Ship(men) + Two Hundred + Threescore + Sixteen 276x in the Bible (276 souls in ship – Acts 27:37)

Summary

In Acts 27, there is a specific number of souls aboard the ship as recorded in verse 37, which turns outs to be 276.

And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. Acts 27:37

Just like the 153 fishes in John 21, many have wondered over this specific number of 276. It’s an important number because it represents every soul on the ship. By the mercies of God, none were lost. So the question is naturally formed: will God use this number 276, just like the 153 fishes, to show us that none of his words are lost?

In the Entire Bible, there are 276 mentions of (ship + shipmen) + (two hundred + threescore + sixteen).

Why include “shipmen” and not other words of similar nature, such as “shipping” or “shipmaster”? It turns out that ship and shipmen are the only forms of the word ship* that appear in the book of Acts, and both mentions of “shipmen” (Acts 27:27,30) are located in the same context of the 276 souls recorded in Acts 27:37.

In the Entire Bible
ship = 71x
shipmen = 3x
two hundred = 86x
threescore = 93x
sixteen = 23x

Total: (71 + 3 + 86 + 93 + 23) = 276 mentions.

Alternate Pattern (Without “Shipmen”)

If “shipmen” were disregarded, the pattern would still work with wildcard searches applied to the numbers, since there are 3 mentions of “sixteenth.”

In the Entire Bible, there are 276 mentions of ship + (two hundred* + threescore* + sixteen*).

In the Entire Bible
ship = 71x
two hundred* = 86x
threescore* = 93x
sixteen* = 26x

Total: (71 + 86 + 93 + 26) = 276 mentions

Fine Tuning Pt.1 – Large Number Structure

In the King James Bible, large numbers are always written out as sums of numbers added together, such as we have in Acts 27:37.

• 153 = 100 + 50 + 3; “an hundred and fifty and three” (John 21:11)
• 175 = 100 + 60 + 15; “an hundred threescore and fifteen” (Genesis 25:7)
• 276 = 200 + 60 + 16; “two hundred threescore and sixteen” (Acts 27:37)

But there isn’t any particular rule that seems to determine why “threescore and sixteen” was chosen rather than “seventy and six.” 276 could have been easily written out in this alternate format:

• 276 = 200 + 70 + 6; “two hundred seventy and six”

In fact, that’s how it’s worded in the Greek: διακόσιαι ἑβδομήκονταέξ

• διακόσιαι = 200 (“two hundred”)
• ἑβδομήκοντα = 70 (“seventy”)
• ἕξ (contracted here as part of a compound) = 6 (“six”)

It is not as if the arithmetic of the early 1600’s forced such a rule. It truly could have been written this way. For proof, look at how “73” is rendered between these two verses.

• 273 = 200 + 60 + 13; “two hundred and threescore and thirteen” (Numbers 3:46)
• 973 = 900 + 70 + 3; “nine hundred seventy and three” (Ezra 2:36)

“Threescore and thirteen” is equal to “seventy and three,” but there are no governing rules that causes one structure to be preferred above the other. It seems to have been a decision made on the spot. That’s what we see in Acts 27:37, where we have “threescore and sixteen” instead of “seventy and six”. This type of thing happens throughout the King James Bible:

• 77 = 60 + 17; “threescore and seventeen” (Judges 8:14)
• 77 = 70 + 7; “seventy and seven” (Ezra 8:35)

Keep in mind, all these seemingly random decisions affect the pattern at hand, since these mentions of “threescore” are contributing to the 276 count itself: ship(men) + two hundred + threescore + sixteen = 276x in the Bible.

If the words “ship(men)” + “two hundred” + “seventy“ + “six“ produced 276 mentions in the King James Bible (instead of 423, or 511, as seen in the red boxes above), yet it was worded the way that is “two hundred threescore and sixteen”… there wouldn’t be anything interesting here. But the fact is that we do see these exact numbers (200 + 60 + 16) from this exact verse (Acts 27:37) producing this exact count (276) in the entire Bible.

This gives the sense of fine tuning. Has somebody purposely used the numbers (60 + 16) instead of  (70 + 6)?

But it goes deeper…

Fine Tuning Pt.2 – Threescore (60) vs Sixty (60)

The total mentions of “threescore” in the Bible make this pattern possible. Threescore is mentioned 93 times in the Bible, and sixty is mentioned 15 times, but both of these words have the exact same meaning. This seemingly random 93:15 balance forms several major patterns in the KJB, including the most prominent 666 pattern.

And there does not appear to be any particular rule that is adhered to. Notice how “sixty” and “threescore” are used ad hoc to produce the same number:

• 666 = 600 + 60 + 6; “six hundred threescore and six” (1 Kings 10:14)
• 666 = 600 + 60 + 6; “six hundred sixty and six” (Ezra 2:13)
• 666 = 600 + 60 + 6; “Six hundred threescore and six” (Revelation 13:18)

Notice how both of these numbers are talking about somebody’s age in the book of Genesis:

• 365 = 300 + 60 + 5; “And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:” (Genesis 5:23)
• 175 = 100 + 60 + 15; “And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.” (Genesis 25:7)

This shows that there was no specific rule, even within the same company of translators.

But because we have different numbers of mentions of “threescore” and “sixty” in the Bible, we see these patterns emerge in astonishing fashion: