The "Monochrome Bible" - missing red-letter text from 1-Timothy (huh?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter DavidFilmer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DavidFilmer

Guest
I was reading a Bible errata article on Wikipedia, which lists many typesetting goofs (some of which are rather funny - the Sinner’s Bible: “Thou shalt commit adultery.” oops.)

The article mentions a rather recent (and expensive) printing mistake:
“Monochrome Bible” 1990s: A large American Bible publisher produced a new Red letter edition, bound in leather. A mistake was made in printing the Book of Timothy and the film plate containing the red letter text was omitted. Thousands of the misprinted bibles had to be destroyed.
But, waitaminute - there’s not supposed to be any red-letter text in 1-Timothy, is there??? There is no such text in my red-letter NAB. I’m pretty sure that 1Cor is the only epistle that ought to have red letters (when Paul describes the institution of the Eucharist), although some publishers will color the text of words spoken by “the Lamb” in Revelation. But 1-Timothy???

(the Wiki article actually says only “the Book of Timothy,” without specifying which one. By convention, this would normally imply the first Epistle, but I am pretty sure that 2-Timothy should not contain any red lettering either.)

The source of the information cited in Wiki is a printed book that I don’t have (it is a real book, but the description on Amazon doesn’t inspire me with confidence in its scholarship). Attempting to search for more information just turns up a lot of pages which cite the same wording as the Wiki article, and nothing else.

What missing red-letter text in 1-Timothy (or 2-Timothy) could have caused the destruction of thousands of expensive leather-bound Bibles?
 
You place too much trust in Wikipedia. It is not a reliable source on ***any ***subject.
 
An erratum for the errata?

I have raised the issue on the article’s talk page. If there are no adequate responses for about a week or so, I will just delete the so-called fact.
 
My red-letter edition of the NAB (Catholic Bible Press, 1987) presents part of 1Timothy 5:18 in red letters. More specifically, it is the phrase, “A worker deserves his pay”. Paul seems to have had the Old Testament references in mind because he prefaces this with, “For the scripture says…”. But because Jesus also quoted this OT saying in Luke and Matthew, the publishers of my NAB decided to put it in red letters. That is the only phrase treated as such in either letter to Timothy (in my particular edition of the NAB). Whether or not this is definitely the verse in question concerning the Monochrome Bible situation, I can’t say.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top