-->"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..."
-->-- Genesis 1:1

-->"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. "
-->-- Revelation 22:21

Before we get to the tropes used in the Bible, it should be noted that there are several different traditions as to what the Bible contains; while most material is shared, historically members of religious groups have decided to include or exclude different writings. The Book of Tobit, The Book of Judith, the Maccabees books, and many others are included in some tradition's orthodoxy and wholly ignored by others' (as is the entire New Testament, for that matter). Debates about what's {{Canon}} and what isn't rage on, and HilarityEnsues. And that's not taking into account the multitude of different translations out there, not only between languages but within each language.

Relatedly, there are several major opinions on what the Bible ''is''. According to the Christian viewpoint, the Bible is an anthology of books by divinely inspired followers of God and Christ over a period of 1500 years, including: biographies, histories, manuals of rules and laws, songs and ritual prayers, advice for living like in Paul's letters, and divine revelations. (For the traditional Jewish perspective, strike out the words "and Christ" and "like in Paul's letters," and reduce the number of years by two to six hundred years.) There is debate among Christians over just what "divinely inspired" entails; some say this means everything in the Bible should be taken completely at face value, while others hold that some parts (like the book of Genesis, for example) are meant to be taken as allegorical or symbolic writings, not to be interpreted literally. The latter view is partially held by followers of Islam, and is the official position of the Catholic Church.

Another set of interpretations was from what is now called, collectively, UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}. The Gnostics did not accept the idea of canon at all, nor any central religious authority. Thus, pretty much every Gnostic collection of scripture contained different sets of documents, some orthodox canon and some written locally. Indeed, the general Gnostic approach to religious literature was one of extreme openness, and a new Evangelion (no, not ''[[NeonGenesisEvangelion that one]]'') probably appeared within the various Gnostic communities every day. The Gnostics believed in personal and continuous revelation rather than authority of scripture.

The view of those who don't belong to the Abrahamic religions generally ranges from seeing the events of the Bible as somewhere between "exaggerated history" and "pure fiction". Likely, YourMileageMayVary on which one of the views you take.

Comprising the works of many writers from the 11th century BC to about 200 AD, before the advent of mass communication, the Bible is one of humanity's best-known and longest-enduring books, with 1500 ancient surviving Greek manuscripts making it the ancient world's best seller ({{Homer}}, with 643 surviving manuscripts of ''The Iliad'', comes in second). The absence of a single authority with a strictly defined canon policy has proven an obstacle, however. Or rather, the existence of dozens or hundreds of conflicting authorities. Historically, it resulted in the most devastating (literally) {{Flame War}}s (also often literally) ever.

Due to the Bible's sheer size and literary value, in addition to the fact that it is in the public domain (as it predated the invention of copyright; the British Crown holds perpetual copyright over the King James Version in the UK and some newer translations are copyrighted), it is often used as a goldmine of stock plots and characters for modern writers. Sometimes, however, said modern writers cannot avoid the temptation to introduce [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic gratuitous references for the sake of it]], and when they take caution to avoid [[TooSoon controversial subjects]] like a specific religion, it can degenerate into such phenomena as JesusTaboo, CrystalDragonJesus and NoCelebritiesWereHarmed. On the other hand, writers unfamiliar with the religious symbolism can end up with "controversial" character portrayals like KingOfAllCosmos, or, in TheThemeParkVersion, FluffyCloudHeaven.

Often cited by MoralGuardians.

One of the TropeMakers; tropes that appear in it are by definition OlderThanFeudalism (or OlderThanDirt if they occur in the first five books of the Old Testament).

Not to be confused with UniverseBible. For more info on the fan clubs, see [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Useful Notes on Christianity]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Judaism]].

Obviously, a lot of people have strong feelings about this book, positive or negative, so remember the RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and try to keep it neutral.
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!!TropeNamer for:
* AdamAndEvePlot
* AsTheGoodBookSays
* BellyOfTheWhale (Though it's actually referred to as a fish in most versions.)
* BibleTimes
* CainAndAbel
* {{Canon}}
* CrucifiedHeroShot
* DavidVersusGoliath
* FindingJudas
* ForbiddenFruit
* HolyHalo
* IAmLegion
* JesusSaves
* MosesInTheBullrushes
* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown
* NiceJobBreakingItHerod
* TheNumberOfTheBeast
* PalsWithJesus
* TheAntiChrist
* TheMessiah
* TheUriahGambit
* ThouShaltNotKill
* TowerOfBabel
* TurnTheOtherCheek

----
!!Provides examples of:
* AdamAndEvePlot (The TropeNamer)
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation (just check out the page. Applies to Judas, Moses, Jesus and even God himself.)
* AdaptationDecay (too many modern re-tellings to count)
** Not even counting the fact it was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, not English. Despite this, some fans take offense if you mention that the original {{Canon}} might've been LostInTranslation. There is a not-insignificant group of people in the world who believe the [=KJV=] to be the ''only'' reliable version of the Bible ever published, despite ''being a translation''. FanDumb doesn't even '''begin''' to describe it.)
*** The majority, including most scholars, tend to fall somewhere around "remarkably well-preserved canon", which makes sense considering that most copyists were basically given an artificially-induced case of OCD while passing the manuscripts along.
*** [[DidNotDoTheResearch Compared the Masoretic text to the Dead Sea Scrolls lately? Checked those annoying parchment fragments that match nearly word for word what was written 1500 years before? Do you actually have any experience at all in the science of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography historiography]]? And why focus on a version that's four hundred years old and wasn't even the first translation available in English? Why don't they go the whole hog and read the Wycliffe translation?]]
****The King James Only Movement is made up of the same kind of people that think that Church & State should be fused together. Since the King James Version was the first English Translation that was supported by the government (sorry Tyndale), they just accept the King James Version [[DidNotDoTheResearch without looking up what the same government did to Tyndale.]]
** A piece of decay so big that almost no one recalls the original is the angels. In the book they have appearances ranging from MixAndMatchCritters with multiple heads and sets of wings (Daniel 7) to terrifying EldritchAbomination creatures with features such as wheels within wheels covered in eyes (Ezekiel 10), wielding a FlamingSword. In adaptions they are simply {{Winged Humanoid}}s, though in the text when they appear as humanoids they never actually have wings.
***Angels aren't quite made of matter as we know it, and as such seem able to [[ShapeShifting look like whatever they happen to want to look like.]]
* AdaptationDistillation (the Qur'an)
** YourMilageMayVary. Heavily. To the point of ''literal'' FlameWar.
** The Diatesseron, written by Christian theologian Tatian in an attempt to consolidate the four gospels into one book.
*AdaptationExpansion: Probably should be noted that the Torah came first, so The Bible is an expansion.
* AllThereInTheManual: The Prefaces of many Bibles tell why they go with that specific translation, why there are italics, & what the Footnotes mean.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation (so many. So, so many. So, so, very, very many. Just one example is Judas; while Christians generally see him as a greedy betrayer, the apocryphal Gospel of Judas re-interprets him as a misunderstood individual who only betrayed Jesus on Jesus' direct orders, and the FanFic ''JesusChristSuperstar'' interprets him as a TragicHero.)
** The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic text, which implicitly believes that all matter is evil, therefore Jesus wanted Judas to destroy his mortal body to free Him from 'sinful matter'. This goes directly against "Biblical doctrine" (IE mainline {{Canon}}) that Jesus lived on this earth, tempted as we are tempted, yet was without sin. Also, Gnosticism is dualism and believed that creation itself is evil because a fallible God made a world that was imperfect, and a powerful dark god is involved in its expansion. To the point where some cults prohibited sex, because procreation is aiding the devil in creating matter. Women, who have no souls, drag the male spirit back into the world of matter, so they should be avoided if one desires to ascend to a higher plane of existence. (Pass the peanuts, please.) This is where the idea that sex within marriage is somehow sinful originally came from. It's heavily subverted in the Song of Solomon, with lusty descriptions of stags gambolling on the twin mountains of myrrh and aloes (read, breasts) all night long.
* AlternateContinuity: a whole lot of it.
** Christianity vs. [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Judaism]], as represented by the canonicity of the New Testament vs. the canonicity of the Talmud.
** Orthodox Christianity vs. [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Christian Gnosticism]]
*** Um. Gnosticism can be traced via classical Greek philosophy to Neo-Platonism, especially with regards to the Cave Analogy and the world of Forms, as well as Egyptian mysticism. It was never remotely Christian, arose in Egypt and essentially led to the Arian heresy, which led directly to the Council of Nicaea.
** [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Islam]] vs. Christianity: many passages are changed or given figurative status, particularly the sacrifice of Ishmael instead of Isaac.
** Christianity vs. Christianity: Each sect, church, and individual follower reads the Bible slightly differently. Southern Baptists do not come to the same conclusions about the Bible as Quakers. And as for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormons]]...
* AlwaysChaoticEvil (Scythians were probably what the horde of anthropomorphic locusts refer to in Revelation.)
** Or so you heard?
** Arguably the Philistines as well.
*** No, they were highly organised, efficient soldiers and administrators in bronze armour, who came, it is thought, from Crete (Kaphtor). The Israelites they considered barbarians who fought with sticks, and they spent a lot of time mocking them for it. They also controlled all the metalworking technology in ancient Canaan, so essentially the Israelites in the time of Saul could not make weapons. Or even have ploughs and sickles sharpened without their help (for a large fee). In fact, the armour of Saul was the only set of armour in Israel at the time, and Saul was the tallest man in their army (about seven feet), yet was hiding in his tent.
** And the Amalek, which the Hebrews were actually commanded to fight.
*** Destroy completely. But they didn't, which came back to bite them in the ass in the time of Esther.
** Not to mention Satan and the demons.
*** Debatable, since you could also say that they're evil angels, and therefore not AlwaysChaoticEvil.
*** Really, Satan doesn't sound like that bad a guy from his actual actions...
* AMillionIsAStatistic
* AnachronicOrder (The books of prophecy tend to skip around; Jeremiah's revelations while in prison precede the account of his imprisonment, for instance.)
**As does the book of Daniel: in some stories he's an old man, in others he's a youth of between fifteen and twenty.
* AnAesop
* AncientEgypt: Mostly in the Old Testament, specifically Genesis and Exodus; the Hebrews spend time in the Nile Delta and (after some pharaoh decides to enslave all the Semitic tribes that have settled in the country) leave the country. However, it makes an appearance in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, which recounts the story of Joseph and Mary taking Jesus into Egypt to avoid Herod's massacre of babies.
** Out of Egypt I called my son...
*** God and His Prophets repeatedly tell Israel not to rely on Egypt for aid against Assyria.
* AncientGreece: Entirely in the New Testament. Some of the Epistles (Corinthians and Philippians come to mind) are directed to believers in Greece. In addition, the Eastern Mediterranean was thoroughly Hellenized in by the first century, so more or less ''everything'' was Greek by this point.
*** Not ancient. Not even classical. The Ancient Greek period is from Mycaenae down to about the time of Homer; the Classical period predates the Roman period, and even the Romans detested "modern" Greeks while admiring Greeks of the classical period, like Solon, Aristotle, Plato, et al.
*** Koine (common) Greek was considered the lingua mundi at the time. Only a complete barbarian wouldn't know Greek, and the Romans considered having pure, Attic, Greek as a mark of distinction.
* AncientRome: The Israelite rebels ally with the Roman Republic in 1&2 Maccabees. The Romans controlled Judea for all of Jesus' lifetime, and [[spoiler: ended up having him executed]].
* AndManGrewProud: And built a tower which would reach Heaven. [[ItWasHisSled And you know the rest]].
* AngelUnaware: Several times. You'd think people would figure it out after their grandparents fell for it.
* AnimalStereotypes (Snakes are "slier than every beast of the field")
** Dogs and pigs come off very badly as well.
* AnimatedAdaptation (Many, but most notably, ''{{Superbook}}'')
* ApocalypseHow - ''several'', including Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekial, Revelation, and other odd parts of the New Testament.
* ApocalypticLog (The Revelation to John of Patmos)
* ArcNumber - several of them repeatedly used in various contexts:
** seven (originally: six days of creating the World + one day of resting)
** twelve (originally the number of Israelite tribes)
***There are actually thirteen, but twelve is a more... um, ''significant'' number.
**** It's cause the 13th child of Jacob is a girl named Dinah.
***** To be really nit-picky; Jacob had twelve sons, which became the names of the twelve tribes. Instead of the Tribe of Joseph, you have the tribes of Manassah and Ephraim, his two sons, bringing the number up to thirteen. The tribe of Levi became the priesthood, and so were not alloted any land when the Israelites were dividing the land up between them, bringing it back down to twelve.
****Technically two of those tribes are both descended from the same son of Jacob, the original is the Twelve Sons of Jacob.
**** Thirteen remains a significant number for Jews. Less so for Christians.
** forty (originally the number of years that the Israelites roamed through the desert)
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence (More than once. In the Old Testament, there's Elijah and Enoch. In the New Testament, [[spoiler:Jesus]]. Apocryphally, {{Fanon}} dictates that the woman in the sky in Revelation must be Mary, Jesus' mother, so this must have happened to her off-page.)
*** The Queen of Heaven is associated with the Bride of Christ, and is either the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the church and its twelve apostles, or possibly both...
** ThePope Pius XII [[WordOfDante invoked papal infallibility and declared Mary's ascension Canon]] in 1950.
*** He also crowned a graven image as Queen of the World. As a protestant I protest...
* TheAtoner
* AuthorFilibuster (the epistles in the New Testament)
* BackFromTheDead (Famously, Lazarus -- and [[spoiler:Jesus]].)
* {{Badass}} - the unnamed man (some people think it's Jesus) leading his forces against the Hellions in Revelation. Pretty awesome.
** Samson is practically an UrExample of this. He killed a thousand soldiers with the ''jawbone of a donkey'', and then he ''collapsed an entire temple'' on top of 3000 more.
*** Well, Samson's either BadassAbnormal or CharlesAtlasSuperpower
*** All of the Judges fit this trope, though Samson is definitely a standout.
*** AND Ehud, God's ninja.
** Really, 2nd Samuel has a ''list'' of Badasses who worked for King David, and were referred to as the "Mighty Men". The entire list is filled with stories of people killing off hundreds of people singlehanded, or fighting wild animals.
***Benaiah, who "killed a lion in a pit on a day when it had snowed"
** [[DavidVersusGoliath David himself, killing Goliath]], a giant, as well as a lion and a bear, with a ''sling''.
*** Number of stones picked up by David: five. Number of "sons of Anak" in Philistia at that time: five. A fourteen-year-old boy with that level of badassery: priceless.
*** Note that a "sling" is something almost completely unrelated to the child's toy known today as a slingshot. A "sling" is a serious, if crude, weapon that throws rocks ''really, really hard''. The word "bullet" was used to refer to a sling's ammunition long before it was applied to firearms. TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon) has details]].
*** However, though the sling was certainly a deadly weapon in terms of raw power, it was notoriously difficult to master, hence why most every civilization that had the resources to do so used bows instead. The fact that a boy of unspecified age had mastered such a finicky weapon to the point where he could use it to incapacitate a foe on the first shot is quite a feat.
*** Another example of David's Badassery- in order to marry his love, Michal, Saul ordered him to bring [[TwentyBearAsses 100 Philistine foreskins]]. He brought ''twice that number'', just for the hell of it. ThePowerOfLove, indeed.
**** Subverted because they ended up hating each other.
*** Thus, {{Mooks}}
** Jacob wrestled ''an angel'' for an entire night. The angel had to resort to cursing Jacob's hip in order to win. And Jacob still obtained a blessing (which remains in effect to this day) before he let the angel leave.
*** Many scholars believe that the "angel" was actually a ''theophany'' (i.e. an appearance of Christ before the Gospels.) So, in that case, Jacob didn't wrestling an angel, he wrestled ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu God...and won!]]''
* BadassNormal (Judas Maccabeus in the Apocrypha; should not be confused with Judas Iscariot)
** The Judges.
* BeamMeUpScotty (the often-quoted "money is the root of all evil", while technically a valid quote, leaves out a crucial section that changes the meaning. It actually says that the ''love of'' money is the root of all evil, or ''a'' root of ''many'' evils depending on which translation you use)
** Perhaps an even more common misquote would be "the Tree of Knowledge" instead of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
***"Of good and evil" being a then-current Hebrew idiom meaning the equivalent of "from A to Z", it's not that much of a misquote after all.
***Except for the fact that the common misquote makes ''all'' pursuit of knowledge seem evil, while the actual quote limits the condemnation to pursuit of ''omniscience'' -- i.e., trying to match God. That misquote could be (and in fact [[PoesLaw most likely has been at some point]]) used to justify general anti-intellectualism.
** That, and most of the Rapture-related doctrines (literally and figuratively)
*** "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Paul said something vaguely similar, but not quite...
**** "I am all things to all men, that I might win some of them"?
*** Going the extra mile. You know, cos Roman soldiers were entitled to make conquered Jews carry their packs, but only for a mile.
** "Pride goeth before the fall". Parodied hilariously in Bill Fitzhugh's "Pest Control", as two Columbian drug lords debate semantics and paraphrasing right after they shot a trespasser to death and had his body torn apart by dogs.
* BedTrick (Jacob's wedding)
* BellyOfTheWhale (Jonah, TropeNamer)
* BerserkButton - When some people decided to turn God's temple into a marketplace, [[BewareTheNiceOnes Jesus was not amused]].
** Twice! Check it out...
* BibleTimes. [[CaptainObvious The]] TropeNamer.
* BigBad: Pharoah in the Old Testament, [[spoiler:Antioches Epiphanes]] in the Apocrypha, and TheDevil in the New Testament.
* BigBadFriend (According to [[{{Fanon}} popular legend]], Judas was Jesus' best friend. [-Yes, it is [[GrammarNazi supposed to be like that with the apostrophe]].-])
* BiggusDickus: "For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses." (Ezekiel 23:20)
* BondOneLiner (Judges 15:16 ''Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men."'' Even more awesome when you substitute "ass" for "donkey.")
** And even more of a one-liner when you consider that "donkey" and "heap" are homophones (or something of that nature) in Hebrew.
* {{Bowdlerise}} (the original Thomas Bowdler; also done countless times before and after him)
** Most adaptions for children take out some more adult parts. For example, Esther was chosen by King Xerxes because of how good she was in bed. Childrens' adaptions try to avoid that
*** The story of Joshua, as told by {{Superbook}}, portrayed Rahab as an innocent woman bullied by the soldiers of Jericho (she was actually a whore), and completely ignored the fact that every living thing in Jericho, apart from her and her family, were [[KillEmAll exterminated]] [[MoralEventHorizon when the]] [[WhatTheHellHero city fell]].
* BratsWithSlingshots - Notably ''not'' David, though many, many people believe he did use one.
* BreakingTheFourthWall - Going so far as to say the world was created for the book and such. You'd be surprised how seriously some people take it.
* BrokenAesop: Thomas being painted as a jerk because he does not instantly believe Jesus has returned. Even though the Bible also warns about false prophets and christs.
** He wasn't there. And I think he wasn't being painted as a jerk; Jesus merely said, How happy are those who believe without seeing me. Which is most of the subsequent church...
** Yeah, Jesus wasn't criticizing Thomas here; just making a statement. The whole "Doubting Thomas" thing is the result of NeverLiveItDown.
* BrokenBase (Oh, man. This fandom puts [[{{MST3K}} Joel vs. Mike]] to ''shame''.)
** And they won't even keep it among themselves, either!
* BrotherSisterIncest (According to the Talmud, Cain and Abel each had a twin sister. Cain married Abel's, and Seth married Cain's. Not to mention the whole only-one-family-in-the-world thing Adam and Eve's kids went through...
** The only-family-in-the-world thing is debatable. Sources disagree, but it's suggested there were other people in the world by the time Cain was grown up (who did God promise to protect him from?)
**Also, there's the case of Amnon and Tamar in Samuel II, where Amnon [[PlayingSick pretends to be sick]] so that, when his sister, Tamar, came into his room to feed him, he could rape her. Now THAT is {{Squick}}-worthy. And it did not end well for him.
**Did everyone suddenly forget about Noah's arc?
***Noah's sons brought their wives along, so the pairings in the next generation were only cousin incest, perfectly acceptable in the insular culture of the Israelites. The repopulation of the animals, on the other hand....
**** ...except for those animals designated 'clean' - he took seven pairs of those.
* BurnTheWitch - God did not allow witchcraft-practitioners to live in the Mosaic Covenant period, although the method of execution was more likely stoning. Used later in history to justify witch-burning... ThisTroper is surprised it didn't [[IncrediblyLamePun catch on quicker]].
* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie (Joseph)
* ButtMonkey - Job and Jesus. The former gets a "prize" from God, the latter saves all the people that would be baking in Hell if He didn't, including you.
** Dougray Scott played Moses as a this. He is forced to abandon his family and his adoptive mother to follow God, reluctantly executes his best friend for adultery, his blood-brother turned against him, the stress of these choices turn him into what normal people would call a raving maniac, and he is not even allowed to be buried in the Promised Land.
* CainAndAbel - The TropeNamer.
* CanonDiscontinuity - Where do we start...?
* CelibateHero (Jesus, and possibly others we forget.)
** Some people think that Jesus was married, but that his wife was not mentioned in the Bible (there are also a lot of speculations about why this is). Other people see this idea as heresy.
* CharacterDerailment - in critical literature, God is popularly depicted as being more benign and loving in the New Testament, and more vengeful in the Old Testament. Can be easily refuted however, as God performs tremendous acts of mercy and undeserved compassion in the Old Testament (read Jonah) and also demonstrates unchecked wrath in the New (read Revelation). God is established early in the Torah as being both compassionate and strict. Character derailment issues are based on the New Testament's focus on the person of Jesus, whose mission was to demonstrate/personify God's mercy. Yet even Jesus gets in on the judgement side of things in Revelation.
**Let's not forget the doctrine of eternal damnation, which is only really present in the New Testament. Would you rather be smitten by a vengeful God one time and descend into Sheol (the only Afterlife listed in the Old Testament), or be damned to an eternity of torment?
* [=~Chekhov's Skill~=] - Both used and averted with Moses and the burning bush. God teaches Moses how to turn his staff into a serpent, and how to turn the skin of his hand leprous, both in order to demonstrate that he is a prophet of the Lord. He performs the former, but the latter never shows up again.
**The former was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, but why would he even want to do the latter?
*** God can heal?
* CherryTapping: Samson kills 1,000 '''Philistines''' ''[[BadAss with a donkey's jaw]]'', and then follows it up with a pun.
* TheChosenOne (Saul and David start a war over the fact that they are ''both'' the chosen one.)
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve (clapping is an expression of worship in Psalms, and in many churches today)
** True believers gain special powers depending on their [[LevelUp level of faith]].
*** Highly debatable
*** One of these powers, is Knowledge, which [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalists]] ignore in favor of Tongues, which is ranked as inferior to Prophecy & Wisdom, SoYeah.
* ColonyDrop (Wormwood among other stars during Revelation)
* ComeToGawk
* CosmicHorror (Angels, actually.)
** God himself could classify, since iirc looking at him in his full glory is supposed to be fatal
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome (Moses splits The Red Sea)
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: During the "speaking in tongues episode"
--> '''Crowd''': These men are drunk.\\
'''Peter''': Of course we're not drunk. It's nine o' clock in the morning.
**[[TakenForGranite Lots Wife,]] just Lots Wife.
* CrucifiedHeroShot ([[spoiler:Jesus]])
** The TropeNamer, though not necessarily the original.
** Some sects claim the Greek ''stauros'' refers to a vertical pole, not a cross, and others claim the cross was T-shaped.
* DavidVersusGoliath (again, TropeNamer)
* DeadpanSnarker: Paul of Tarsus, usually in his epistles. In one instance, mediating an argument amongst the Galatians about circumcision, he helpfully recommends to the conservative Jewish converts agitating against the pagan converts that they "go the whole way and [[GroinAttack cut the entire thing off]]!"
** The Old Testament was way ahead on the snark front. One memorable moment from the book of Jonah:
---> God (to whiny Jonah): "You cared about a tree which grew overnight and died overnight, and which you did not work to grow. And should I not care about Nineveh, which has thousands of people who do not yet know their right from their left, and also much cattle!"
** The prophets are especially full of this sort of thing; such as God mocking how idol-worshipers would cut down a tree, make an idol to worship out of part of it...and cook breakfast over the rest of it.
** Heck, according to the Gospels, even ''Jesus'' himself loved to snark once in a while. [[http://artfuljesus.0catch.com/viney.html No Really]]
*** If you truly knew the Scriptures... But perhaps it was a metaphorical point of view. Also, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel is a hilarious image if you really think about it.
* DeathBySex (Sarah's husbands in the book of Tobit)
* DependingOnTheWriter (Jesus' character tends to vary quite a bit depending on who's describing him)
* DepopulationBomb (Several)
* DescendFromAHigherPlaneOfExistence (Jesus)
* DeusAngstMachina (Job and everyone he knew)
* DeusExMachina (literal God)
* DeusExitMachina (Lots of explanations have been attempted for the problem of evil)
* DidNotDoTheResearch: There is considerable debate over the existence of factual/scientific errors in the Bible. Made more complicated by the abundance of poetic language.
** Not to mention {{The Fundamentalist}}s
**This is more a fault of interpretation/translation as relates to the perceived scientific errors; for example, in the idea that the Bible implies that the earth is only 6000 years old. In truth, the Bible is frustratingly vague when it comes to the Creation, and could be interpreted in many different ways.
*** Though that doesn't change the fact that there are two differing creation stories.
*** In fact, several people have noted it to be self-contradictory on the subject, and suspect that the first chapter or two had a different writer, who wasn't entirely on the same page as the next guy.
****[[FanWank Apologists]] have also come up with answers to every apparent "contradiction."
* DisContinuity
** Protestants rejected the additional (not in the Masoretic text of the Tanakh) Old Testament books that came from the Greek Septuagint and call them "apocrypha" (not {{Canon}}), whereas they're considered {{Canon}} by Catholics. Though not by the Jews, whose culture originated them.
*** For one thing the Jews didn't appreciate all of the nice things Maccabees had to say about the Romans in retrospect.
** Then there's the New Testament apocrypha, some of which are just ''weird''. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for instance, is possibly the first example of SuperDickery, featuring a very young Jesus that blinds, kills, and heals people left and right, then proceeds to lecture his teacher on theology.
** The entire New Testament is rejected by the Jews.
** On the other hand, 'mainstream' Christians reject the Gospel of Thomas, which was widely read by early Christian communities, on the basis of its much later origin and the fact that it was most certainly not written by Thomas or anyone in his general time period.
** Fairly justified, as the Nicean council ruled that it wasn't authentic.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Jesus]]
* DistantFinale: the Book of Revelation; just ''how'' distant depends on who you ask.
** There are actually several major interpretations of what the Revelation of John '''is'''. First, a book of prophecy of the future. Second, a description of present conditions of the Christian ecclesia. A third is that this book is like other Apocalypses written in roughly the same time period, and primarily an account of the salvation of a single soul, John of Patmos.
*** Or D: All of the Above.
*** Or E: None of the Above. [[Understatement It's confusing, to say the least]]
* DisproportionateRetribution People during those times had much different ideas about what constitutes a "just" punishment and many of them will look completely disprotionate and cruel compared to what is a just punishment today, or if a punishment is necesary at all.
* DownerEnding (end of the Old Testament)
** In some terms, yes. The "ending" (remember that chronologically, Ezra and Nehemiah are among the last books of the OT) is that Judah was restored with Persian [[ThreeHundred (Yes, those Persians)]] protection, and the Messiah is coming soon. However, one of the last prophets of the OT predicted the destruction of Jerusalem.
** Depends on the order you go by. This Troper's Bible has Chronicles as the last book, which ends in Cyrus allowing Jewish exiles to return to their homeland. Most Christian translations, though, put Chronicles earlier and have significantly more depressing books last, so YourMilageMayVary.
*** God ensures that Moses dies without setting foot on The Promised Land.
* DubInducedPlothole: The James King translation is said to contain a few mistranslations that alter the plot/meaning. Let us leave it at that.
** More notable is the incident where some yahoo once accidentally translated the word for "rays of light" as "horns", and a sculptor happened to read this version. HilarityEnsues.
* DracoInLeatherPants (Satan -- started with [[JohnMilton Milton]], and went downhill from there. A few archangels, and some of the Four Horsemen, too.)
* TheDragon: [[InvertedTrope Inverted:]] The Dragon in Revelation ''is'' the BigBad.
** Some scets (and [[ShinMegamiTensei some videogames that base their verison of Satan on such beliefs]]) have Satan as God's agent.
*** And the Bible itself arguably does (see also: Satan strolling into Heaven and making a friendly wager with God in the Book of Job)
**** Note that as of Job, the Retcon that Satan was opposed to God hadn't been thought of yet. At that point- and still in Jewish theology- he's arguably something even more frightening and powerful than a Dragon of God- he's God's prosecuting attorney.
* TheDutifulSon (Brother to the Prodigal Son)
* EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse (whether it's ''literally'' the center of the universe or not depends on how literally one takes certain passages)
* TheEeyore (Qoheleth, the traditional author/narrator of ''Ecclesiastes''. Given his title "Son of David, King in Jerusalem," he's probably also Solomon.)
* EldritchAbomination (You know what Angels really look like? Hint: not pretty. Revelation is full of bizarre beasties).
* EmpathicEnvironment (many times, including when [[spoiler:Jesus]] was killed)
* TheEmpire (Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Macedon, Rome... The Persians come across pretty well, though, despite [[ThreeHundred some other portrayals of them...]])
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (At least twice. First Noah's flood, then in the DistantFinale of ''Revelation'')
* EnemyMine
* EnemyToAllLivingThings (Part of Cain's curse.)
* EnsembleDarkhorse (Satan, the Anti-Christ, even Judas)
* EpilepticTrees (Talmud and Midrachim)
** And everything else involving the Grigori.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarKeep (Thanks to translations and tradition, YHWH is hardly ever known by His actual Name, and is referred to as, "God" (''El'' / ''Theos'') or "the Lord" (''Adonai'' / ''Kurios'') for most of the Book.)
**When the English text reads "LORD" in ALL CAPS, it's a circumlocution for YHWH- the taboo against speaking his name wasn't in effect until the Hebrew Bible had already been written.
** The only person said to have ever spoken His true name was, [[WordOfDante according to apocrypha]], Lilith.
** Opinions vary on the [[IHaveManyNames Name]]. Several people are credited with knowing (and using) the big secret one, including Moses (to kill an Egyptain slave driver), Solomon (to enslave the demon king Ashmodai/Asmodeus), and various rabbinic sages (to create golems and other miracles).
** Also, Pharaoh from Exodus, whose name is never given and who is simply referred to as "Pharaoh". Various archaeologists, anthropologists, and Biblical scholars have offered [[{{Fanon}} any number of theories]] as to what historical pharaoh Exodus might be referring to, with Ramses II and Shoshenq I being fan favorites.
*** Which leads to a number of people who mistakenly believe that the Pharaoh who got the plagues = The Pharaoh that gave the genocide order...
* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: After the massive flood in Genesis, God promises not to drown all the creatures again and puts a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of his covenant with them.
* ExtraEyes (Thrones and various other angels)
* FaceDeathWithDignity ([[spoiler:Jesus]], the Garden of Gethsemane notwithstanding)
* FaceHeelTurn (King Saul, Pharaoh [multiple times], Absalom)
* FairForItsDay (Look at how women and children were treated in ancient Rome. "Husbands, love your wives" was a revolutionary concept in those days.)
** Not to mention the book of Leviticus, which nowadays is looked upon as a long list of difficult rules, but when first made, presented what was, for the day, a refreshingly easy code of law. Especially considering the complex and [[DisproportionateRetribution extremely harsh]] religious systems of Israel's neighboring countries.
* FallenAngel (Lucifer and his supporters are the UrExample)
* FanDumb (Many fans of this book have done some profoundly stupid things.)
{{Fanfic}}
** The Psuedepigrapha. Not canon in any religion, but these writings originated many beliefs not found in the actual Bible. Among other things, the Psuedepigrapha go into detail on the throwaway line in Genesis about the Sons of God lying with human daughters.
** ''DivineComedy''
** ''ParadiseLost''
** ''GoodOmens''
** ''BenHur''
** ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''
** ''{{Dogma}}''
** ''JesusChristSuperstar''
** ''LeftBehind''
** ''VeggieTales''
** Parts of ''TheSilmarillion''
* FanHaters (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and some other real-life atheists)
** Not to mention all the people following a competing religion.
*** Though not ''all'' of these are full-on ''haters.'' Disagreement and hatred are ''very'' different things.
* FanSequel (TheBookOfMormon and other, more obscure examples)
** The New Testament is arguably the {{Fan Sequel}} to the Torah.
*** Definitely some JumpingTheShark going on there then ...
* {{Fanon}} (many apocryphal texts)
* FanPreferredCouple - Solomon and The Queen of Sheba.
* FanService: Everyone is naked and perfect in Eden. It's kinda light on the FanService after that.
** Song of Solomon. Just... Song of Solomon. See also DisContinuity, as most people seem to pretend it never happened.
* FanWank (An entire ''genre'' of it called apologetics.
** Also, some of the details that are commonly associated with the texts in question aren't in the original. For a less controversial example, the fruit of the Tree Of Knowledge of Good And Evil is commonly depicted as an apple, but none is specified (and some depictions use other fruit).
***Same scene, more controversial: nothing in the text of Genesis leads to the conclusion that the snake was, was working for, or had anything at all to do with Satan.
* FetishFuel (See FootFocus below.)
* {{Filler}}: Extremely well-done with the Apocrypha.
* FindingJudas (but not the TropeNamer)
* FindTheCure (Tobit is blinded, so his son Tobias and his companion ([[spoiler: aka the archangel Raphael]] in disguise) go search for the cure)
* FireAndBrimstoneHell (Mostly according to John the Revelator.)
* FirstGirlWins: Adam and Eve. Although according to {{Fanon}}, Eve was actually the second girl. A few sources even have her third.
* FlameWar (As stated above, disagreements involving TheBible often ended...less than pleasantly.)
** Thankfully, nobody involved can have you executed for your opinions ''anymore!''
* FlamingSword (The Cherubum.)
* FootFocus (Jesus seems to have a big thing about washing people's feet.)
** Try walking all day in a dusty place like Israel in open sandals...
**Several references to "feet" in the Old Testament are referring to male genitalia. For example, when David tells Uriah to go into his house and "wash his feet", he's trying to get Uriah to have sex with his wife so her pregnancy doesn't make anyone suspicious.
* ForbiddenFruit: Contrary to popular imagery, it wasn't necessarily an apple. (Other versions have it as a pomegranate, a citron, or a fig.)
* FridgeLogic (Frequently HandWaved as God's master plans being [[XanatosRoulette incomprehensible to humans]])
* FunnyAneurismMoment: There's an entire section in 1 Maccabees chapter 8 about how great Rome is.
* GainaxEnding (The Book of Revelation)
* GannonBanned (It's the Book of Revelatio'''n''', no plural)
* {{Gendercide}} (Twice, in Exodus)
* GeoEffects (the Israelites and the Aramites, subverted)
* GetTheeToANunnery (especially in the King James version)
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar (Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs, depending on what translation you're reading. The average reader is often rendered speechless to find what they can only call pornography in the Bible, and scholars have debated for centuries just ''how the hell this wound up in the Bible.'')
** And that's ''after'' the translators (painfully obviously) did their best to sanitize it!
* {{God}} (TropeCodifier, at least in... most of the West...)
* GodwinsLaw: Among the BrokenBase, of course. Many people, whether they're for or against the Bible, repeatedly invoke GodwinsLaw when arguing about it, even previously on this very Article.[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBible?action=diff]]
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry (Plain and dowdy Leah vs pretty vivacious Rachel over Jacob)
* GoKartingWithBowser - When not torturing the souls of the damned, Satan has been known to hang around heaven and take friendly bets with God. This results in the book of Job.
** [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer Satan doesn't torture souls]]
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex (Solomon and one of his wives)
* GoodSamaritan: TropeNamer
* GroinAttack: The words 'foreskin', 'circumcise', or some inflection thereof appear over 100 times.
* HalfHumanHybrids (Nephilim, and depending on which ecumenical councils you accept, also [[spoiler: Jesus is both 100% human ''and'' 100% divine. [[MindScrew Try to wrap your head around that one]].]])
** [[AWizardDidIt An omnipotent deity did it.]]
* HandWave (Many consider this the point of the book with relation to REAL LIFE, to the point of [[HandWave hand-waving]] away actual science that doesn't mesh with their interpretation of things.)
* {{Hatedom}} (Goes both ways: some use it as an excuse to discriminate, others have been discriminated against because they identify with it.)
* HeWhoMustNotBeNamed: The third commandment instructs the faithful not to take the name of the Lord in vain. This has spawned many practices, stretching from simply avoiding the use of oaths like "For the love of God!", to avoiding using the G-word in any context - typing "G-d" in text, for example, or, among Orthodox Jews, using the word "Adonai", or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton the Tetragrammaton]], as a euphemism.
** Which is all a little strange considering ''His name is not God'' any more than this troper's name is "Human".
* HealingHands (Jesus and the Apostles healed people by laying their hands on them.)
* HeelFaceTurn: Saul on the road to Damascus, who quite literally "saw the light".
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Pharaoh in Exodus, due to God constantly hardening his heart.
* HeroicSacrifice (Stephen, Isaac, Samson, [[spoiler:Jesus]])
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Jesus]] while on the cross asks [[spoiler:God]] why he has forsaken him. Only in Matthew and Mark.
** The whole prayer at Gethsemane scene can be seen as an HeroicBSOD as well.
** David also has a full-blown one after Saul and Jonathan's deaths.
* HeterosexualLifePartners (The conservative interpretation of Jonathan and David's relationship)
* HigherSelf
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Satan. In the Book of Job, he's depicted as a bit of a cynical TricksterArchetype and troublemaker, not unlike Loki in Norse mythology, but perfectly tolerable enough for God to allow among the other angels and have a little friendly debate with. But by the time the New Testament gets written, he has become the embodiment of ultimate evil. You can't get more of an upgrade than that.
* HotBlooded (Samson, and ''how'')
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold (Rahab in the Torah, Mary Magdalene in {{Fanon}})
* HopeSpot (Pilate tries to have [[spoiler:Jesus]] released, but the mob insists on [[spoiler:his crucifixion]]). Although Pilate was a jerk, depending on who you talk to. In other branches, he's a saint. Literally.)
* HoYay: [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Jonathan_Embraces_David_from_Caspar_Luiken.jpg David and Jonathan,]] Ruth and Naomi. Just don't mention it to certain fans...because most fans DidNotDoTheResearch on how many different words for Love there were in Greek, and on which one was used in that context.
**David mourning Jonathan's death: "Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women"
* HumansAreBastards: Humanity's ''thoughts'' were bad enough to drive an omnibenevolent being to attempt [[KillEmAll omnicide]]. He drowned around 30 million people before he forgave humanity, [[strike: because]] despite the fact that humanity's thoughts are bad and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone repented]].
* HumansAreSpecial: With free will, they actually have the potential to become greater than angels.
* IAmLegion: The original.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: King Saul in 1 Samuel 13. God was less than pleased with this attitude and fired him.
* IGotBetter: [[spoiler:Jesus.]]
* IKnowYourTrueName: Mostly in the old testament, some power is associated with the names of God, the act of Adam naming the animals, etc.
** In fact, Moses kills an Egyptian at one point solely by saying God's True Name, which {{Fanon}} holds to be ''72 or 216 letters long''.[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemhamphorasch]]
* IdiotBall: Samson
**Finds some bees have made their hive in the corpse of a lion, so he eats some of the honey and gives the rest to his parents. The honey that came from a DEAD LION.
*** Especially since they're Nazirites. Their not allowed to touch, let alone eat, anything that came from corpses.
* IKEAErotica: Mostly played strait, but [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the Song of Solomon.
* {{ILLKILLYOU}} Exodus, and probably some other places.
* ImAHumanitarian: Quite a few examples that falls under two categories: God's punishment (usually [[{{Squick}} forcing people to eat their own children]] or [[{{Squick}} other family members]]) or depicted [[{{Gorn}}for the sake of it]].
* ImplausibleDeniability (Cain is enough of a moron to think he can lie to an omniscient, omnipotent God.)
** He must have gotten it from [[InTheBlood his parents]]. Okay, so they thought they could ''hide'' from God, but close enough.
* ImprobableWeaponUser - Samson killed some Philistines using the jawbone of a donkey.
* IncestIsRelative: God creates two people, and they have three sons, one of whom is killed, and one is driven away. So who is there for Seth marry except his own mother?
**Presumably the same people Cain had to worry about.
** One of his sisters. The Bible doesn't mention any of the other children of Adam and Eve by name, but clearly mentions they were there.
** Where I come from, marrying your sister is incest anyway....
*** Wow, what kind of twisted, bizarre place do ''you'' come from?
** Don't forget in Genesis when Lot's daughters take turns raping him to carry on the family line.
* InternetBackdraft (and not just on the Internet either. It's often said that there are two things you just don't discuss in mixed company: politics and religion)
* ItGotWorse: A large portion of the Book of Revelation
* ItWasHisSled ([[spoiler:Jesus '''''dies'''''. But he '''''[[DisneyDeath gets better]]'''''.]] This has been subjected to one of the most massive spoiler-campaigns ''ever''; people were shouting it out on the streets decades before the Gospels were even ''written''. Please don't feed the trolls.)
* JacobMarleyWarning - Subverted. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (a different [[BackFromTheDead Lazarus]]), the Rich Man goes to hell so he begs the Lord for the chance to warn his family of the dangers of their ways. The Lord knocks the idea down, pointing out that he's sent plenty of prophets to spell it out for them all already.
* JesusSaves - Yeah.
* JesusTaboo (averted)
* JourneyToFindOneself (Jesus' 40 days and nights in the desert, sort of.)
* JudgmentOfSolomon (TropeNamer)
* JustEatGilligan
* JustSoStory: The entire purpose of the narrative until Abraham is introduced. HilarityEnsues among the fandom when some fans start discovering new science and archaeological evidence that contradicts said stories, or at least the then-universally-held {{Fanon}}.
* KillEmAll (the DistantFinale, Revelation; possibly the most literal application of "KillEmAll and let God sort 'em out" ever. Also, many cases in the Old Testament)
* KlingonPromotion (Many kings of Israel during the spilt with Judah.)
* KneelBeforeZod: This is what God wants people to do.
* KnightTemplar - All over the place. Violations of even some minor laws or commandments are liable to get somebody smote, either by God directly or through a proxy. The Book of Leviticus is the quintessential KnightTemplar instruction manual.
** But see, it's not being a "KnightTemplar" if the Bible is true. A Knight Templar does evil in the name of good. if God truly gave those commands and is all-knowing and all-good then those commands, harsh though they may be, wouldn't be evil.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm -- It may seem pretty badass of {{Satan}} to try and ''[[RageAgainstTheHeavens overthrow God]]'', until the prophecies are fulfilled and he loses. When it comes to fighting the one responsible for the very existence of yourself and everything, it's really wiser to fold em.
* TheLancer (Peter to Jesus.)
* LaResistance (Israel, repeatedly: see 1 and 2 Maccabees, which are part of the Catholic but not Protestant Bible, and the book of Judges, which is pretty much considered canon.)
* LesYay: One interpretation of Ruth and Naomi's relationship. Not popular with conservatives, obviously.
* LoadBearingHero (Samson, though it's an inversion since he ''brings down the temple!''. He's still the hero, though.) He also pulls up a set of city gates and walks away with them.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are dozens of books written over a period of many centuries, and some of them include genealogies or history.
* LoveItOrHateIt
* {{Macekre}} (Long before Carl Macek, there was King James; of course, [[FanDumb some]] consider it some kind of AdaptationDistillation that's ''more canonical'' than the original.)
** Part of this was the source material. The translation of the New Testament was largely based on the Textus Receptus, a {{Macekre}} in itself. (it was composed of late Greek manuscripts that had quite a few interpolations that the earlier, more accurate manuscripts lacked. And some of it was actually back-translated from Latin)
*** There is no proof to that claim. 95% of all extant copies doth not a Macekre make.
* MeaningfulName (literally hundreds, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Biblical_names here's a full list]])
* MemeticBadass (Jesus. Ex.: ''JesusChristVampireHunter''.)
** [[FamilyGuy This summer, let those without sin (hiya!) KICK THE FIRST ASS!]]
** [[KillBill Kill]] [[RobotChicken Bunny.]]
* MemeticNumber: 40. Forget 11 or [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13]] or even [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]], this number is one of the more memorable ones in the book. Examples include the forty days and nights Noah spent in his Ark during the Deluge (another round before he even looked out the window), the number of days the Israelites took to explore their Promised Land, and the number of days Jesus fasted. There's even [[http://www.40day.com/40_in_the_bible.html this website]] that is focused around the number 40. That number is one BadAss dude.
* TheMessiah (Many, including the MessianicArchetype, Jesus.)
** Three big ones. Jesus, Mohammed (technically a prophet, rather than a messiah, but fulfilling a similar narrative role), and the nameless "moshiach", or messiah of the Jews, who don't accept the cannonicity of the New Testement. The last one one has only appeared in previews and foreshadowing, so we're still waiting on the next sequel to provide his name.
* MessianicArchetype (Jesus)
* MindScrew - Revelation. According to some historians, the man who wrote it [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs actually]] ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs was]]'' [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs on drugs]].
* MisaimedFandom - Satanism
* MissionFromGod - ...Pretty much everyone.
* MixAndMatchCritters - When not described as {{Eldritch Abomination}}s or imitating human form the Angels are described as such (in Book of Daniel for instance).
* TheMole (Judas Iscariot, after a FaceHeelTurn.)
* MoralDissonance: This what is percieved when a particular DisproportionateRetribution or an example of ValuesDissonance strikes particullary hard and much discussion has ensued between critics and apologists because of it.
* MoralEventHorizon: Sodom's collective attempt to gang rape an angel happens right before they get destroyed, this part gets forgotten in modern times when most people think of Sodom for well... Homosexuality.
** Much earlier, Pharaoh ordering a massacre to kill Moses.
** Herod ordering a massacre to kill TheMessiah.
** Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus to the Romans, leading to [[spoiler:his death]].
* MosesInTheBullrushes: TropeNamer
* MostWritersAreMale
**Some have speculated that the J author, who wrote much of the Pentateuch, and the writer of Luke, which is much more pro-feminist than any other gospel, were women.
**Chauvinist bias is massively averted in many books. One of the Old Testament Judges (rulers of Israel) was a female, Lady Deborah. The church is described as a woman to be the bride of Christ.
** This feminism did not stop many fans from using selections from the text to support a chauvinist agenda, however. Have we mentioned how ''incredibly fiercely divided'' this fandom is?
* MrsRobinson (Potiphar's Wife)
* MurderTheHypotenuse (David and Bathsheba)
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning ([[spoiler:Jesus]]. Enoch and Elijah are considered the two prophets in the Revelation of John, so they count too.)
** Does it count if they [[spoiler: didn't really die?]]
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch (Although several groups receive an AlwaysChaoticEvil characterization, it's pretty common for there to be a member of the group who is virtuous- like Ruth as a good Moabite, the Good Samaritan of the New Testament, and some rabbis mentioned in the Talmud who were supposedly descended from evil people like Haman)
* NamesTheSame: The Catholic and Orthodox Bibles have two different Judases. One is a heroic freedom fighter, the other [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon betrays Jesus]].]]
* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown (Jesus and most prophets. It's the TropeNamer, after all)
* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe (Joseph to his brothers, literally The Oldest One In The Book).
* NightmareFuel - Pretty much every end of the world prophecy. Especially the one where the soldiers' flesh melts off.
** The ''Wisdom of Solomon'' (from the Greek Septuagint) is all about this trope applying to Solomon.
** Dude, [[{{Noob}} this troper's]] freaking out just '''thinking''' about this one: ''"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."'' (Hebrews 10:26-27)
*** These verses are often misinterpreted. You see, that verse in Hebrews is about the Jewish Christians who were turning back to Judaism. Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled the law for us, in a sense removing the need for sacrifices and offerings for sin. So if they turned back to Judaism, any sin offering they make is in vain.
*NowIKnowWhatToNameHim -- According to some, an angel not only told Mary that she was giving birth to the Messiah, but apparently, that angel also called him Jesus, and Mary was like, "Well, I don't like that name, but I better not make God angry."
* TheObiWan (David to Solomon)
** Also John the Baptist and Jesus
** Perhaps more fittingly, Elijah to Elisha, and Paul to Timothy.
*** Elijah and Moses to Jesus.
* OlderThanTheyThink - Many consider stories and themes of the New Testament to be adopted from [[OlderThanDirt older]] sources. Ex.: ClassicalMythology's Danae = Mary, or at least the later Catholic depiction of her.
** There have also been accusations of Jesus being an Expy of figures including the Greco/Roman god Dionysus/Bacchus, the Egyptian god Horus, and many others.
** Much fanon and interpretation has been accused of transplanting the canon of Zoroastrianism in
* OmnicidalManiac: God, who [[KillEmAll drowned everyone on earth]] except one family.
* {{Omniglot}}: One of the powers of [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve true believers]], according to {{Fanon}}, along with the ability to [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity drink anything poisonous]], [[TheExorcist exorcise demons]], [[HealingHands heal the sick]], and for ''truest'' of true believers NighInvulnerability against demons and evil spirits!
* OneMarioLimit: Outside of Spanish-speaking countries, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone else named Jesus.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense: God. Just ask Job!
* OneSteveLimit - Nope. There are ''three'' Herods during Jesus' lifetime.
** As well as princess...you guessed it...Herodias (who married two different Herods, both her uncle, in her lifetime).
** As well as two Judases and two Lazari.
**There are even other Jesuses, Jesus himself being a form of the name Joshua. In fact Jesus was a popular name during his time.
** Inverted with all those names (Emmannuel, Joshua, Jesus) that are all meant to be for the same dude.
** Just among the 12 Disciples we have 2 James, 2 Judas, and 2 Simons (though one also went by Peter)
** Not to mention the 4 or so different Marys we have in the Gospels.
* OnlyMostlyDead: That little girl (Tabitha), maybe Lazarus, averted with [[spoiler: Jesus]] where the guards did some [[strike: prodding]] stabbing to check.
* OnlySaneMan: Jesus
* OutDamnedSpot (Pontius Pilate)
* {{Padding}}: Lots of repetition at points, like with the book of Numbers.
* PalsWithJesus: TropeNamer?
* TheParagon (Jesus)
* ParentalFavoritism: Joseph.
* ParentalIncest (Lot and his daughters in Genesis 19:30-38. Though, technically, that was ''rape''. By the daughters.)
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage (Isaac and his wife Rebekah)
* [=~Please Spare Him, My Liege!~=]
* PlayingWithFire (Elijah incinerates much of Israel during his time as a BadassPreacher, including [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome all the foreign prophets who opposed him during a dramatic standoff.]]
* PluckyGirl (Ruth, Deborah, Judith, Esther, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene...)
* PrideBeforeAFall (the Tower of Babel was to reach the heavens. Guess how that worked ou.t)
** Really? ''That's'' the [[{{Satan}} example]] you're going with?
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality (And HOW.)
* RapeOfTheLock (Samson)
* RealityEnsues (Abimelech, first self-proclaimed king of Israel, is killed by a woman who threw a rock at him. He ordered his armor-bearer to run him through with a sword so that no one will know how he really died. Well, someone found out.)
* RecapEpisode: Most of Deuteronomy. And Chronicles.
* ReplacementGoldfish (After Job's loved ones, friends, and nodding acquaintances are all killed horribly, he eventually has new ones.)
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Played straight with the story from Genesis, in which the snake is the bad guy. Played with in the incident involving Moses at Pharaoh's court where serpents representing the rival gods duke it out (guess who wins). Played straight in that all reptiles fall into the category of "unclean" species. Averted later in Exodus when a pillar with bronze snakes is set up to cure the Israelites of a plague.
** The pillar became a pagan idol, so the trope gets played straight again.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified (Moses is effectively literature's first bio-terrorist, and takes out his aggression against the government on the civilian population. And then there's Jesus, who "came not to bring peace, but a sword..." even though this refers entirely to the division that will be created when Christians are persecuted by their own families. Context, people.)
* RetCon (several, one of the most noticeable being that the serpent from Genesis was retconned in Revelation to have in fact been {{Satan}})
**Never explicitly stated as such: this may be better characterized as {{Fanon}}.
***[[CriticalResearchFailure Revelation 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.]]
* SalieriSyndrome: Notable examples include Cain and Joseph's brothers.
* ScienceIsBad (a frequent [[FanWank fan interpretation]], especially of the Babel story)
* TheScourgeOfGod
* ScryVsScry: Moses against Pharaoh's priests. They turned their staffs into serpents; Moses's staff became a serpent which devoured the others.
* SecretTestOfCharacter (God's command to Abraham to kill his son; Job's DeusAngstMachina suffering; the original JudgmentOfSolomon)
** Notably, the proper answer in the Abraham case was to ''try and kill his son'', [[MoralDissonance as loyalty to God was more important than family]].
** On a related note, one of the largest chunks of the fandom ignores the section on God-commanded dietary restrictions entirely.
*** Though that's because these fans believe these dietary restrictions to have been [[RetCon repealed]] in later canon, which other fans do not hold to be canonical. Much of the apparent selective enforcement is really the result of the ''incredibly'' BrokenBase we're dealing with.
* SeriousBusiness (many fanclubs with ''literally'' religious zeal)
* ShamingTheMob ("Let he who is without sin...")
** Not to mention the pissed-off mob at Jesus' trial.
* SharedUniverse (many ancient books collected together)
* ShootTheDog
* ShoutOut (Sumerian mythology, according to secular historians. Not relevant among believers.)
**The Law of Moses was both a civil and religious code. Many of the civil laws can also be found in other period law codes.
* {{Shipping}} (there's this whole thing with Jesus and Mary Magdalene...)
* SiblingRivalry (Cain vs Abel, Jacob vs Esau, Joseph vs his 11 brothers)
* SixthRanger (Paul, who starts out an enemy of the early church but later joins up with them, and ends up being one of the best-known and most frequently quoted Christians of the first century)
**Matthias, who was added to the Twelve after Judas betrayed Jesus.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS (Both "Jesus" and "Joshua" are written in the same way in Greek. This sometimes caused translation errors; the King James Version, for example, has "Jesus" in a few cases where "Joshua" should be)
** That'd be because it's ''almost'' the same Hebrew name. Joshua has an extra 'heh', which is very close to being a silent letter.
**Seeing that the language is Greek, this is a literal example.
**Speaking of Greek, the name that usually gets translated as "James" would be better translated as "Jacob."
* {{SpinOff}} (New Testament from the Tanakh)
* SpiritAdvisor ([[spoiler:Jesus to his disciples following his death and resurrection, before returning to Heaven until the Second Coming on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_Thursday Ascension Thursday]].]])
** Arguably, God Himself to any of the prophets. Joshua used Him as a Spirit Military Advisor.
** Furthermore, [[spoiler:Jesus]] promises to leave the Holy Spirit with believers in order to serve as an aide / "moral compass" for them until he returns from [[spoiler:Heaven]]
* TheStarsAreGoingOut (In the Apocalypse, when the stars fall from sky and the [[WeirdMoon moon turns blood red]].)
** Even though stars ''are bigger than the Earth''...
*** I'm fairly certain its talking about meteors a.k.a. ''shooting stars''.
* StartMyOwn (In popular legend, when Simon Magus couldn't bribe his way into the new Church--thus inventing the term "simony"--he went around heckling Peter and trying to raise his own church by magic. They then had a showdown in Rome, where Simon wound up dying with varying degrees of impressiveness, DependingOnTheWriter. In the actual verse where he's mentioned, though, it says he became a lay worshiper.)
** Gnosticism, as a very early example. And later the Christianity of Constantine, who simply threw Jesus on the pile of gods he already worshipped.
** Early Catholics believed that Muhammad was one of these divisive figures, which is why Dante Alighieri [[DivineComedy put him in Hell with similar offenders]].
* StuffedIntoTheFridge (Job's family, servants, and employees, as a wager between two supernatural beings, at least in the South Park version of events. Satan, literally, the Accuser, in the Bible proper has the authority and right to test ANYONE through suffering, within limits. In Job's case, God had sheltered him disproportionately up to that point, hence the extreme fridge-stuffing.
* TakenForGranite (the wife of Lot, who turned into a pillar of salt)
* TakeThat: The seven brothers in 2 Maccabees chapter 7. Also FacingTheBulletsOneLiner.
** The story of Lot and his daughters was a TakeThat against the inhabitants of Moab, a nation that bordered ancient Israel, insulting them by saying that they were descended from incest, at least according to some commentary.
* TakingYouWithMe: Samson
* TearJerker (the "suffering servant" from Isaiah. People tend to be split on ''who'' the suffering servant is; Christians assert it's Jesus, most Jews assert that it's referring to the Jewish people in general, but either way it's pretty darn sad)
** David's lament. It has since become a common feature in commemoration ceremonies for Israeli fallen soldiers.
***The entire book of Lamentations, as suggested by the title. A heart-wrenching account by Jeremiah of Israel's fall to the Babylonians, made worse by the fact that Jeremiah had tried to warn them.
* TenchiSolution (Jacob works for Laban seven years to marry his beloved Rachel. When the ceremony rolls around, he finds he's married to Leah, her older sister, instead. Laban's solution: you have to work another seven years to get the other girl, too.)
** Not only that, but both women bring their handmaids into it, too: Rachel because she's barren (for a while), and Leah because, well, she's [[THeUnfavorite the less favored wife]] and has to keep up. So Jacob winds up having four "wives" and a total of 13 children.
* TheAntiChrist (TropeNamer)(or the DarkMessiah, if GodIsEvil)
**Anti-Christ means a substitute or artificial Christ- a reference to the many, many, many insincere attempts to redefine and recreate Christianity in opposition to the apostles' original teaching. Specifically used to describe the early Gnostics groups who were already forming in the apostles' time.
* ThouShaltNotKill (TropeNamer, though technically, it really translates to "You will not ''murder.''" The nation given this command killed often with God's approval- both through capital punishment and God-approved wars. And it clearly doesn't cover animals.
* TimeSkip (the Old Testament and New Testament are separated by about five hundred years of time)
** There is a 400-year gap between the account of the Israelites going into Egypt and them coming out. The Apocrypha assayed to [[{{Filler}} fill in]] the missing time.
*TitleDrop: Averted. The word "bible" can't be found anywhere in the Bible. It's "scripture".
** Mostly due to the fact that the list of canonical scripture as we know it (pretty much no matter which canon you adhere to) wasn't made until long after the books themselves were written. For the standard Christian canon, there was a gap of about 200 years or so between the writing of the last book and the time when the list of canonical books became more-or-less universally accepted within the Church.
* ToHellAndBack: [[spoiler:Jesus']] decent into Hell shortly after his Crucifixion, called "The Harrowing". This is considered DisContinuity by some.
* TooDumbToLive (Delilah tries to get Samson to reveal his weakness, and Samson tests her by [[BluffTheImpostor telling her a false one]]. This fails. While this is very smart by itself, he then allows her to repeat this ''[[RuleOfThree three times]]'' before finally caving in and admitting it's his hair. Honestly, no matter how much you love her, shouldn't you just get rid of her after the ''first'' time she tries to sell you into slavery to your enemies?)
** You forget, LoveMakesYouDumb.
** Or maybe he was just into bondage.
** Pharaoh after seeing that Moses and Aaron have the power of God on their side, is told by Moses that a series of plagues will come to Egypt if he continues to keep the Israelites. Even after this warning, Pharaoh refused and his country suffered for it (Although their was something about God "[[MoralDissonance hardening]] [[MoreThanMindControl his heart]]"). Then after letting them go, he changed his mind again and sent his cavalry after them, and drowning them in the process when the Red Sea the Israelites crossed through closed up on them.
*** [[YourMileageMayVary Arguably]] that was intended more like "(the thought of) God hardened his heart", making it more a straight application.
*** Really? "And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."
* TowerOfBabel (TropeNamer)
* TraumaCongaLine (Job)
* TropeOverdosed (and the TropeMaker, TropeNamer, or TropeCodifier in many cases- what we have here is a book that might even be as influential, if not more, than the LordOfTheRings!)
** Of course, we should bear in mind that it's technically a collection of several dozen books (the exact number depending on the canon you adhere to).
* TurnTheOtherCheek (TropeNamer)
* TwentyBearAsses (Saul offered his daughter's hand in marriage to David, if David could bring him [[GroinAttack 100 Philistine foreskins]]. David one-upped him and brought back 200.)
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (the DistantFinale)
* TheUnfavorite (A number of Israel's neighbor nations, most famously the Philistines. The Israelites were God's chosen people, and charged with warring against several of them. The Israelites however, were not exclusively God's only people, but a representative nation. They lived peaceably with many of their more benign neighbors.)
* UntrustingCommunity
* UnusualEuphemism: A few noteworthy ones:
** "To know" [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow That's what they called it back then]]
** "Feet" is often used in the Old Testament to refer to something a bit higher, IfYouKnowWhatIMean.
** Chapter seven of Song of Solomon describes the wife's navel as "a rounded cup, never lacking in sweet wine." Some scholars argue that "navel" may in fact refer to a [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean more southerly orifice.]]
* TheEvilPrince (Pretty much all of David's sons except for Solomon, each of whom inherited a variety of David's traits except for his faith in God)
* TheUriahGambit (TropeNamer)
* ValuesDissonance The book as whole seems to scream of "I was made thousands of years ago" and many things written there were only relevant to the people of that time. So to modern readers those same things can range from strange to downright horryfing also dependeing on the sort of outlook one has on TheBible itself.
* TheVamp (Delilah, Samson's girlfriend. Also Queen Jezebel)
* VillainWithGoodPublicity ("the Beast" in the DistantFinale)
* VillainousBreakdown (Saul ever since God rejected him)
* VirginSacrifice: Jephthah promised to sacrifice the first thing that came up to his doorway in exchange for a "very great slaughter" of his enemies...then, after a successful battle, his own daughter strolls up. And like an even bigger idiot, he goes ahead and sacrifices her anyway.
** Although many scholars believe this means he brought her to the temple and dedicated her to a life of serving God.
** YourMileageMayVary on whether going through with it (regardless of whether it means the devotional life or actually sacrificing her, ThisTroper has always viewed it as the latter) was "an even bigger idiot" move... [[TemptingFate you don't make promises to]] {{God}} [[DeaderThanDead and not keep your end of the bargain]] if you know what's good for you. The point is more the fact that [[WhatAnIdiot Jephthah was an idiot]] for making the oath in the first place, because God had already promised him victory earlier in the same chapter, and he went ahead and made the promise anyway. Moron.
* VoiceOfTheLegion
* VoodooShark
* WalkingTheEarth: The punishment to the Israelites (they were made to walk around in circles for 40 years) and to Cain. According to Medieval legend, Cain walked all the way to ''the moon''.
* WarriorPoet (David, giant slayer and great musician/poet/dancer)
* WeaksauceWeakness: Apparently, not even an army with the Lord on their side can stand against iron chariots.
* WellIntentionedExtremist (General Joab, who murdered people because he thought they would hinder David's success. Also, one possible interpretation of Judas, who may have desired the Kingdom of Heaven to be restored by physical force.)
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Contains large quantities throughout of illegitimate sex, blood and gore, disease, horribly painful deaths, breaking moral codes, and general villainy. There's probably swear words in there too, if anybody remembered what ancient Hebrew and Greek swear words were.
** Song. Of. Solomon.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic ([[YourHeadASplode Somehow both an aversion *and*]] a TropeMaker)
* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Book of Revelation. That is all.
* WhatTheHellHero (David's MurderTheHypotenuse tactic gets a very angry and critical response from Nathan)
* WhoWantsToLiveForever Adam and Eve are banished from Eden, in part, so that they won't be able to eat from the Tree of Life, causing them to live forever with the curses they received for eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
* WordOfDante: Obviously, the Divine Comedy. But also...
**The whole [[http://newprotestants.com/LUCIFER.htm "Lucifer = Satan" thing.]]
**The bit about Mary Magdalene being a harlot.
**The Antichrist/'false messiah' concept. Revelation describes a despot ruler and his false prophet, but there's nothing about him actually claiming to be any kind of Jewish messiah.
** Judas being the MiserAdvisor who told Jesus that they could have sold the oil and used the funds for the benefit of the pool.
*** Wait, what? This is WordOfGod, e.g. John 12:4-6 (NIV):
--> But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
* WordOfGod (To Catholics: Papal infallibility. Rather reticent to confirm or deny anything though...)
**To everyone, the entire Bible, at lest the parts that particular Sect or Religion considers {{Canon}}.
* WorldsStrongestMan (Samson)
* XanatosGambit (Judith from the Talmud; and possibly Jesus' entire arc, especially considering Judas's vital role.)
* YamatoNadeshiko (Arguably, the Virgin Mary was a ''very'' early version)
* YouFailBiologyForever (some more literal [[FanWank fan interpretations]] perpetuate this)
**Well, I haven't had any luck breeding speckled and striped goats by having my goats conceive in front of speckled and striped sticks. Do let me know if you have better luck.
*** If you gave them colored water to drink, maybe their wool would grow in colored? It works for flamingos ...
**** If you can get flamingoes to develop stripes by feeding them layered liquids (aka, the only way to get stripes in a liquid), please apply for a nobel prize now.
** For the record, Jacob later ''does'' admit that it was God who caused the color change of the goats. The striped-stick thing was effectively an ancient urban legend that Jacob tried to use.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The Garden of Eden
* YoungestChildWins: Abel's sacrifice is accepted, Cain's is not. Isaac is favored by his mother over Ishmael, his older half-brother. Jacob is favored by his mother over Esau, the firstborn twin. Joseph is favored by his father over all his older brothers, as is Benjamin. Moses's degree of prophecy outranks Aaron's. Solomon, David's youngest son, becomes the next king. Etc.
**Clearly, [[WildMassGuessing God is a youngest child.]]
***That... explains a ''lot,'' actually.
**Each of these ''was'' meant to be a subversion of the cultural standard. The story of Jacob and Esau even acknowledges that under normal circumstances Esau's the one who had the birthright coming to him.
***Don't fret. The older brothers got along fine afterwards. Cain founded a city, Ishmael found Allah, Esau made up with Jacob and founded his own nation (which became an enemy of Israel) and neither Joseph nor Benjamin became leader of the 12 tribes. That honor went to Judah, only because his older brothers engaged in incest and mass murder.
* YourMileageMayVary - And how! Some say it's the direct word of the one true God, others say it's just one book among many which are all equally absurd.
** Which would be a silly claim in either case, since The Bible is really more of a compilation of smaller books.
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