On Reformation Sunday we often sing or read Psalm 46, from which “A Mighty Fortress” is derived. Here’s something interesting from Mark Allan Powell:
“Here is a fun piece of Bible trivia: in Psalm 46 in the King James Version of the Bible, the forty-sixth word from the beginning (not counting the psalm’s superscription) is shakes, and the forty-sixth word from the ending (not counting the “Selah”) is spear. The King James Bible was completed in 1610, the year that William Shakespeare celebrated his forty-sixth birthday. Many literature scholars think the the translators of the Bible, who were big fans of the Bard’s work, snuck a birthday tribute to Shakespeare into the Word of God itself.” (Powell, “Introducing the New Testament,” p. 103)
