005, 66f.; and Radcliffe 2005, 45 and 48.

Micah 5: Little (1593)

See Micah 5:2.

Micah 6: Shewed (1594)

See Micah 6:8.

Micah 7: Cast (1595)

See Micah 7:19.

Nahum: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Nahum is Nineveh’s Imminent Judgment.

Nahum 1: Utterly (1596)

See verse 15; also verse 9.

Nahum 2: Necropolis (1597)

See verse 10 especially.

Nahum 3: Hematoma (1598)

See verse 19.

Habakkuk: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Habakkuk is Humanity and Sovereignty.

Habakkuk 1: Dragnet (1599)

See verses 14-17.

Habakkuk 2: Answer (1600)

See verses 1-2, as well as verse 11.

Habakkuk 3: Hymn (1601)

Zephaniah: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Zephaniah is Zechariah in 600s.

Zephaniah 1: Diogenes (1602)

See verse 12. The philosopher Diogenes was famous in ancient Greece for carrying a lantern around in the daytime and explaining that he was searching for a “human,” thus shedding a somewhat unflattering light on his interlocutors (since his search continued unabated after Diogenes encountered them). Jehovah, however, will search Jerusalem with more than one lantern, looking not for a satisfactory human but for “men buried in their filth, who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, and the Lord will not do harm’ (Zephaniah 1:12, Cunyus 2018 [2016]).

Zephaniah 2: Handwag (1603)

See verse 15. For the noun handwag used in a sense that nicely fits our passage here, see Fraillon 2014, 65.

Zephaniah 3: Millennium (1604)

Joel 3 has the same heading as Zephaniah 3.

Haggai: 2 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Haggai is Housebuilder Zerubbable’s Reward.

Haggai 1: Temple (1605)

Haggai 2: Nobler (1606)

Zechariah: 19 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Zechariah is Zion’s Remnant Saved.

Zechariah 1: Threescoreten (1607)

See verse 12. For the word threescoreten, see Rigdway 1914 and, notably, Joyce 2012 [1939].

Zechariah 2: Hand (1608)

See verses 2 and 9.

Zechariah 3: Miter (1609)

See verse 5.

Zechariah 4: Rubble (1610)

 Rubble stands for [Ze]rubb[abe]l(e); see verses 6-7 and 9-10.

Zechariah 5: Launchings (1611)

Zechariah 6: Chariots (1612)

Zechariah 7: [Elmer] Gantry (1613)

Zechariah 8: Valhalla (1614)

Zechariah 9: Peacemaker (1615)

See verse 9.

Zechariah 10: To Israel (1617)

Zechariah 11: Thirty Dollars (1619)

See Zechariah 11:12-13 and Matthew 26:15 and 27:3-10.

The law of Moses associates specific prices with particular groups of people. For instance, at Leviticus 27:1-8, twenty-to-sixty-year-old men are priced at fifty silver shekels, while women of the same ages are priced at thirty shekels. As The Message (Peterson 2013) translates this passage, “God spoke to Moses: He said, ‘Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, If anyone wants to vow the value of a person to the service of God, set the value of a man between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the Sanctuary Shekel. For a woman the valuation is thirty shekels. If the person is between the ages of five and twenty, set the value at twenty shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female. If the person is between one month and five years, set the value at five shekels of silver for a boy and three shekels of silver for a girl. If the person is over sixty, set the value at fifteen shekels for a man and ten shekels for a woman. If anyone is too poor to pay the stated amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will then set the value for him according to what the person making the vow can afford.’”

Similarly, Exodus 21:28-32 sets no limit to the financial compensation that can be demanded upon the death of a free man or woman but limits damages for a slave’s death to 30 silver shekels (Peterson 2013): “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned. The meat cannot be eaten but the owner of the ox is in the clear. But if the ox has a history of goring and the owner knew it and did nothing to guard against it, then if the ox kills a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned and the owner given the death penalty. If a ransom is agreed upon instead of death, he must pay it in full as a redemption for his life. If a son or daughter is gored, the same judgment holds. If it is a slave or a handmaid [also a slave] the ox gores, thirty shekels of silver is to be paid to the owner and the ox [is to be] stoned.”

In the19th century, a “prime” male slave might cost 30 American dollars in the Congo; see Eltis 2002, 47—but the same slave might be sold for over $900 when transported to Cuba.

Alternative headings for Zechariah 11: Timber! Timber! (see verses 1-2).; Twin Totems (see verses 7 and 10-14).

Zechariah 12: Tearful Nation (1621)

Zechariah 13: Dumbfounded Messengers (see Mark 12) (1623)

Alternative heading: ⅔ Massacred.

Zechariah 14: Tor Riven (1625)

Malachi: 5 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Malachi is Messenger before Messiah.

Malachi 1: Disdain (1626)

Malachi 2: Anti-Divorce (1628)

Malachi 3: Messiah (see Genesis 3) (1629)

Malachi 4: Herald (1630)

Matthew: 47 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Matthew is Messiah of Israel.

Matthew 1: Tree (Jesus’s family tree) (1631)

Matthew 2: Infanticide (1632)

Matthew 3: Immersed (1633)

Matthew 4: Ordeal (1634)

Matthew 5: Hillside (1635)

Matthew 6: [Be] Genuine (1636)

Matthew 7: Golden (1637)

Matthew 8: Faith (1638)

Matthew 9: Absolution (1639)

Matthew 10: To Israel (1641)

Matthew 11: Trailblazer’s Doubts (1643)

Matthew 12: Terminal Unbelief (1645)

Matthew 13: Till Millennium (1647)

Matthew 14: Dining Royally (1649)

Matthew 15: Distributing Loaves (1651)

Matthew 16: Turnkey Chosen (1653)

Matthew 17: Transfigured Christ (1655)

Matthew 18: Teaching Forgiveness (1657)

Matthew 19: Digamy Pinched (1659)

Matthew 20: Inverted Society (1661)

Matthew 21: Entering Triumphantly (1663)

Matthew 22: Interrogations End (1665)

Matthew 23: Honor Humbugs (1667)

Matthew 24: Nutshell [= epitome of the Book of] Revelation (1669)

Matthew 25: Inspecting Livestock (1671)

Matthew 26: Ingesting Jesus (1673)

Matthew 27: Nazarene Crucified (1675)

Matthew 28: Nazarene’s Victory (1677)

Mark: 23 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Messiah is Servant.

Mark 1: Takeoff (1678)

Mark 1: Unroof (1679)

Mark 1: Maroons (1680)

Mark 1: Riddles (1681)

Mark 1: Legion(s) (1682)

Mark 1: John(icide) (1683)

Mark 1: Kosher (1684)

Mark 1: Forecast (1685)

Mark 1: Epiphany (1686)

Mark 10: Digamy Squeezed (1688)

Mark 11: Triumphal Tour (1690)

Mark 12: Dumbfounded Interrogators (see Zechariah 13) (1692)

Mark 13: Destiny Manifest (1694)

Mark 14: Devouring Redeemer (1696)

Mark 15: Dead Lord (1698)

Mark 16: Deserted Shroud (1700)

Luke: 40 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Luke is Likeness of Man.

Luke 1: Dumb (1701)

Luke 2: Nativity (1702)

Luke 3: Mary (1703)

Luke 4: Ordeal (1704)

Luke 5: Alibi(ed) (1705)

Luke 6: Joy (1706)

Luke 7: Query (1707)

Luke 8: Fertility (1708)

Luke 9: Epiphany! (1709)

Luke 10: Two Sisters (1711)

Luke 11: Disciples’ Devotions (1713)

Luke 12: Divestment Instruction (1715)

Luke 13: Tall Mustard (1717)

Luke 14: Drop Riches! (1719)

Luke 15: Dead/Alive (1721)

Luke 16: Three-fold Judgment (1724)

Luke 17: Tribulation Guidance (1726)

Luke 18: Death Foretold (1728)

Luke 19: Triumphant Prince (1730)

Luke 20: Interrogators Silenced (1732)

Luke 21: Unveiling Tribulation (1734)

Luke 22: Ingesting Anointed (1736)

Luke 23: Entombed Messiah (1738)

Luke 24: Nazarene’s Resurrection (1740)

John: 33 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of John is Jesus Is God.

John 1: Advent (1741)

John 2: Wine (1742)

John 3: Womb (1743)

John 4: Harlot (1744)

John 5: Lame (1745)

John 6: Chef (1746)

John 7: Kill (1747)

John 8: Flagrante (1748)

John 9: Blind (1749)

John 10: 23rd Psalm (1751)

John 11: Deserted Tomb (1753)

John 12: Triumphal Entry (1755)

John 13: Towel Ministry (1757)

John 14: Dwellings Readied (1759)

John 15: Top Yield (1761)

John 16: Threefold Judgment (1763)

John 17: Deliverer Glorified (1765)

John 18: Three Verdicts (1767)

John 19: Divine Passion (1769)

John 20: Wonderful Sunday (1771)

John 21: 153 Tilapia (1773)

Acts: 47 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Acts is Advance of Christianity.

Acts 1: Taken (1774)

Acts 2: Inflamed (1775)

Acts 3: Moneyless (1776)

Acts 4: Arrest (1777)

Acts 5: Liars (1778)

Acts 6: Churchwardens (1779)

Acts 7: Coronation (1780)

Acts 8: Philip (1781)

Acts 9: Paul (1782)

Acts 10: Twiceborn Centurion (1784)

Acts 11: Outreach Defended (1786)

Acts 12: Trusty Angel (1788)

Acts 13: Début Mission (1790)

Acts 14: Travelers Return (1792)

Acts 15: Dividing Lines (1794)

Acts 16: Transformed Jailer (1796)

Acts 17: Dionysius Converted (1798)

Acts 18: Third Voyage (1800)

Acts 19: Demetrius’s Uproar (1802)

Acts 20: Untimely Sorrows (1804)

Acts 21: Interrupted Devotions (1806)

Acts 22: Universal News (1808)

Acts 23: Hungry Murderers (1810)

Acts 24: Negligent Ruler (1812)

Acts 25: Nero’s Lawcourt (1814)

Acts 26: Insanity Charge (1816)

Acts 27: Unsafe Crossing (1818)

Acts 28: Innocuous Viper (1820)

Romans: 23 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Romans is Righteousness from Jesus.

Romans 1: Outsiders (1821)

Romans 2: Insiders (1822)

Romans 3: Manifest (1823)

Romans 4: Ur (1824)

Romans 5: Ledger (1825)

Romans 6: Jailbreak (1826)

Romans 7: Executed (1827)

Romans 8: Foreknew (1828)

Romans 9: Potter (1829)

Romans 10: OT Salvation (1831)

Romans 11: Two Trees (1833)

Romans 12: Divine Enablements (see also 1 Corinthians 12) (1835)

Romans 13: Throne Mandate (1837)

Romans 14: Don’t Argue! (1839)

Romans 15: Two Linked (1941)

Romans 16: Dodge Agitators! (1843)

1 Corinthians: 23 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Corinthians is Correcting False Religion.

1 Corinthians 1: Turbocharged (1844)

1 Corinthians 2: Knowledge (1845)

1 Corinthians 3: Ministers (see also Numbers 3 and 1 Timothy 3) (1846)

1 Corinthians 4: Rulers (1847)

1 Corinthians 5: Leaven (see verses 7-8) (1848)

1 Corinthians 6: Judges (1849)

1 Corinthians 7: Canopy (1850)

1 Corinthians 8: Foods (1851)

1 Corinthians 9: Apostleship (1852)

1 Corinthians 10: Don’t Ask! (1854)

1 Corinthians 11: Table Talk (1856)

1 Corinthians 12: Divine Enablements (see also Romans 12) (1858)

1 Corinthians 13: TLC’s Meaning (see also Hebrews 13) (1860)

1 Corinthians 14: Tongues Regulated (1862)

1 Corinthians 15: Two Lives (1862)

1 Corinthians 16: Aiding Jerusalem (1866)

2 Corinthians: 17 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Corinthians is Clearing Paul’s Name.

2 Corinthians 1: Detour (1867)

2 Corinthians 2: Enough! (1868)

2 Corinthians 3: Moses (see Joshua 3, 2 Corinthians 3) (1869)

2 Corinthians 4: Earthenware (1870)

2 Corinthians 5: Liftoff (1871)

2 Corinthians 6: Shock (1872)

2 Corinthians 7: Contrite (1873)

2 Corinthians 8: Finish (1874)

2 Corinthians 9: Project (1875)

2 Corinthians 10 Two Standpoints (1877)

2 Corinthians 11: Discerning “Idiot” (ἰδιώτης: see verse 6) (1879)

2 Corinthians 12: Thorn Insight (1881)

2 Corinthians 13: The [Real] McCoy? (1883)

Galatians: 6 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Galatians is Gospel of Liberty.

Galatians 1: Turncoats! (1884)

Galatians 2: Independent (1885)

Galatians 3: Mentorship (1886)

Galatians 4: Heirs (1887)

Galatians 5: Liberty (1888)

Galatians 6: Share! (1889)

Ephesians: 7 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Ephesians is Exaltation in Christ.

Ephesians 1: Head (1890)

Ephesians 2: Nigh (see Joel 2) (1891)

Ephesians 3: Mystery (1892)

Ephesians 4: Harmony (1893)

Ephesians 5: Love-bound (1895)

Ephesians 6: Shield (1896)

Philippians: 4 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Philippians is Pursue Unity Joyfully.

Philippians 1: Advertised (1897)

Philippians 2: Incarnation (see Colossians 2, Hebrews 2) (1898)

Philippians 3: Monomania (1899)

Philippians 4: Receipt (1900)

Colossians: 4 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Colossians is Church’s Ascended Head.

Colossians 1: Deity (1901)

Colossians 2: Incarnate (see Philippians 2, Hebrews 2) (1902)

Colossians 3: Empyrean (1903)

Colossians 4: Redeeming (1904)

1 Thessalonians: 5 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Thessalonians is Triumph before Return.

1 Thessalonians 1: Waiting (1905)

1 Thessalonians 2: Nurse (1906)

1 Thessalonians 3: Miles (1907)

1 Thessalonians 4: Rapture (1908)

1 Thessalonians 5: Looming (1909)

2 Thessalonians: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Thessalonians is Tribulation before Return.

2 Thessalonians 1: Turnabout (1910)

2 Thessalonians 2: Antichrist (1911)

2 Thessalonians 3: Manifesto (1912)

See the Communist Manifesto, chapter 2: “. . . All to Work.”

1 Timothy: 6 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Timothy is Trust in Timothy.

1 Timothy 1: Discipline (1913)

1 Timothy 2: Intercessions (1914)

1 Timothy 3: Ministers (see also Numbers 3 and 1 Corinthians 3) (1915)

1 Timothy 4: Renegades (1916)

1 Timothy 5: Welfare (1917)

1 Timothy 6: Charges (1918)

2 Timothy: 4 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Timothy is Teach the Church.

2 Timothy 1: Deposit (1919)

2 Timothy 2: Endure (1920)

2 Timothy 3: Modernism (1921)

2 Timothy 4: Ready (1922)

Titus: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Titus is Truthless Teachers Denounced.

Titus 1: Administrators (1923)

Titus 2: Norms (1924)

Titus 3: Empire (1925)

Philemon: 1 Word Summarizes This Book

A possible three-word summary of the book of Philemon is Pardon for Onesimus.

Delivered (1926)

Hebrews: 17 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Hebrews is Hasten to Maturity.

Hebrews 1: Identity (1927)

Hebrews 2: Incarnation (see Philippians 2, Colossians 2) (1928)

Hebrews 3: Moses (see Joshua 3, 2 Corinthians 3) (1929)

Hebrews 4: Rest (1930)

Hebrews 5: Leviritic (1931)

For the word leviritic see the online Oxford English Dictionary under ghost (along with sources such as Murphy 1960, 89; Fortes 1978 [1940], 270; McGee 1988 [1943], 93; Strobel 1993, 357; and Epprecht 2000, 33); see also XXXX. Jesus is not a Levite, but he is our levir—kinsman-redeemer; see the book of Ruth and the online Oxford English Dictionary under levir.

 An alternative heading: levirite. For the nonstandard spelling of levirate as levirite or Levirite, see, for example, XXX.

Yet another alternative heading: Levite (the word Levite crossed out: Jesus is our High Priest, though he is not a Levite).

Hebrews 6: Washout (1932)

Hebrews 7: King (1933)

Hebrews 8: Vanishing (1934)

Hebrews 9: Blood (1935)

Hebrews 10: Terminal Sacrifice (1937)

Hebrews 11: Trust Defined (1939)

Hebrews 12: Trek On (1941)

Hebrews 13: TLC Mandate (see also 1 Corinthians 13) (1943)

James: 5 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of James is Jesusites’ Faith Works.

For the word Jesusite, see Lomax 1958, 89; McKinney 2003, 162; Moorcock 2007; Mwangi 2007, 208; and Schama 2013, 139.

James 1: Temptations (1944)

James 2: Unprofitable (1945)

James 3: Mouth (1946)

James 4: Resist (1947)

James 5: Liberation (1948)

1 Peter: 5 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 Peter is Patience in Trials.

1 Peter 1: Testing (1949)

1 Peter 2: Anointed (see 2 Samuel 2) (1950)

1 Peter 3: Marriage (1951)

1 Peter 4: Rejoice (1952)

1 Peter 5: Elder (1953)

2 Peter: 3 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 Peter is Purge False Teachers.

Testament (1954)

Antinomians (1955)

Mockers (1956)

1 John: 5 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of 1 John is Joy of Fellowship.

1 John 1: Eyewitness (1957)

1 John 2: Antichrists (1958)

1 John 3: Impeccable (1959)

1 John 4: Oracles (1960)

1 John 5: Litmus (1961)

2 John: 1 Word Summarizes This Book

A possible three-word summary of the book of 2 John is Judge False Teacher.

Deceivers (1962)

3 John: 1 Word Summarizes This Book

A possible three-word summary of the book of 3 John is Joy of Hospitality.

Diotrephes (1963)

Jude: 1 Word Summarizes This Book

A possible three-word summary of the book of Jude is Judgment of Apostates.

Dreamers (1964)

Revelation: 36 Words Summarize This Book’s Chapters

A possible three-word summary of the book of Revelation is Revelation of Future.

Revelation 1: Theophany (1965)

Revelation 2: Nightward (1966)

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira, the locations of the four churches addressed in Revelation 2, all lie nightward, or to the west, of the churches addressed in Revelation 3. The online Oxford English Dictionary attests the use of nightward to mean westward.

Revelation 3: Morningward (1967)

Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea are the easternmost of seven churches of Asia that are addressed in the second and third chapters of Revelation. The online Oxford English Dictionary offers only one example of morningward as a synonym for east; five other sources that make use of this quaint turn are Proctor 1916, 41; Monser 1959 [1910], 1492; Olson 1963; Nickels 2000, 12; and DeLillo 2016 [1991], 216. An alternative heading: mornward, a more common term than morningward; see the online Oxford English Dictionary.

Revelation 4: Rapture (1968)

Revelation 5: Lamb (1969)

Revelation 6: Chargers (1970)

Revelation 7: Gross (1971)

1 gross = 144, so a gross grand = $144,000, and a gross thousand slaves of God from every tribe of the sons of Israel = 144,000 slaves of God.

Revelation 8: Flourishes (1972)

See Hosea 8.

Revelation 9: Abaddon (1973)

Revelation 10: Tasty Scroll (1975)

Revelation 11: Two Witnesses (1977)

Revelation 12: Dragon’s Onslaught (1979)

Revelation 13: Devilish Mark (1981)

Revelation 14: Two Reapers (1983)

Revelation 15: Deadly Holloware (1985)

Revelation 16: Outpoured Judgments (1987)

Revelation 17: Eight Kings (1989)

Revelation 18: Delilah’s Fall (1991)

Revelation 19: To Brim-stone (1994)

For the spelling brim-stone, see the online Oxford English Dictionary under bird’s eye, sulphuring, and tinder-box.

Revelation 20: Anointed Sovereign (1996)

Revelation 21: Universe Two (1998)

Revelation 22: Any Instant (2000)​​​​​​​​