Shakespeare and the Bible Shakespeare and the Bible Author Tausha Hewlett Supervising Editor Kate McPherson Editor Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Early Modern England Encyclopedia EMEE

Anthology Leads: Kate McPherson and Kate Moncrief.

 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globablink Research Internship

Released with Early Modern England Encyclopedia 1.0a

 University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform

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Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Tausha Hewlett, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines

This document uses Canadian English spelling

 Document Types All documents in LEMDO are either born-digital documents or primary documents. Within those two general categories, LEMDO offers additional ways to categorize a file. Born-digital Born-digital documents are anything other than primary texts Critical Critical material, such as a general introduction or a textual introduction. Responsibilities Responsibilities Author A person, family, or organization responsible for creating a work that is primarily textual in content, regardless of media type (e.g., printed text, spoken word, electronic text, tactile text) or genre (e.g., poems, novels, screenplays, blogs). Use also for persons, etc., creating a new work by paraphrasing, rewriting, or adapting works by another creator such that the modification has substantially changed the nature and content of the original or changed the medium of expression. LEMDO uses the term author in two contexts: (1) to indicate the author of a primary work or document (such as Hamlet), and (2) to indicate the author of a secondary text (such as the Critical Introduction to <title level="m">Hamlet, by David Bevington). Editor A person, family, or organization contributing to a resource by revising or elucidating the content, e.g., adding an introduction, notes, or other critical matter. An editor may also prepare a resource for production, publication, or distribution. For major revisions, adaptations, etc., that substantially change the nature and content of the original work, resulting in a new work, see author. LEMDO uses the general term editor only in edition metadata and only to indicate when a person is responsible for editing all parts of an edition. Otherwise, use the more granular terms to describe the precise nature of the editorial role. Supervising Editor An editor who supervises the work of a student editor. Copy Editor LEMDO uses the term owner for the person who checks facts, quotations, and citations; may make formatting changes; may convert from one citation style to another; may suggest wording changes; and enforces conformity with the project style guide. Markup Editor A person or organization performing the coding of SGML, HTML, or XML markup of metadata, text, etc. Gloss needed. Copyright Holder A person or organization to whom copy and legal rights have been granted or transferred for the intellectual content of a work. The copyright holder, although not necessarily the creator of the work, usually has the exclusive right to benefit financially from the sale and use of the work to which the associated copyright protection applies. Normally the editor is the copyright holder for an LEMDO edition. EMEE Keywords Culture Learn about the customs, beliefs, and daily lives of people in early modern England. Daily Life Education Language Education Literacy Published file. Updated metadata proofed textual change. Review of article finished. Created File. Michael Best Michael Best

Michael Best is Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, BC. He founded the Internet Shakespeare Editions in 1996, and was Coordinating Editor until 2017, contributing two editions to the ISE: King John and King Lear (the latter also available in print from Broadview Press). In print, he has published editions of works of Elizabethan magic and huswifery, a collection of letters from the Australian goldfields, and Shakespeare on the Art of Love (2008). He contributed regular columns for the Shakespeare Newsletter on Electronic Shakespeares, and has written many articles and chapters for both print and online books and journals, principally on questions raised by the new medium in the editing and publication of texts. He has delivered papers and plenary lectures on electronic media and the Internet Shakespeare Editions at conferences in Canada, the USA, the UK, Spain, Australia, and Japan.

 Leah Hamby Leah Hamby

Leah Hamby is the primary encoder for the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Aside from encoding, she also works as an editor for the project and contributed several articles of her own. She has been working on the EMEE since February 2023. As of February 2026, she is soon to graduate with honours from Utah Valley University with a major in history and a minor in creative writing. Her other work with the LEMDO program includes remediating William Kemp’s Kemp’s Nine Day’s Wonder for the Digital Renaissance Editions.

 Tausha Hewlett Tausha Hewlett

Tausha Helwett was a student at Utah Valley University.

 Navarra Houldin Navarra Houldin

Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.

 Kate McPherson Kate McPherson

Kate McPherson is Professor of English and Honors Program Director at Utah Valley University (Orem, UT, USA). In 2015, she began working to redevelop Shakespeare’s Life and Times, created by Michael Best, into the Early Modern England Encyclopedia. Her other publications include commentary on Pericles and The Comedy of Errors for the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016); the co-edited volumes Stages of Engagement: Drama and Religion in Post-Reformation England with James Mardock (Duquesne University Press, 2014) and Shakespeare Expressed: Page, Stage, and Classroom in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, with Kathryn M. Moncrief and Sarah Enloe (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013). With Kathryn M. Moncrief, Kate has also two edited collections, Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance (Ashgate, 2011) and Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate 2008). She has also published numerous articles on early modern maternity in scholarly journals. Kate participated in the 2008 National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, Shakespeare’s Blackfriars: The Study, the Stage, the Classroom, at the American Shakespeare Center. She also served as Play Seminar Director, a public humanities position, for the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2017 and 2018.

 LEMDO Team The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators, encoders, and remediating editors. University of Victoria https://www.uvic.ca/
The Bible in Elizabethan England

Early modern English culture was shaped around the Bible, with Christianity strongly emphasized in the daily lives of the people. The Church of England, a Protesant version of Christianity, started in 1533, after Henry VIII separated England from the Church of Rome. Officially, attendance at Church of England services was mandatory, and those who didn’t attend church regularly risked fines. These restrictions created a degree of religious uniformity in which people came to know the Bible in a Protestant context.

Shakespeare and other authors of the period attended Church of England services, learning the passages from the official English translation of the Bible, called the Bishops’ Bible, and hearing sermons and homilies that everyone else was also being taught. Previous to the founding of the Church of England, church rituals and readings occured in Latin rather than English. Being steeped in the same biblical language and stories enabled authors to add meaning to their works through biblical allusions that their audience would very likely understand.

What Bible Did Shakespeare Use?

The Geneva Bible, first printed in 1560, was widely used during Shakespeare’s time because of its small, portable size. From the wording used in Shakespeare’s biblical allusions, scholars have determined that Shakespeare relied mainly on language from the Geneva Bible for much of his writing. Despite the Geneva Bible’s popularity for personal use, the Bishop’s Bible, first printed in 1568, was the bible people heard in church every week. The King James Bible, formally called the Authorised Version was published near the end of Shakespeare’s life and writing career, in 1611. The King James Bible would not have been available for Shakespeare to use when writing his the vast majority of his plays.

References to the Bible

Playwrights of the period knew their audiences would share a common context of biblical stories, people, and places. They frequently reference the Bible, sometimes obviously, sometimes more subtly. The following are some of the many references made to the Bible in Shakespeare’s works: In As You Like It, Orlando asks, Shall I keep your hogs and eat husks with them? What prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury? (1.1.28–29) referencing the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:16). Loves Labors Lost (4.3.125) and (4.3.360–362) alludes to Romans 13:9–10; You found his mote; the king your mote did see; But I a beam do find in each of thee. In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock references Daniel (4.1.219–220) as well as Abram and Jacob (1.3.52–55). The Winter’s Tale, the line Therefore my heart danceth for joy(1.2.110–111) is an allusion to Psalm 28. In Henry IV, Part 1, Falstaff says, ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth (4.2.25), referring to Lazarus who was crucified alongside Christ, and in Henry IV, Part 2 says, I’m poor as Job (1.2.129). The Merry Wives of Windsor combines Psalm 137 with a love song (3.1.23–25). Richard II alludes to Golgotha, the place of Christ’s crucifixion (4.1.149) and also features John of Gaunt’s comparison of England to the Garden of Eden (2.1.42–44). The Comedy of Errors has a line about Noah’s flood (3.2.91–92). The title of the play Measure for Measure is a reference to Matthew 7:2 or Mark 4:24.

Why Did Shakespeare Allude to the Bible So Often?

Despite the many examples of biblical allusions in his works, Shakespeare referenced the Bible less frequently than many writers of his time. Shakespeare was not an overtly religious playwright compared to some of his peers. But biblical language was central to early modern English culture, so allusions to biblical stories and words were a kind of shorthand to add meaning and depth to his words and characters, while also appealing to the religious perspectives of the time.

Did Shakespeare Translate the King James Bible?

Some speculation exists that Shakespeare was part of the group of scholars commissioned to create the 1611 translation of the Bible we know as the King James Bible. However, there is no direct evidence that he was part of the project. Amongst the many records and lists of people who participated in the translation, Shakespeare was not one of them. In addition to that, his language limitations in Greek and Hebrew would have excluded him from translation efforts.

Interestingly, when the Bible translation was completed, Shakespeare was 46, and in Psalm 46, 46 words down, is the word shake and from the bottom of the verse, 46 words up, is the word, spear. This may be an entertaining coincidence, but it remains fodder for theorists rather than scholars.

Continuing Cultural Relevance

With the predominance of Christianity in the western world, the Bible remains an important part of literature and culture. Even after hundreds of years and monumental changes in everyday life, Shakespeare’s biblical allusions continue to connect people to his writing and give depth to the messages and purposes of his plays.

Key Print Sources Hamlin, Hannibal. The Bible in Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 2013. Hassel, Chris R. Shakespeare’s Religious Language: A Dictionary. Continuum, 2007. Kastan, David Scott. A Will to Believe: Shakespeare and Religion. Oxford University Press, 2014. Shaheen, Naseeb. Biblical References in Shakespeare’s Plays. University of Delaware Press, 2011.
Key Online Sources Beauregard, David N. Shakespeare and the Bible. Religion and the Arts vol. 5, no. 3, Sep. 2001, pp. 317–330. Best, Michael. Shakespeare and the Bible. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria, 4 Jan. 2011. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/religion/bible+1.html. Kastan, David Scott, and Neva Grant. Shakespeare and Religion: There Are More Things in Heaven and Earth, Than Are Dreamt of In Your Philosophy. Shakespeare Unlimited. Folger Shakespeare Library, 1 June 2016. https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/religion/.