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• November 1

  The only writing the Bible credits to the prophet Elijah is a letter, which reached King Jehoram of Judah.

  2 Chr 21:12Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, which stated: “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah,
• November 2

  Beside the Dead Sea rises Mount Sodom, a ridge made largely of rock salt; one of its salt pillars is known by tradition as “Lot’s wife.”

  Gen 19:26But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
• November 3

  Hezekiah’s Passover was held a month late because too few priests were ready, and the crowd was so joyful that they kept the feast for a second week.

  2 Chr 30:2–3For the king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem had decided to keep the Passover in the second month, since they had been unable to observe it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.
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• November 4

  The Bible names six people buried in the cave of Machpelah: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Leah and Jacob. By tradition it lies in Hebron, under a stone enclosure from Herod’s time.

  Gen 49:31There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.
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• November 5

  King Belshazzar of Babylon gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles and drank wine in front of them.

  Dan 5:1Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
• November 6

  Moses reminds Israel that in 40 years in the wilderness neither their clothes nor their sandals wore out.

  Deut 29:5For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.
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• November 7

  Moses was 120 years old when he died, and his eyes were still not weak.

  Deut 34:7Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.
• November 8

  The Book of Ezra quotes the letters between local officials and the Persian kings in Aramaic, the language of the empire’s administration, and the story around them is told in Aramaic too.

  Ezra 4:7–8And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated. Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:
• November 9

  Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives, means “oil press” in Aramaic. Some of the olive trees growing there today have been dated to the 12th century AD.

  Matt 26:36At that time Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
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• November 10

  Shamgar son of Anath struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad, the long pointed stick farmers used to drive oxen at the plow.

  Judg 3:31After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
• November 11

  Timothy’s grandmother Lois and mother Eunice are named in Paul’s letter; his mother was Jewish and his father Greek.

  2 Tim 1:5I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well.
• November 12

  The rainbow first appears in the Bible after the flood, as the sign God sets in the clouds.

  Gen 9:13I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
• November 13

  The temple tax was two drachmas a person, and the coin Peter found in the fish’s mouth was a stater, worth four — exactly enough for Jesus and Peter.

  Matt 17:27“But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.”
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• November 14

  The temple’s stones were finished at the quarry, so no hammer, chisel or other iron tool was heard at the site while it was being built.

  1 Kgs 6:7The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
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• November 15

  Ezra’s journey from Babylon to Jerusalem took four months to the day. The distance is about 870 km in a straight line, and the road, skirting the desert, was much longer.

  Ezra 7:9He had begun the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him.
• November 16

  By the brook Cherith, ravens brought Elijah food every morning and every evening, and he drank water from the brook.

  1 Kgs 17:6The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.
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• November 17

  The Law forbade taking a family’s millstones as security for a debt: grain was ground every day, and without them there was no bread.

  Deut 24:6Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.
  Topic: Mills, ovens, and baking
• November 18

  Zimri reigned over Israel for just seven days — the shortest reign in the Bible.

  1 Kgs 16:15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah for seven days. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines,
• November 19

  The closing poem of Proverbs, about a wife of noble character, is an alphabet acrostic: each of its 22 verses begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

  Prov 31:10A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies.
• November 20

  Overnight Gideon’s fleece took up so much dew that he wrung out a whole bowlful of water. In Israel’s rainless summer, dew is often the only moisture plants get for months.

  Judg 6:38And that is what happened. When Gideon arose the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
  Topic: Morning dew
• November 21

  While Jerusalem’s wall was being rebuilt, the carriers worked with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and every builder wore a sword at his side.

  Neh 4:17–18who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried materials worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. And each of the builders worked with his sword strapped at his side. But the trumpeter stayed beside me.
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• November 22

  Pharaoh Shoshenq I, usually identified with Shishak, carved a list of the towns he took in Canaan on a wall of the temple at Karnak in Egypt. A piece of his victory stone was found at Megiddo.

  1 Kgs 14:25In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem.
• November 23

  Near its close, Ecclesiastes warns that there is no end to the making of many books, and that much study wears out the body.

  Eccl 12:12And by these, my son, be further warned: There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.
• November 24

  Gold is the first metal the Bible names: the river Pishon flowed around the land of Havilah, where there was gold, and the gold of that land was good.

  Gen 2:11–12The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.
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• November 25

  Nimrod was such a famous hunter that his name became a saying: “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

  Gen 10:9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”
• November 26

  In Paul’s day the name “Adriatic” also covered the open sea between Greece, Sicily and Crete. The storm drove his ship across it for 14 nights — nearly 900 km from Cauda to Malta in a straight line.

  Acts 27:27On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land.
• November 27

  Lions once lived in the thickets along the Jordan. They were Asiatic lions, which today live in the wild only in and around the Gir forest of western India.

  Jer 49:19Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
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• November 28

  Solomon made so much bronze work for the temple — two great pillars, the huge basin called the Sea, stands and basins — that it was never weighed.

  1 Kgs 7:47Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.
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• November 29

  Jairus’s daughter was 12 years old — and the woman healed on the way to his house had been ill for 12 years.

  Mark 5:42Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around. She was twelve years old, and at once they were utterly astounded.
• November 30

  The first letter the Bible mentions is the one David sent to his general Joab — carried by Uriah, the very man it was about.

  2 Sam 11:14The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
  Topic: Letters