Thursday, February 23, 2006

Puzzle

This puzzle was given to me by a CPC colleague. She tells me that it was written by a woman in California in response to a man in Philadelphia who offered a thousand dollars to anyone who could write a puzzle that he could not solve.

According to the story he was not able to solve it and he paid the money.

Can you solve it? The only clue is that the answer is one word and it appears just four times in the Bible (King James Version). If you figure it out, let me know.

Adam, God made out of dust, but thought it best to make me first,
So I was made before man to answer God’s most holy plan.
A living creature I became and Adam gave to me my name,
And from his presence I then withdrew, and more of Adam never knew;
And did my maker’s law obey, and never went from it astray,
Thousands of miles I go in fear but seldom on the earth appear.
For purpose wise, which God did see, He put a living soul in me.
A soul from me God did reclaim, and took from me the soul again.
So when from me the soul had fled I was the same as when first made,
I labour hard by day and night; to fallen men I give great light,
Thousands of people, young and old, will by my death great light behold.
No right, no wrong can I conceive; the scripture I cannot believe.
Although my name is therein found, they are to me an empty sound.
No fear of death doth trouble me, real happiness I never see.
To heaven I shall never go, or even to the hell below,
Now when these lines you slowly read, or search your Bible with all speed,
For that my name is written there, I do honestly to you declare!
WHO AM I?

And in case you are wondering, I am NOT giving away a thousand dollars if you can solve it!

Barry

2 comments:

Mike said...

The WHALE that swallowed up Jonas
("He put a living soul in me.
A soul from me God did reclaim, and took from me the soul again.
So when from me the soul had fled..." this describes Jonas)

Mike said...

Actually, it's WHALE (any whale, because the riddle said it saw Adam.)