This is a list of Bible passages that are interesting for reasons that do not bear on religion or theology. All quotations from the Authorized Version (King James Version) of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

Old Testament

Leviticus 16:8
:...place lots upon the 2 goats, one marked for the Lord and the other marked for Azazel
::This verse is the origin of the phrase scapegoat. Azazel's identity is a curiosity in itself.

2 Samuel 8:1
:After this David attacked the Philistines and conquered them, wresting the [methegammah] from the Philistines
::Part of the problem with translating ancient texts is the presence of idioms that were understood at the time but are not now. Consequently some translations just guess a suitable phrase. In the example above, the Hebrew word methegammah literally translates as bridle of the cubit, the alternative translations being bridle of Ammah, and Metheg and her mother. Most English versions, however, render methegammah as chief cities.

2 Samuel 23:24
:Asahel, brother of Joab. Among the Thirty were: Elhanan, son of Dodo, from Bethlehem
::The previous verse is unconnected to this one, leading to suspicions that there is a chunk of text missing between the words Joab and Among.

2 Samuel 23:24-39
:...Among the Thirty were...[37 names]...Thirty seven in all.
::Presumably the writer is able to count, though the reason for listing 37 names as "the Thirty" is obscure. One probable explanation is that when one of the Thirty died, someone else would be recognized to replace them. Thus, at the time of the writing, there were probably 30 living, with seven who might have died (in battle, or for natural causes). <br>

1 Kings 7:23
:And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
::This is the famous passage that implies that pi = 3, if taken literally, and if round is taken to mean circular, and if the measurements are taken to be precise, and if the diameter was measured across the outside of the brim.

1 Kings 13:27
:And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled 'him.
::The King James translators highlighted words added by the translators which did not correspond literally to any specific words in the original texts. Occasionally this produced an unintentionally comic effect, as with the word him in this example.

2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37: these entire chapters are almost but not quite word-for-word identical.

1 Chronicles 1:25
:Eber, Peleg, Reu,
::Shortest verse in the Old Testament. (The numbering of verses is a Medieval innovation, and thus there is nothing intrinsically notable about these three words.)

Isaiah 34:14
:The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; Lilith / the Screech Owl] also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest
::This verse is notable both for its mention of creatures of Greek mythology - the satyr, but also of Jewish mysticism - Lilith (which the King James Version translates as Screech Owl).

Ezekiel 23:20
:For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses
::This reference to penis size, and semen, is perhaps one of the crudest parts of the entire bible.

Job 9:9
:Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 38:31-32
:Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
:Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
::Only places in the Bible where a star (Arcturus), constellation (Orion), or asterism (the Pleiades) are mentioned by name.

Job 39:9
:Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?...
::A mistranslation of the Hebrew word ראמ "wild ox".

Psalm 46:3
:Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Psalm 46:9
:He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
::As sometimes presented: the forty-sixth word in the psalm is "shake" (in verse 3 above). If we decide, for some reason, not to count the "selah" at the end, the forty-sixth word from the end (in verse 9 above) is "spear." William Shakespeare was baptized in 1564, and could arguably have been 46 years old when the King James version was published in 1611, or when the translation was completed. Therefore: William Shakespeare was secretly one of the King James translators.
Psalm 119
::Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem in the Hebrew alphabet; each section begins with a new letter.

Proverbs 16:18
:Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
::Correct wording of the verse very frequently misquoted as "Pride goeth before a fall."

Song of Songs 5:4
:My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him
::Apart from being one of the most explicit verses in the bible, the phrase my bowels were moved makes it one of the most filled with bathos.

New Testament

John 11:35
:Jesus wept.
::Shortest verse in the New Testament and shortest verse in the Bible. (The numbering of verses is a Medieval innovation, and thus there is nothing intrinsically notable about these two words; however, see Dominus Flevit Church.)