Israeli scientists yesterday announced a major breakthrough in the important research field of minuscule religious book publishing, revealing that they had printed a complete Old Testament on a half-millimetre silicon chip.

"This is the world's tiniest Bible," said Ohad Zohar, of the Technion institute, quoted by AFP. The 308,428-word Hebrew document had been fitted onto an area "smaller than a pinhead".

At least one, is the answer.

Reportedly, Zohar and his fellow micro-Torah publishers are keen to perfect their technology, which works by squirting gallium ions onto gold-plated silicon.

Clearly, it is now much more technically feasible for a gold bible to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. There was no word on any doctrinally-important work on miniaturised camels*.

One major flaw with the new technique is that the teeny Testament can't be read without the aid of a powerful microscope. But Zohar has a cunning plan to improve usability. He reckons to blow up the microbible into a 7m by 7m poster, self-evidently another important tech breakthrough.

This will permit people "to read the entire Bible with the naked eye," he told AFP.

Honestly: that's what it says here. ®

*Jesus: And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. King James Bible, Matthew 19:24. And yes, we know this is a New Testament allusion.

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