Legend has it that Shakespeare had a hand in the King James Bible’s translation of Psalm 46.
The King James Bible took the better part of seven years to create, worked on by six teams of scholars poring over Hebrew and Greek texts alongside earlier English Bibles.
While that work was underway, Shakespeare was alive and working right there in London, already the most admired playwright in England. He turned 46 in 1610, the year before the Bible’s publication.
Here’s the striking part: count 46 words in from the start of Psalm 46, and you land on “shake.” Count 46 words back from the end, and you land on “spear.” Shakespeare, at 46.
Historians disagree on how the pattern got there. Whether the Bard had a hand in it or whether this legend is much ado about nothing, we will likely never know!
