"• Due to a slight mistranslation, Revelation 13:18 is usually written as "the number of the beast ... is 666", instead of the correct "... is 6 by 6 by 6." Hence, the number of the beast is actually 216, not 666."

Although it is true that the number of the devil is not 666, it is not 216, but 616. The BBC (UK) TV program QI says so.

mama says numbers are de devil!

As with most Gullible.Info facts, this one is the result of original research by our team of researchers and fact checkers.

Going through their notes, I see that they found this by the obvious approach. They transcribed an early copy of the New Testament, did a translation from Old Greek to English using a current understanding of the language, and then looked for any obvious differences between that and commonly available versions.

There were, of course, hundreds of differences. However, only a few of them were interesting, and we'll surely be posting others in the future.

The problem in this case was that the original Greek read "είναι έξι από έξι από έξι", which as you may know, could be read either as "6,6,6" or "6 by 6 by 6" in modern Greek since "από" is often used to indicate place value, in much the way that we use a comma. However, going back through other documents, its use as an indicator of place value didn't arise until at least 500 AD. Since the New Testament was written long before that date, the meaning is thus clear.

This error does not exist is most non-English Bibles (with the large exceptions of the popular Russian and Turkish editions), and seems to have been introduced in the original King James edition and the error has been perpetuated from that point.

And no radio/TV program could ever be wrong, right guys?

Posted By: djb13

"The BBC (UK) TV program QI says so.

The BBC Made a prank once that spaghetti grew on trees. Everyone believed them.

I did some web research, and the BBC program was quoting a news story that came out around May 2005 that the earliest known version of the Book of Revelation had been found and that the number there was 616 (actually "είναι έξι από το ένα από έξι"), but the translation there would be "6 by 1 by 6", which is pointless since multiplying by 1 has no effect on the end result. Furthermore, there is another papyrus that has it as 665. But the vast majority have it as "6 by 6 by 6". So, I think that those two are merely transcribing errors, and that there will be an even earlier papyrus discovered at some point that has the "6 by 6 by 6" Greek.

QI got this fact from an apparently very reliable source, it wasn't a mis-translation though.
the show said it was a misprint in the english or whatever language the translation was,version.
but then again steven fry could have just said the wrong word by accident.

I thought his name was Bob

God's his title, everyone knows his name is Robert.
Although his friends do call him Bob.

Posted By: Trance

God's his title, everyone knows his name is Robert.
Although his friends do call him Bob.

I must be special, cause I call him Bobby.

Posted By: VanCamp

I'm Jewish,so I should know that the number of the Beast is 8,675,309.Duh.

I'd love to hear your explanation for this.

o_o I do. But my job does not involve understanding your mediocre jokes!

Yika: Jeeze,don't have to be so mean.Why don't you tell me about said job in my LATEST FORUM!!That's right.If you post the necesarry information,you may win a faaabulous respooonse!! AND WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?!

It's a rock with a spazzing tomato in its mouth.

HAHA!Goiter...hilarious.

*Oh,well,we all can't be genius' all the damn time SIIIGH*

Posted By: nyarfdude

*sighing at stupidity*

Are you calling me stupid?

Posted By: Trance

Geniuses are geniuses all the time.
Their IQ doesn't just randomly go down!

I'm just saying that sometimes there are gaps in my geniosity.Just quit pullin' me down,man.

You're right, from now I'll only correct someone if it's really important.
I apologize.

Fo'ills?Cool.I like words like that.Octopata.

Dictionary.com is pretty fuckin' cool.

Octopuses and octopi are acceptable ( I think)
He was referring to the Octopata gullifact methinks.

Yes,Trance,youthinks correctly.

Athene! I need backup! Call in air strike!

Well I took a free IQ quiz and it said 9(?), but earlier my mom took me to a psychologist and took some tests every so often, and my mom wouldn't tell me my IQ but she said it was very high. And I'm taking all advanced courses at my high school (except my fat, lazy teacher recommended me for Bio. instead of Adv. Bio. so that pissed me off. But I learned that I can Adv. Bio. because I made a B or better in Algebra), so I would rather trust my mom then a free IQ test.
Edit: I was about ten when I went to the psychologist.

Posted By: Cody56

Well I took a free IQ quiz and it said 9

That sounds right.