In one of the darkest moments in the war between Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders on the TV show The Simpsons, Homer is about to unleash a swarm of locusts on his adversary. “Wow,” crows his son Bart. “Where’d you get that idea?” Homer pulls out a small black-covered book. “The Bible,” he whispers. “It’s the trickster’s bible!”
The Good Book has a reputation for being, well, good. But there’s a host of stories inside that are hair-raising enough to make you gasp–or to appease (or inspire) your inner trickster. Recently, the humor website Cracked.com profiled “The Nine Most Bad@$$ Bible Verses,” starting with Moses “killing an Egyptian and hiding him in the sand,” and going through murder, prostitution, and bear-maulings. And MyJewishLearning’s own list of Ten Surprising Bible Stories offers even more biblical excitement, from a chopped-up concubine to Moses’ magical healing snake.
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