Bible that “commands” adultery goes on sale
There you are in church. The pastor opens the Bible, hands it over to an eight-year-old and asks her to read the Ten Commandments.
She starts reading and everyone sobers in holy adoration until she says:
“Commandment number seven says ‘thou shall commit adultery’.”
What?!
The pastor is shocked, and so is almost everyone aside a couple of mischievous congregants who think it’s another church joke.
“Please read it again,” the pastor says in utter disbelief.
“Thou shall commit al….”
“Stop!” a voice from the pew yells.
“Is this some kind of prank? So the Bible actually commands infidelity?”
Well, yes it does. The “Sinners Bible” does.
Reports say 1000 copies of the “Wicked” Bible were printed in 1631 with an obviously “evil” typo omitting the “not” from “Thou shall not commit adultery.”
The printing error was discovered a year later so the publication was suspended.
The printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas were summoned by order of Charles I to court, and found guilty. They were also fined £300, and their printing licence removed, with the entire print run of the offending text called in, and the majority destroyed, The Guardian reports.
Around 10 copies are believed to still exist today, according to Bonhams, which will auction a copy of “the infamous and extremely scarce” text next month.
Bonhams said that it has been suggested that the misprint was not error but an act of sabotage, “possibly perpetrated by Barker’s rival Bonham Norton, to politically embarrass Barker”.
“Certainly the controversy added to Barker’s decline in fortunes and reputation, and he was in and out of the King’s Bench Prison before dying there in 1645,” said the auction house, which has put an asking price of £10,000 to £15,000 on the bible ahead of its 11 November sale date.
“In a sense the jury is still out on why the misprint happened,” said Bonhams specialist Simon Roberts.
“Originally it was thought that it was just a mistake which didn’t get noticed, which to me seems slightly unlikely – if you’re going to check 10 things, then you’d think you would check that page.”
The pastor should’ve checked that page before handing the “Bible” over to the innocent girl.
