In the days before spell check, printer errors occasionally crept into the King James Version of the Bible. Here are some of the most notable:
— In a 1612 edition, Psalm 119:161 read “Printers have persecuted me without cause,” instead of “princes.” Perhaps a Freudian slip by the copy editor.
The Bible that I grew up with was a “Vinegar Bible”. I received it in 1944 when I started 3rd grade at St. Peter’s Lutheran School in Monte Vista, Colorado. As with all my textbooks, I read it…or tried to. I have probably read the parable of the vineyard more times than any other living person; I was too shy(proud?) to ask why I could not find the word “vinegar” in the parable. Must have been about 1946 or 47 that our teacher finally explained to us that the headings above the chapters in the Bible were not “divinely inspired” and could contain errors. What a relief that was!
I only wish I had been smart enough to hold on to that Bible, even though the cover was about worn off and the pages had thinned along the edges, when I went off to college and was required to purchase and use the RSV for all my Bible History and Interpretation classes.
Frances S. Scott
My favorite is the so-called “Fool’s Bible” which has the error:
The fool has said in his heart, there is God.
The Bible has some great one liners even when correctly rendered.
[i]I will accept no bull from your house…[/i]
-Psalms 50:9
HT: Bishop Benjamin
Thank you #3. The perfect response for theological discussions here in N Mich.
Of course, a spell checker would have happily approved “printers” for “princes.” It might, in it’s wisdom, have corrected a lot of Biblical names into English words while it was at it. We are a long ways off from not needing a human being to proof read!
Let him who steals, steal. No longer let him labor, working with his hands.
One small change from a man, so many implications for mankind…
Don’t let Bob Jones University get wind of this. Professors will be having heart attacks in the street.