It’s been said that religions are all a giant game of telephone — you pass down stories generation after generation and there’s plenty of opportunity for mistranslations along the way.

The Guardian‘s David Shariatmadari has now compiled a list of the top ten biblical typos — actual mistakes that made their way into “official” copies of the book. Like this one:

‘Peace on Earth and good will toward men’ A lovely, all-encompassing sentiment for Christmas, this is what an angel said to the shepherds on a hill near Bethlehem, according to the King James version. Except that a more accurate translation of the Greek is “peace on Earth to people he favours”, he being God. So if you like peace, you’d better be in his good books.

Though my personal favorite has to be this one:

‘Let the children first be killed’ This is very awkward. It’s Mark 7:27 and it’s supposed to be: “Let the children first be filled.” A 1795 edition of the King James version.

Awkward…

And all the more reason never to take the book literally.

You can check out the full list here.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Anu for the link)



