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• December 1

  The Jordan overflows its banks at harvest time in spring, swollen by winter rain and the melting snow of Mount Hermon — and that is when Israel crossed it.

  Josh 3:15Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,
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• December 2

  The Feast of Weeks came 50 days after the first barley sheaf was offered — hence its Greek name, Pentecost, “fiftieth” — and two loaves baked with leaven were brought.

  Lev 23:16–17You shall count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD.
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• December 3

  Bethel, “house of God”, was first called Luz. It lay about 16 km north of Jerusalem in a straight line.

  Gen 28:19and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.
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• December 4

  Elijah called all Israel to Mount Carmel to face 450 prophets of Baal.

  1 Kgs 18:19Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
• December 5

  In earlier times in Israel, to make a redemption or exchange of property binding, a man took off his sandal and gave it to the other party.

  Ruth 4:7Now in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption or exchange of property, to make any matter legally binding a man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party, and this was a confirmation in Israel.
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• December 6

  At 85, Caleb said he was still as strong as on the day Moses sent him to spy out the land, 45 years earlier.

  Josh 14:10Now behold, as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old,
• December 7

  In the Hebrew text, Laban and Jacob name the same heap of stones in two languages: Laban in Aramaic, “Jegar-sahadutha,” and Jacob in Hebrew, “Galeed.” Both mean “heap of witness.”

  Gen 31:47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
• December 8

  Solomon sent 10,000 men at a time to cut cedars in Lebanon: each shift spent one month there and two months at home.

  1 Kgs 5:14He sent them to Lebanon in monthly shifts of 10,000 men, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
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• December 9

  Jabin, king of Canaan, had 900 iron chariots — probably wooden chariots fitted with iron parts — and oppressed Israel for 20 years.

  Judg 4:3Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
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• December 10

  An inscription found in Hezekiah’s tunnel in 1880 tells how two teams cut through the rock from opposite ends and met when they heard each other’s voices. The tunnel winds for about 533 meters.

  2 Kgs 20:20As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, along with all his might and how he constructed the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
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• December 11

  In Troas, as Paul talked on until midnight, a young man named Eutychus fell asleep in a window and fell from the third story. He was later taken home alive.

  Acts 20:9And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.
• December 12

  The widow’s two coins were lepta, the smallest coins in Judea: tiny bronze pieces about a centimeter across. Together they were worth 1/64 of a denarius.

  Mark 12:42Then one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a small fraction of a denarius.
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• December 13

  The bronze “Sea” in the temple court was 10 cubits across, about 4.5 meters, and rested on 12 bronze oxen, three facing each direction.

  1 Kgs 7:23–25He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference. Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea. The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.
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• December 14

  Nehemiah’s builders finished the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days, on the 25th of Elul, in late summer.

  Neh 6:15So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.
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• December 15

  Apart from visions and fables, only two animals speak in the Bible: the serpent in Eden and Balaam’s donkey, who asks why he has beaten her three times.

  Num 22:28Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”
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• December 16

  Abigail loaded donkeys with food for David and his men: 200 loaves of bread, five sheep ready to cook, wine, raisins and figs.

  1 Sam 25:18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys
• December 17

  Obadiah, who ran King Ahab’s palace, hid 100 prophets from Jezebel in caves, 50 in each, and fed them bread and water.

  1 Kgs 18:4for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
• December 18

  Two psalms are almost word for word the same. Both begin: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

  Ps 14:1For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
• December 19

  In Pharaoh’s dream the thin heads of grain were scorched by the wind — like the hot, dry desert wind still called khamsin or sharav, which can parch crops.

  Gen 41:6After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind.
  Topic: Winds
• December 20

  David counted 38,000 Levites aged 30 and over: 24,000 for the temple work, 6,000 officials and judges, 4,000 gatekeepers and 4,000 musicians.

  1 Chr 23:3–5The Levites thirty years of age or older were counted, and the total number of men was 38,000. “Of these,” said David, “24,000 are to oversee the work of the house of the LORD, 6,000 are to be officers and judges, 4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the LORD with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”
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• December 21

  A paving stone found in Corinth in 1929 says that an Erastus laid the pavement at his own expense in return for a city office. Whether he is the Erastus of Paul’s letter is debated.

  Rom 16:23Gaius, who has hosted me and all the church, sends you greetings. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you greetings, as does our brother Quartus.
• December 22

  The Gospel of John ends by saying that if everything Jesus did were written down, the world itself would not have room for the books.

  John 21:25There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written.
• December 23

  For the high priest’s ephod, craftsmen hammered gold into thin sheets, cut them into threads and wove them in with blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.

  Exod 39:3They hammered out thin sheets of gold and cut threads from them to interweave with the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen—the work of a skilled craftsman.
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• December 24

  Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah in a single conversation, when Abraham was 99 years old.

  Gen 17:5No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
• December 25

  Believers from Rome came out along the Appian Way to meet Paul as far as the Forum of Appius, about 64 km from the city, and the Three Taverns, about 49 km.

  Acts 28:15The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and gave thanks to God.
• December 26

  The common sheep of the region was the fat-tailed sheep, which stores fat in a broad tail. Herodotus wrote that some Arabian sheep needed little carts for their tails.

  Lev 3:9And from the peace offering he shall bring an offering made by fire to the LORD consisting of its fat: the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,
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• December 27

  Egyptian mud bricks were made with straw; when Pharaoh stopped supplying it, the Israelites had to gather their own and still make as many bricks as before.

  Exod 5:7–8“You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw. But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
• December 28

  Simon of Cyrene, who was made to carry Jesus’ cross, is named with his two sons: Alexander and Rufus.

  Mark 15:21Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
• December 29

  Jezebel wrote letters in King Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal before sending them to the elders and nobles of Naboth’s city.

  1 Kgs 21:8Then Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city.
  Topic: Keys, seals, signet rings
• December 30

  Of the four Gospels, only Luke calls the Sea of Galilee a “lake.” It is about 21 km long and 13 km wide, and its surface lies about 210 meters below sea level.

  Luke 5:1On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God,
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• December 31

  At the Feast of Booths 13 bulls were offered on the first day and one fewer on each day after — 70 bulls in the seven days.

  Num 29:13As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
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