Bible errata
Throughout history,
heretical
by some.
Manuscript Bibles
The Book of Kells, c. 800
The Book of Kells features two errors within its text:
- The genealogy of Jesus, in the Gospel of Luke, lists an extra ancestor in Luke 3:26.[2] This error is considered to have resulted from the transcriber reading the phrase "QUI FUIT MATHATHIAE" as "QUI FUIT MATHATH, with the "IAE" being considered an additional individual, resulting in the lines "QUI FUIT MATHATH" and the additional "QUI FUIT IAE", rather than the singular "QUI FUIT MATHATHIAE".[3]
- In the
The Book of Deer, 10th century
The Scottish Book of Deer in Cambridge University Library has a number of errors. In the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, it has Seth as the first man and grandfather of Adam.[5]
Printed Bibles
Coverdale
- "Bug Bible": which?] was actually first used by George Joye, whose translations of the Psalms were seen through the press by Coverdale before he translated the Old Testament.[8]This use of the word "bugge" was repeated in Matthew's Bible, 1537, but not in the Great Bible of 1539, where Coverdale replaced it with "terrour".
Edmund Becke's Bibles
- "Wife-Beater's Bible" (1549; 1551): A footnote to 1 Peter 3:7,[9] inserted by Edmund Becke, reads "And if she be not obediente and healpeful unto hym, endevoureth to beate the fere of God into her heade, that thereby she may be compelled to learne her dutye and do it."[10]
The Great Bible
- "Treacle Bible" (Beck's Bible): In the 1549 edition of the Great Bible, Jeremiah 8:22[11] was translated "Is there no tryacle [treacle] in Gilead?" Modern translations usually render the Hebrew צֹ֫רִי (tsorî) as "balm" or "medicine" instead.[12] In Early Modern English, "treacle" could mean "a cure-all" as well as "molasses."
Geneva
- "Breeches Bible" 1579: Whittingham, Gilby, and Sampson: translated in Genesis 3:7[13] as "and they sowed figge-tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches."[14] (This less-precise translation was glossed in the margin with a more accurate, albeit longer, translation.) The accepted meaning of חֲגֹרֹֽת (ḥăḡōrōṯ) is "coverings" (the KJV has "aprons").
- "Place-makers' Bible" 1562: the second edition of the Geneva Bible, Matthew 5:9[15] reads "Blessed are the placemakers: for they shall be called the children of God"; it should read "peacemakers".[16]
- In its chapter heading for Luke 21, the Place-makers' Bible has "Christ condemneth the poor widow", rather than "commendeth".[17]
Douai
- "Rosin Bible" 1610: Jeremiah 8:22stringed instruments to provide friction with the strings.[19]
- "Manchester edition" 1793: The heading on Chapter 3 of Leviticus and the first verse has "bees" rather than "beeves" (plural of beef). It reads: "How the pacifique hosts must be of bees, sheep, lambs and goats" ("pacifique hosts" meaning peace offerings).[20]
King James
In various printings of the King James Version of the Bible, some of the more famous examples have been given their own names. Among them are:
- "Judas Bible", from 1613: This Bible has Judas, not Jesus, saying "Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray" (Matthew 26:36).[22][23] A second folio edition printed by Robert Barker, printer to King James I, is held in St. Mary's Church, Totnes, Devon. In this copy, the misprint has been covered with a small slip of paper glued over the name of Judas.[c]
- "Printers Bible", from 1612: In some copies, Psalm 119:161[24] reads, "Printers have persecuted me without a cause", rather than "Princes have persecuted me..."[25]
- "Wicked Bible", "Adulterous Bible" or "Sinner's Bible", from 1631: Barker and Lucas: Omits an important "not" from Exodus 20:14,[26] making the seventh commandment read "Thou shalt commit adultery." An 1886 study of Star Chamber case reports suggests that this was just one of the "two grossest errors" in the printing, alongside Deuteronomy 5:24,[27] which read "the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his great-asse" instead of the correct "greatness[e]".[28] However, this second error does not appear in any extant copy of the Bible.[29] The printers were fined £300 and most of the copies were recalled immediately. Only 11 copies are known to exist today.[30]
- "More Sea Bible", from 1641: "...the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was more sea", rather than "...the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea", from Revelation 21:1[31][32]
- "Unrighteous Bible" or "Wicked Bible", from 1653, Cambridge Press: Another edition carrying this title omits a "not" before the word "inherit", making 1 Corinthians 6:9[33] read "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?". In addition, Romans 6:13[34] reads "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness into sin", where it should read "unrighteousness".[35]
- "Sin On Bible", from 1716: Jeremiah 31:34[36][37] reads "sin on more" rather than "sin no more".
- "Vinegar Bible", from 1717: J. Baskett, Clarendon Press: The chapter heading for Luke 20 reads "The Parable of the Vinegar" instead of "The Parable of the Vineyard." One reviewer called this particular edition "a Baskett full of errors," what with its being replete with numerous other specimens of typographical errata throughout. One copy sold for $5,000 in 2008.[38]
- "The Fools Bible", from 1763: Psalm 14:1[39] reads "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God", rather than "there is no God". The printers were fined £3,000 and all copies ordered destroyed.[40]
- "Murderer's Bible", from 1801: "Murmurers" is printed as "murderers", making Jude 16 read: "These are murderers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage."[41]
- "To-remain Bible", from 1805: In Galatians 4:29,[42] a proof-reader had written in "to remain" in the margin, as an answer to whether a comma should be deleted. The note inadvertently became part of the text, making the edition read "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit to remain, even so it is now."[43]
- "Standing Fishes Bible", from 1806: "Fishes" replaced "fishers" making Ezekiel 47:10[44] read "And it shall come to pass, that the fishes shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many."[45]
- "Wife-hater Bible", from 1810: "Wife" replaces "life" in this edition, making Luke 14:26[46] redundantly read "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own wife also, he cannot be my disciple."[47]
- "The Large Family Bible", from 1820: Isaiah 66:9[48] reads: "Shall I bring to birth and not cease to bring forth?" rather than "Shall I bring to birth and not cause to bring forth?".
- "Rebecca's Camels Bible", from 1823: "Camels" replaces "damsels" in one instance, making Genesis 24:61[49] read "And Rebecca arose, and her camels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebecca and went his way."
- "Owl Bible", from 1944: "Owl" replaces "own", making 1 Peter 3:5[50] read, "For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their owl husbands." The error was caused by a printing plate with a damaged letter n.[51]
Fictional Bible errata
- In the novel Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett created the "Buggre Alle This Bible" of 1651 (and the Charing Cross Bible). The typesetter replaced Ezekiel 48:5 with a rant complaining about his job. It also has three extra verses at the end of Genesis 3 about the loss of the flaming sword by the angel Aziraphale, added by Aziraphale himself, a character in the story.
- In the BBC science-fiction sitcom 1 Corinthians13:13 reads "Faith, hop and charity, and the greatest of these is hop." The membership consequently spent every Sunday hopping. Rimmer says he never agreed with the faith, but claims to be liberal on religious matters.
- poisonwood!"
- In the novel The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by the Swedish author Jonas Jonasson, a Bible erratum plays heavily into the plot. The Bibles in question carry an extra verse (Revelation 22:22), reading "And they all lived happily ever after".
Notes
- ^ According to a note in St Mary's Church, Totnes, Cornwall
- dynamic equivalence style or a paraphrasiticstyle, are not included in this list.
- ^ According to a note in St Mary's Church, Totnes, Cornwall
References
- ^ Matthew 26:36
- ^ Luke 3:26
- ^ Sullivan, Edward (1920). The Book of Kells. The Studio. p. 120.
- ^ Nathan, George Jean Nathan; Henry Louis Mencken (1951). The American Mercury. p. 572.
The compilers of the late seventh century manuscript, The Book of Kells, refused to adopt St. Jerome's phrase "I come not to bring peace but a sword." (" ... non pacem sed gladium.") To them the phrase made no sense and they altered it ...
- ^ Stuart, John (1869). The Book of Deer. Spalding club. pp. xxxii.
- ^ Stauffer - The Queer, The Quaint, & The Quizzical, 1882, p. 8, Francis Henry Shauffer
- ISBN 0-439-85479-2)
- ^ Charles C. BUTTERWORTH, & Allan G. CHESTER, George Joye (1495?–1553). A Chapter in the History of the English Bible and the English Reformation, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962, pp. 139–142; p. 145. n. 25. Gerald HOBBS, "Martin Bucer and the Englishing of the Psalms: Pseudonimity in the Service of Early English Protestant Piety", in D.F. WRIGHT (ed.), Martin Bucer. Reforming Church and Community, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 169–170.)
- ^ 1 Peter 3:7
- ISBN 9780801022821.
P 64.
- ^ Jeremiah 8:22
- ^ "Treacle Bible". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Genesis 3:7
- ^ "Breeches Bible". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Matthew 5:9
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Jeremiah 8:22
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- JPG). Farm2.static.flickr.com. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ Exodus 20:14
- ^ Matthew 26:36
- ISBN 9780802833907. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Psalm 119:161
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Exodus 20:14
- ^ Deuteronomy 5:24
- ISBN 9780384197602. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ISBN 978-0199693016. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ^ L. Brown, DeNeen. "The Bible Museum's 'Wicked Bible': Thou Shalt Commit Adultery". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
- ^ Revelation 21:1
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ 1 Corinthians 6:9
- ^ Romans 6:13
- S2CID 170449311. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ Jeremiah 31:34
- ^ Paul, William E. (April–June 2003). "Curiosities in Bible Editions". Bible Editions & Versions. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- ^ "'Vinegar Bible' returns to Lunenburg". Anglican Journal. Vol. 134, no. 8. 2008-10-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
- ^ Psalm 14:1
- ISBN 978-1906032708.
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Galatians 4:29
- ISBN 9780802833907. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Ezekiel 47:10
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Luke 14:26
- ISBN 978-0-19-974391-9. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Isaiah 66:9
- ^ Genesis 24:61
- ^ 1 Peter 3:5
- ISBN 9780802833907. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
External links
- The Examiner – Incidental Bible Facts – Charles A. Holt – Publisher: Truth & Freedom Ministry, Inc., Chattanooga, TN (USA)
- The New Schaff-Herzog – Bible Versions
- "Bibles With Misprints or Unusual Renderings"
- The History of the English Bible: Part I: From Wycliffe to King James
- Russell, Ray. "The Wicked Bibles" Theology Today, Vol. 37, No. 3, October 1980.
- William Rose Benét, The Reader's Encyclopedia, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1965
- Searching for the Better Text: How errors crept into the Bible and what can be done to correct them Biblical Archaeology Society
- Ten Surprising (yet indisputable) Bible translation errors that should effect (sic) your walk, February 11, 2010, Home Shalom