Oddities of Biblical Literature
Despite the veneration in which it has been held by mankind for the last nineteen hundred years, the Bible has fared almost as badly at the hands of translators and printers as books of far less importance. Errors made in the course of translating and printing have caused various nicknames to be applied to the editions. Some of the more extraordinary of these editions were described in a recently published catalogue as follows:
The Gutenberg Bible (1450)—The earliest book known. Printed from movable metal types, is the Latin Bible issued by Gutenberg, at Mayence.
The Bug Bible (1551)—Was so called from its rendering of the Psalms xci:5: “Afraid of bugs by night.” Our present version reads: “Terror by night.”
The Breeches Bible—The Geneva version is that popularly known as the Breeches Bible, from its rendering of Genesis iii:7: “Making themselves breeches out of fig-leaves.” This translation of the Scriptures—the result of the labors of the English exiles at Geneva—was the English family Bible during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and till supplanted by the present authorized version of King James I.
The Place-Makers’ Bible (1562)—From a remarkable typographical error which occurs in Matthew v:9: “Blessed are the place-makers,” instead of “peace-makers.”
The Treacle Bible (1568)—From its rendering of Jeremiah viii:22: “Is there no treacle [instead of balm] in Gilead?”
The Rosin Bible (1609)—From the same text, but translated “rosin.”
The Thumb Bible (1670)—Being one inch square and half an inch thick; was published at Aberdeen.
The Vinegar Bible (1717)—So named from the head-line of the twentieth chapter of Luke, which reads: “The Parable of the Vinegar,” instead of the “vineyard.”
The Printers’ Bible—We are told by Cotton Mather that in a Bible printed prior to 1702 a blundering typographer made King David exclaim: “Printers [instead of princes] persecuted him without a cause.” See Psalms cxix:161.
The Murderers’ Bible (1801)—So called from an error in the sixteenth verse of the Epistle of Jude, the word “murderers” being used instead of “murmurers.”
The Caxton Memorial Bible (1877)—Wholly printed and bound in twelve hours, but only one hundred copies struck off.
However much truth there may be in the stories of the dissolute conduct of Shakespeare, there is abundant proof of the fact that the Bible was one of his favorite books. Indeed, his admiration for the Scriptures carried him so far that he frequently incorporated Bible sentences in his plays. The following are examples:
Bible—“But though I be rude in speech.”—2 Corinthians xi:6.
Othello—“Rude am I in speech.”
Bible—“To consume thine eyes and to grieve thine heart.”—1 Samuel ii:33.
Macbeth—“Shew his eyes and grieve his heart.”
Bible—“Look not upon me because I am black; because the sun hath looked upon me.”—Song of Solomon i:6.
Merchant of Venice—“Mislike me not for my complexion—the shadowed livery of the burnished sun.”
Bible—“I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him.”—1 Samuel xvii:35.
Othello—“I took by the throat the circumcised dog, and smote him.”
Bible—“Opened Job his mouth and cursed his day; let it not be joined unto the days of the year; let it not come into the number of months.”—Job.
Macbeth—“May this accursed hour stand ay accursed in the calendar.”
Bible—“What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands.”—Psalms viii:4; Hebrews ii:6.
Hamlet—“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason; how infinite in faculties; in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world—the paragon of animals.”
Bible—“Nicanor lay dead in his harness.”—Maccabees xvii:12.
Macbeth—“We’ll die with harness on our backs.”