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Eight King James Version Printing Errors



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Christian History magazine has put together a special issue commemorating the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. Among the articles about its history and influence is a short piece that highlights eight different printing errors that have appeared in the KJV:

Printers do interesting things to texts sometimes, and the KJV was no exception.  In various printings over the years, certain errors were so egregious that those editions got their own sarcastic titles. Among these:

1. The 'Judas Bible' 1611: This Bible has Judas, not Jesus, saying, 'Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray' (Matthew 26:36).
2. The 'Printers Bible' 1612: In some copies, Psalm 119:161 reads, 'Printers have persecuted me without a cause' rather than 'Princes have persecuted me...'
3. The 'Wicked Bible' 1631: Omits an important 'not' from Exodus 20:14, making the seventh commandment read, 'Thou shalt commit adultery.' The printers were fined £300 and most of the copies were recalled immediately. Only 11 copies are known to exist today.
4. The 'Sin On Bible' 1716: John 8:11 reads, 'Go and sin on more' rather than 'Go and sin no more.'
5. The 'Vinegar Bible' 1717: The chapter heading for Luke 20 reads, 'The Parable of the Vinegar' instead of 'The Parable of the Vineyard.'
6. The 'Fools Bible' 1763: Psalm 14:1 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.
7. The 'Lions Bible' 1804: 1 Kings 8:19 reads, 'thy son that shall come forth out of thy lions,' rather than 'loins.'
8. The 'Owl Bible' 1944: 'Owl' replaces 'own,' making 1 Peter 3:5 read, 'For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their owl husbands.' The error was caused by a printing plate with a damaged letter n.

You may recall from a short time ago that the printers of the ESV have had their issues as well.