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king james bible, king james version, literature, psalm 46, shakespeare, shakespeare's globe, the bible
The other day I received an intriguing email from Dr. Will Tosh at Shakespeare’s Globe. He had been contacted by someone who wanted him to confirm or deny the story that Shakespeare wrote – or was somehow connected with – the 46th Psalm in the King James Bible. Since this was not a story Will had heard before, his scholarly instincts made him pause before immediately pouring scorn on the idea (though he definitely thought it was untrue), so he asked me if I knew anything about the rumour.
The Psalm 46 legend, as I call it, seems to have been around for slightly over a hundred years. I’ve heard it in various versions, once from an editor I was writing for, once as an improbable story remarked on by a friend (though which friend I can’t remember) and several times online. Like Will, I don’t believe it’s true, or even within the realms of reasonable possibility. “Did Shakespeare write Psalm 46 in the King James Bible?” is a Question To Which The Answer Is No, in internet slang.
In fact, what interests me about the legend in why anyone believes it – or perhaps, why they want to believe it. The story seems to serve different purposes at different stages of its life, and to mean different things to different people. I became so intrigued by this legend that it became my next book project.
The book’s called Shakepeare and the Psalms Mystery – it was great fun to write and hopefully makes for interesting and enjoyable reading. It’s available for £3.99 on Kindle or £8.99 as a paperback. (Or free in Kindle Unlimited.) I hope you find this literary legend as fascinating as I did!
quiteirregular 
“Credo quia absurdum est.”
It’s just one of these wonderful coincidences that seem too good to be true, and so we want to invest the accident with meaning.
And yet, as if to give this story official blessing, Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon display their first edition copy of the King James bible right next to Shakespeare’s grave, always opened on Psalm 46…
(As can be seen in these two blog posts: http://findingshakespeare.co.uk/shakespeare-and-the-bible, and in higher resolution: http://austenaspirations.blogspot.ch/2011/04/how-to-write-like-shakespeare.html)
I began to search for it when Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis (in the Riddle of the Third Mile) began to talk about coincidences and Morse suggested that lewis begins to count in the psalm…. I was very glad to find this absolutely clear and science based analysis.
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This might require some to think “outside the box”, but when you do, the enigmatic pieces fall into place.
The author Shakespeare and the actor were two different people, the latter simply did not have the background required to know of matters of royal court, law, languages etc. to enable him to write the works attributed to him, so let’s remove him from the scenario.
The most probable author was Sir Francis Bacon. He was a follower of the goddess Athena and Athena was known to SHAKE her SPEAR of knowledge.
Bacon as well as being an author in his own right, translated many books from the ancient Latin and Greek, and oversaw those who worked as translators for him. He was in actual fact, the editor of the English version of the King James Bible.
Let that sink in, he was the true author of the work attributed to Shakespeare the actor, AND he was the editor of the bible, so it is very possible he has hidden clues within said book. But the reference that the 46 psalm was written long before the translation occurred, means that the Shakespeare referred to is not the author, but the goddess Athena.
Slippery terrain: does this mean Jove’s daughter, sprang from his brain right into psalm 46 causing earthquakes and split spears to spread the bad news of rage?
Her father’s? Her own?
Ask Ann Bacon if she approves her sons’ leaving traces everywhere…
We had it backwards all along. Shakepeare didn’t put in his name into the Psalm.
No, got his name from the Psalm. Maybe Shakespeare wasn’t really named that at all (Earl of Sandwich?), and after reading Psalm 46 on his 46th birthday – and counting out the 46th words from beginning and end (close enough, anyway) – he decided to employ the two conjoined words as his new pen name. I’m guessing that’s how it played out…
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