Metro

5-year Bible ‘rewrite’

Hallelujah!

A 63-year-old upstate man who spent almost five years copying every word in the King James Bible was set to pen its last lines at a church ceremony last night.

In the beginning, Phillip Patterson, of Philmont, a retired interior designer, spent two years getting a command of his cursive handwriting using a felt-tip pen on 19-by-13-inch watercolor paper by copying the first five books, known as the Pentateuch, before starting over, in order, in 2009.

He said the genesis of his idea wasn’t driven by any religious calling to write 1,189 chapters and 31,175 verses, but that he merely wanted to learn the teachings of the Bible and that it helped him become more patient, confident and loving, especially as he faced the loss of his partner and his own failing health.

The King James Version consists of about 788,000 words — which Patterson has recreated in its likeness in 2,400 pages.

“I go to bed and close my eyes and feel so incredibly serene,” he said.

One of his favorites is the Book of Ruth, about a loyal family in times of famine, doing the right thing.

“The begetting and the begatting and all of that, that’s really incidental,” he said. Of those in the bible, he added, “These people are trying to understand where they fit into this world.”