# Quote ID: ''So it is written. . . so it shall be" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-id-so-it-is-written-so-it-shall-be/300187 "2005-04-20T03:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-id-so-it-is-written-so-it-shall-be/300187/1 "2005-04-20T03:40:31Z")
I overheard a conversation recently in which someone made the comment that that was “in the Bible.” I didn’t think it was (and I wasn’t a part of the conversation, anyway), and I pretty muck verified that with an online Bible search engine. I think the earliest reference I know of is the 1956 version of “The Ten Commandments.” Any earlier cite than that? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-id-so-it-is-written-so-it-shall-be/300187/2 "2005-04-20T05:02:12Z")
It’s not quite the same thing, but it made me think automatically of the scene in the gospels where Pilate is challenged by the Jews about the inscription on Christ’s cross. The Jews say something like, “you should not have written King of the Jews. Instead you should have written this man \*claimed \* to be the King of the Jews”. And Pilate’s answer was (in the Latin of the Vulgate): **quod scripsi, scripsi** meaning, I have written what I have written and this is what it’s going to be. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-id-so-it-is-written-so-it-shall-be/300187/3 "2005-04-20T08:11:09Z")
The exact quote does appear to originate as Yul Brinner’s line in _The Ten Commandments_, but I think the _concept_ goes back to some ancient concepts of law such as the Medes and Persians thing (in the Bible); where a law -once wriitten- could not be changed. (I’m not sure how historically verifiable this is though).