The King James Version of the Bible was published in 1611. King James I initiated this new translation of the Scriptures into English in 1604, shortly after being crowned. That means the translation was in the process of being made from 1604-1611, a period in which Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote some of his greatest plays and during which his sonnets were published. The Book of Psalms, included in the Old Testament, is a collection of poetry and songs in praise of God, most of which are attributed to King David. Some have claimed that Psalm 46 has a special connection with William Shakespeare. Examine the psalm carefully and post in your comments below what you think that connection may be. Hint: Ignore the word Selah, used three times in the psalm.The numbers in the left margin are the verse numbers of the psalm. Further hint: It has something to do with the number 46.
Try to come up with an answer on your own. Googling or doing other internet searches is not allowed. If you already know, please don't tell anyone else.
Try to come up with an answer on your own. Googling or doing other internet searches is not allowed. If you already know, please don't tell anyone else.
Psalm 46 King James Version (KJV)
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Shakespeare's involvement with the King James version of the bible is that the 46th word of Psalm 46 is shake and the 46th word from the end of psalm 46 is spear.
ReplyDeletethe 46th word if you count from the beginning is shake and if you count from the end into the middle, the 46th word is spear.
ReplyDeleteEmily Applewhite
The 46th word in the psalm, ignoring the "Selah" phrase, is "shake", and the 46th-to-last word is "spear"; it's very unlikely that this would happen coincidentally.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word is shake and the 46th line from the bottom in spear
ReplyDeleteStarting from the beginning of Psalm 46 and ignoring the word "selah", shake is the 46th word. Doing the same thing but starting from the end, spear is the 46th word.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the beginning is shake, and from the end is spear.
ReplyDeleteThe connection between Shakespeare and Psalm 46 is his age. Shakespeare was born in 1564 and the Bible, containing Psalm 46, was published by King James in 1611. The difference between these two years is 47, which means that Shakespeare would have been 46/47 when Psalm 46 was published. Therefore, Psalm 46 and Shakespeare have a connection through age. Also, the 46th word is "shake" and the 46th word from the bottom is "spear."
ReplyDeleteShake is the 46th word in the passage and spear is the 46th to last word.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word of the Psalms is shake. The 46th from the end is spear.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the top is shake, and the 46th word from the bottom is spear in Psalm 46. This is most likely to honor Shakespeare and his work.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word in the Psalm is "shake". Starting from the bottom, the 46th to last word is "spear".
ReplyDeleteIgnoring the word selah, the 46th word is shake, and the 46th word from the bottom is spear.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the beginning is shake and the 46th word from the end is sphere (if you ignore the word Selah.)
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word is shake from the beginning and spear from the bottom up.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word is shake, then starting from the bottom the 46th word is spear.
ReplyDeleteSkakespear!
Counting from the beginning, the 46th word is shake. Counting from the end, the 46th word is speare. SHAKESPEARE
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the top is "shake" and the 46th word from the bottom is "spear". I would be surprised if this is a coincidence.
ReplyDelete46th word of Shakespeare is spear while the 46th word is shake.
ReplyDeleteIf you count from the start, the 46th word is shake. If you count from the end, the 46th word is spear. Add them together, you get shakespear, or Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteCounting from the top the 46th word is shake and counting form the bottom the 46th word is spear. Adding them together gets you the word Shakespear which resembles Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from top is shake and the 46th word from the bottom is spear
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear
ReplyDeleteStarting from the beginning of Psalm 46, the 46th word is "shake". Starting from the end, the 46th word is spear. Putting them together, you get shake-spear or can be seen as Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteIn psalm 46, If you count 46 words from the beginning, you will find "shake" in the third section. If you count 46 words from the end, you fill find "spear" in the ninth section. Adding these two words together creates "Shakespeare"
ReplyDelete46 words into Psalm 46 is the word shake, and 46 words from the end of Psalm 46 is the word spear.
ReplyDeleteIf you count 46 words in to Psalm, the 46th word is shake. If you count 46 words in from the bottom of Psalm, the 46th word is spear.
ReplyDeleteIf you start from the beginning and count 46 words, you will find the word "shake". If you start from the end and count 46 words, you will find the word "spear".
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the start of the psalm is Shake (ignoring selah). The 46th word from the end is Spear. Together, they spell Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from top is shake and the 46th word from the bottom is spear
ReplyDeleteShake is the 46th word from the top and spear is the 46th word from the end
ReplyDeleteShakespeare did slip his name into the bible verse psalm 46.Because the 46 line from the top is shake and from the bottom line if you go up 46 then you see speare
ReplyDeleteThe connection between the two is that the 46th word from the beginning is shake, and spear is the 46th to last word.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the beginning of the verse is shake and the 46th word from the end is spear and the verses are from Psalm 46.
ReplyDeleteIf you count 46 words from the beginning, the 46th word is "shake", and if you reverse this and count 46 words back from the end, the 46th word from the ending is "spear"
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the top in this passage is shake and the 46th word from the end of psalm 46 is spear.
ReplyDeleteShake is the 46th word from the beginning and spear is the 46th word towards the end of the passage.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word in the beginning of Psalm is the word, shake, and the 46th word from the end is the word, spear.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word is shake and the 46th from the bottom is spear.
ReplyDeleteIf you count 46 words from the top and from the bottom (not including Selah) you find "shake" and "spear"
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the top is shake and the 46th word from the bottom is spear.
ReplyDeletethe 46th word from the beginning is shake, and the 46th from the bottom is spear.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word in Psalm 46 is the word shake. From the end, the 46th word is spear. Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the top of the passage is shake and the 46th word from the end is spear.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word into the psalm is "shake" and the 46th from the end is spear. Together these spell out the name of Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteShake is the 46th word in the passage and spear is the 46th to last word.
ReplyDeleteDN
the 46th word and 46th word from the bottom make out "Shakespeare". This may be a coincidence, or Shakespeare/an admirer of Shakespeare worked on this.
ReplyDeleteThe 46th word from the beginning is shake and the 46th word from the end is spear. At the time the translation was published, Shakespeare was 46 years old. 46 is also the number of the Psalm.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare has a connection with the psalms in the King James Version of the bible. Shake is the 46th word, and spear is the 46th to last word in the psalm.
ReplyDelete