Can You Find All 30?

[Phil D.]

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends... One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, the Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus, there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph, waiting to be found.

(Answer sheet below, in post #17)

 

[BJClark]

So far at first glance..I have found 15 of them...

 

[Steve Curtis]

Got' em! But I was stuck at 28 for quite a while!

 

[Wannabee]

Very nice.

Thanks.

 

[Rich Koster]

I'm at 28. I'm cross-eyed and drooling. I will rescan for more later. Are any of them backwards or scrambled?

 

[Phil D.]

Are any of them backwards or scrambled?

No, sir.

 

[Rich Koster]

OK I got 'em. I printed it out to connect the words with pencil......it is easier this way than staring at the screen. My brain needed to thaw after being on the roof for 90 minutes.

 

[PresbyDane]

do the ones that have 2 books like Timothy count for 2?

 

[Phil D.]

do the ones that have 2 books like Timothy count for 2?

Nope - sorry!

 

[au5t1n]

I've put them into a document and am bolding them as I find them. It helps to look for people and place names and strange words you wouldn't normally use, which obviously have to be there to include a book name.

 

[PresbyDane]

I can only get 21

 

[Steve Curtis]

I've put them into a document and am bolding them as I find them. It helps to look for people and place names and strange words you wouldn't normally use, which obviously have to be there to include a book name.

I used the same strategy! And the frequent odd turn of a phrase got my attention, too.

 

[Phil D.]

I can only get 21

Tip: The name of the book can span over more than one word - that is, it can start with the ending of one word, and then continue with the beginning of the next.

 

[PresbyDane]

yeah got some of those already, but I can have a handicap in this game being danish and english only being my second language so in reality I am done

 

[Jack K]

Saw this and was reminded of having done it years ago. So today I printed it out and gave it to my kids (ages 10 and 8) to do. They spent a good part of the afternoon on it, and are stuck at 25. I myself see 29. They've been begging me to show them the four I see that they don't have yet, but I won't.

 

[Phil D.]

ANSWER SHEET

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends... One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, the Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus, there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph, waiting to be found.

 

[Tripel]

I eventually got them all. When I got to 25, I listed some books that I thought could be hidden in a paragraph, and then started looking for them specifically.

Clearly I was putting too much thought into it. I thought of every creative way that "numbers" could be split up across multiple words....and low and behold...."numbers" was one of the last books I found.

Embarrassing, I know.

 

[Theogenes]

Got em!
That was fun! Thanks!

 

[PresbyDane]

I was stuck on 28 and needed the answer sheet to find titus and ruth and seeing them in the answer sheet they were so obviouse.