46

Okay, get this. If you have a King James Bible in your house, remember to do this. If not, you can find it online here.

Go to Psalm 46. Count 46 words into the psalm. Note the word. Then go to the end (disregarding selah, which is kinda like “amen”), and count 46 words back. What pair of words do you now have?

Shake

and

Spear.

Hmmm.

Did William Shakespeare translate the King James Bible?

Another tantalizing clue: In 1610, when the KJV was completed, Shakespeare would have been 46 years old. That’s a lot of 46es being thrown around here.

As it turns out, conventional wisdom says that, no, the Bard was not one of the translators commissioned by King James to revise and reform the various English translations of the bible floating around at the time. There were 42 highly accomplished and remarkable men publically acknowledged to have worked on the KJV. Truly amazing specimens of humanity. Men who’ve memorized the Bible forward and backward and could converse at length in ancient languages. At best – at the very, very best – Shakespeare may have contributed in some small, anonymous way.

Could this be his “easter egg”, his hidden message saying “Will was here”? Did this 46-year old man work on Psalm 46, split his name in half and insert the first half 46 words in and the second half 46 words from the end? Or is it just a random coincidence, as a work of literature the size and scope of the KJV is bound to contain?

I don’t know, but it’s one of the many, many odd and fascinating things I’m finding out about Shakespeare. Man, I need a year off to study him fully …