Would you believe that there was once a thou shalt commit adultery typo in the Bible? Did you pick up the mistake? If you did you did a better job than some London printers who made the blunder a few centuries ago. Known as the Evil Bible due to this typo, the line thou shalt commit adultery obviously should have said something completely different.
Here’s a conversation starter for you. Four hundred years ago a couple of printers in London were commissioned to produce king James version of the Bible. For the most part they did a good job, but they will be forever remembered for one little mistake. A mistake that left out just one word. One little word, that when left out has a totally different meaning altogether. That elusive word was “not.”
When the Bible was printed it was discovered that printers had misprinted the seventh commandment. Their version read “thou shalt commit adultery.” It was literally the typo of the century. Not only did they forget to print this one little word, but they made it so much more difficult for themselves when they printed 1,000 copies of the Evil Bible. While most of us reading this article today would find it hilarious, and some may even try to use it as justification for their won straying, the consequences were massive, and surprisingly they can still be felt today.
It must be remembered that back then everyone was deeply religious. Failure to adhere strictly to the teachings of the Bible would have resulted in harsh punishment. That’s why a typo like thou shalt commit adultery was such a big deal.
The result of the blunder was that the printers were fined 300 pounds. That would have been a massive fine at the time, equaling several years wage. The Bible became known as the Evil Bible and they were mostly all destroyed. However, this is where the mistake can still be felt today. A handful of them escaped destruction and can be bought today for close to $100,000, if you have that much cash just sitting about for a great conversation starter.
If you liked this fact you may also like these facts:
- The Dalai Lama eats meat
- Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of prostitutes
- Medieval monks used to complain about their jobs in the margins of religious books
- The Gospel of Eve promoted free sex
