I'm sure some scholar somewhere has made an exhaustive study and perhaps printed an unabridged concordance of all the scriptural references and biblical allusions in Shakespeare. One such scholar is Steven Marx, whose book Shakespeare and the Bible is described as "the first book to explore the pattern and significance of hundreds of biblical allusions in Shakespeare in relation to a selection of his greatest plays."

All I can tell you is that he used a lot!!! Some scholars believe that Shakespeare was one of the translators for the King James Version of the Bible, especially the psalms.

Here are just a few examples of biblical references in Shakespeare's works:

• The title of the play "Measure for Measure" comes from the Gospel of Matthew: "For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." (Matt 7:2)
• Hamlet is full of biblical allusions. The web site thinkingwithshakespeare.org has a lengthy discussion of them; see the link in the Sources section below.

• In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Bottom's speech in Act IV, scene 1 alludes to Paul's letter to the Corinthian church: "The eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not heard, nether have entered the heart of man." (1 Cor 2:9)

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