By Babu Tendu The Bible is filled with inspiring verses, but some stand out for their unusual nature. These strange Bible verses can leave readers puzzled, intrigued, or even amused. While every verse has context, many of these unique passages contain odd occurrences, cryptic commands, or bizarre imagery.
Whether addressing peculiar laws, surreal visions, or strange actions by biblical characters, they certainly grab attention. The strangeness of these verses reminds us that the Bible is vast and layered. Exploring these strange Bible verses may give us deeper insights into the complexities of life, faith, and ancient customs.
In this list, you’ll find 50 of these odd or unexpected verses, selected from across the Old and New Testaments. Prepare to be surprised as you read these strange yet fascinating biblical passages that challenge our understanding and spark our curiosity.
List of Strange Bible Verses
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1. Leviticus 19:19
“Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals.”
2. Ezekiel 4:12
“Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it over human excrement in their sight.”
3. Proverbs 26:11
“As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”
4. Numbers 22:28
“Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?'”
5. Revelation 16:21
“From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people.”
6. Deuteronomy 25:11-12
“If two men are fighting and the wife of one tries to rescue her husband by grabbing the genitals of the other man, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.”
7. 2 Kings 2:23-24
“Some boys came out of the town and jeered at Elisha. ‘Get out of here, baldy!’ they said. He turned around, called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.”
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8. Matthew 21:19
“Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May you never bear fruit again!’ Immediately the tree withered.”
9. Isaiah 20:2-3
“At that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, ‘Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.’ And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.”
10. Genesis 19:26
“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
11. Judges 3:21-22
“Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged.”
12. Song of Solomon 4:2
“Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone.”
13. 1 Samuel 6:4-5
“They answered, ‘Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers.'”
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14. Mark 14:51-52
“A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.”
15. Jeremiah 13:1-2
“This is what the Lord said to me: ‘Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.’ So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.”
16. Acts 20:9-10
“Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. He fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and put his arms around him. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘He’s alive!'”
17. Exodus 4:24-25
“At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ feet with it.”
18. Jonah 1:17
“Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
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19. Micah 1:8
“Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked.”
20. 1 Corinthians 11:14
“Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him?”
21. Genesis 30:37-39
“Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs. When the flocks came to drink, they mated in front of the branches, and they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.”
22. 1 Timothy 2:12
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”
23. 2 Samuel 18:9
“Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.”
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24. Ezekiel 37:7-8
“So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.”
25. Matthew 17:27
“But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin.”
26. Daniel 4:33
“Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.”
27. Hosea 1:2
“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, ‘Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her.'”
28. 1 Kings 17:6
“The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.”
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29. Psalm 137:9
“Blessed is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”
30. Leviticus 20:15
“If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal.”
31. Zechariah 5:1-2
“I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll. He asked me, ‘What do you see?’ I answered, ‘I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.'”
32. Luke 8:27
“When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.”
33. Deuteronomy 14:21
“Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner.”
34. Job 2:9
“His wife said to him, ‘Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!'”
35. 1 Samuel 28:7
“Then Saul said to his attendants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.'”
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36. Habakkuk 1:8
“Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk.”
37. Acts 5:1-5
“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.”
38. Zephaniah 1:17
“I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like dung.”
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39. Exodus 21:20-21
“Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.”
40. 2 Chronicles 21:18-19
“After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain.”
41. Amos 4:6
“I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.
42. Matthew 27:52-53
“The tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”
43. 1 Kings 18:28
“So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.”
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44. Isaiah 36:12
“But the commander replied, ‘Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?'”
45. Judges 7:5
“So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, ‘Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.'”
46. 2 Corinthians 12:7
“Or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”
47. Ezekiel 23:19-20
“Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”
48. Luke 22:36
“He said to them, ‘But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'”
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49. 1 Corinthians 10:8
“We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.”
50. Jeremiah 19:9
“I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.”
Conclusion
The Bible contains many verses that are strange and puzzling. These strange Bible verses leave us asking questions about their meaning and the cultural context. Despite their oddity, they provide us with a deeper understanding of God’s dealings with people.
When we take the time to study these strange passages, we may gain unique insights. God’s word is powerful, even when it is difficult to understand.
Therefore, exploring strange Bible verses can be a fascinating and thought-provoking journey into biblical mysteries. These verses show us the richness and complexity of the Bible.