Bible anagrams

Introduction

Anagrams have always been part of the regular diet of puzzles and crosswords. The following classroom quiz involves working out a series of anagrams of different Bible books. It could be a simple way into a lesson on the range and type of books that the Bible contains.

Preparation

You will need to enlarge the Biblegrams below on to A4 or A3 card and put them up around the room. Groups could work as teams with a pen and paper, within a pre-arranged time limit, to identify each Bible book. First give them an opportunity to read through all 66 books as listed on the contents page of a Bible. You may decide that it might also be necessary to have an enlarged central list available for them to refer to during the game.

Development

Give some simple examples of anagrams so that the class understands what it is being asked to do. Set them going to solve the following:

1. used ox
2. hi, mac
3. O, I had B.A.
4. coins a loss
5. to my hit
6. me, Saul
7. metal nations
8. O, Sam
9. no Oslo fogs on ‘M’
10. cats
11. sew herb
12. money due to ‘R’
13. Ben’s rum
14. threes
15. Mt. Wheat
16. hurt
17. raze
18. I select cases
19. a shoe
20. shines on a salt

Another approach to this quiz would be to have several sets of the anagrams and the answers copied and given to teams to pair up correctly. Include some extra books that are not answers in order to test and confuse them! Why not keep one of the anagrams back as a tie-breaker for those groups that finish quickly?

Can the children think of any more anagrams for the books that were not used?

Answers to the anagrams:

1. Exodus
2. Micah
3. Obadiah
4. Colossians
5. Timothy
6. Samuel
7. Lamentations
8. Amos
9. Song of Solomon
10. Acts
11. Hebrews
12. Deuteronomy
13. Numbers
14. Esther
15. Matthew
16. Ruth
17. Ezra
18. Ecclesiastes
19. Hosea
20. Thessalonians