Reading Hebrew and Greek words as numbers
In the following sections the term characteristic value (CV) is used to describe the number obtained by summing the letter-values of a word or portion of text.
The Hebrew/Aramaic scheme of alphabetic numeration
This scheme dates from c200BC. Of the 22 letters, 6 are observed to have alternative end-forms. The first Bible verse to display a numerical structure of interest is Genesis 1:1 - comprising the first 7 of the Torah's 68,504 Hebrew words! Here are the details:
The numerical expression of Genesis 1:1
Reading from right to left we find the 28 individual letter-values inscribed above the words of the text, and their respective sums (the CVs) below. Observe that the untranslatable 4th word indicates that the following noun is the definite and direct object of the transitive verb. This appears again in the latter part of word 6.
The Greek scheme of alphabetic numeration
This scheme was instituted before the Hebrew and dates from c600BC. There are 24 letters - presented here as uppercase/lowercase pairs. Observe, (a) that because the values 6 and 90 were represented by non-alphabetic characters, they do not feature in this table, and (b) that the character occupying the 18th position ('sigma') is the only one possessing an end-form. There are two applications of particular interest - the first involving John 1:1 and the second, the Lord's name and title as they appear (nominative case) in the New Testament (interestingly, also in the Septuagint - a Greek translation of the Hebrew of the Old Testament - c300BC!).
The numerical expression of John 1:1
Here we read from left to right - the17 words comprising a total of 52 letters. Observe that the last letter of the second word is subscripted by another, viz iota, this being the second element of a long vowel dipthong. In fact, therefore, the word has 5 letters; hence the entry "8 + 10" above the dipthong - 8 and 10 being the respective values of letters 4 and 5.
The numerical expression of "The Lord"
To summarize:
Genesis 1:1, the Bible's first verse, has 7 words and 28 letters and is represented numerically by the set of CVs {913, 203, 86, 401, 395, 407, 296} and their sum, 2701
John 1:1 (restating the theme of Genesis 1:1 - the Creation) has 17 words and 52 letters and is represented by the set of 17 CVs {55, 719, 58, 70, 373, 31, 70, 373, 58, 450, 420, 134, 31, 284, 58, 70, 373} and their sum, 3627
The Creator's name and title are represented by the CVs {888, 1480} and their sum, 2368; 13 letters are involved
Vernon Jenkins MSc
2003-08-10