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Divine word, human errors

  • Published Saturday, May 7, 2011, at 12:07 a.m.
  • Updated Saturday, May 7, 2011, at 2:23 a.m.

The King James Bible was dogged by misprints and mistakes from the very first editions.

One became known as the "He Bible" because it mistranslated "she" in Ruth 3:15.

The "She Bible" published concurrently got the gender right, but confused Jesus and the traitor Judas Iscariot in Matthew 26:36: "Then cameth Judas with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit yee here, while I goe and pray yonder."

A 1631 edition, known as the "Wicked Bible," said: "Thou shalt commit adultery."

A 1653 edition promised that "the unrighteous will shall inherit the kingdom of God."

In 1795 a Bible had Jesus saying, "let the children first be killed" instead of "filled."

"Vineyard" became "vinegar" in a page heading of the "Vinegar Bible" published by John Baskett in 1716. The edition had so many mistakes that it was mocked as "a Baskettful of errors."

As a 1612 edition said, "printers have persecuted me" — instead of "princes."

— Associated Press

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