The Deck of Cards

Representing the Books of the Bible

"The Deck of Cards" is a narrative song popularized in the late 1940s; a religious tale of a young American soldier arrested and charged with playing cards during a church service. The song became a hit in 1948 by country musician, T. Texas Tyler.

However, the earliest known reference is found in "Mary Bacon's World, A farmer's wife in eighteenth-century Hampshire." The folk story was later recorded in a piece of 19th century British literature called "The Soldier's Almanac, Bible And Prayer Book."

ACE...God (the Person in charge) 
KING...Christ (King of Kings and Lord of Lords) 
QUEEN...The Church (the bride of Christ) 
JACK...The Holy Spirit (confirmation of God's Word) 
10. . . The Plagues (amount used to prove God) 
9. . . Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, gentleness, longsuffering, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance) 
8. . . The Flood (amount of people saved) 
7. . . Forgiveness (forgive 7 times 70) 
6. . . The Creation (the days it took for creation) 
5. . . The Talents (that were doubled for good works) 
4. . . The Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) 
3. . . Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) 
2. . . The Tablets (for the Ten Commandments) 
JOKER. . . Satan (always wild) 

Red and Black . . . The Testaments (Old and New Testaments) 
4 Suits . . . The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) 
12 Face Cards in a Suit . . . The Apostles (Peter, James, John, Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas) 
52 Playing Cards . . . Sundays (The Lord's days per year) 

Submitted by Daphne Jech

Return to the Bible Games page.

Play more Bible games with our Bible Stack-O! Card Game
66 Bible Cards -- Three Ways to Play!




You can make a difference!
Your purchases and donations to the site help to distribute our children's ministry resources to churches across the world.


Subscribe to our Newsletter - Learn More

Site Map