Concept
Bibliologyalso IsopsephyGematria
Hebrew and Greek letters double as numbers, so every word carries a value: a feature of the alphabets the text itself uses.
#numbers#structure
- 4passages
- 39original words
- 1approved connection
- 53cross-references
The words behind it
Hebrew and Greek standing in the 4 passages listed below, not a lexicon of "gematria" itself. The number on each word is how often it occurs in those passages; the connecting words the languages use everywhere are set aside so the words that carry meaning can be seen.
Hebrew12
2 more hebrew words ▾
Greek27
17 more greek words ▾
The passages
Every passage this site attaches to the concept, in canon order. Each row says where it came from.
Old Testament2
- Genesis 5:1listed key text
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Genesis 5:11 voice
That there was a day in which God created man. He was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first-born, but the junior of the creation. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore, undoubtedly, happy.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
- Deuteronomy 29:29approved connection
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 29:292 voices
The secret things belong unto the Lord--This verse has no apparent connection with the thread of discourse. It is thought to have been said in answer to the looks of astonishment or the words of inquiry as to whether they would be ever so wicked as to deserve such punishments.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God - This verse seems to be added as a solemn admonition on the part of Moses, in order to close the series of blessings and curses which he has delivered. The sense seems to be this: “The future, when and how these good and evil things will take effect, it lies with the Lord our God to determine; it pertains not to man’s sphere and duty. God’s revealed will is that which we must carry out.” The 17th of our Articles of Religion concludes with much the same sentiment.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
New Testament2
- John 21:11listed key text
So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on John 21:112 voices
But it is not through the agency of a Christian ministry that all true disciples are gathered. Jesus Himself, by unseen methods, gathers some, who afterwards are recognized by the constituted fishers of men, and mingle with the fruit of their labors.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
To show that it was no vision, He bade them take of the fish they had caught. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Another miracle follows; viz. that the net was not broken: Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Theophylact of Ohrid· Catena Aurea by Aquinas, 1107Patristic
- Revelation 13:18listed key text
Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 666.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Revelation 13:182 voices
Let him that hath understanding - Which is a gift of God, subservient to that wisdom. Count the number of the wild beast - Surely none can be blamed for attempting to obey this command. For it is the number of a man - A number of such years as are common among men.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Evangelical
And there is therefore in this beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels.
Irenaeus· AGAINST HERESIES 5.29.2, 202Patristic
Approved connections
1 link an editor approved, each with the reason it was kept.
- framingDeuteronomy 29:29
The honesty rail: gematria is derash, ranked below peshat; hidden numeric layers carry no doctrine. Print beside the '14' datum.
Baraita of 32 Rules; Deut 29:29 (PD)
Voices on these passages
Commentary matched to the verses above, each named with its source: the full pool sits on each verse page.
That there was a day in which God created man. He was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first-born, but the junior of the creation. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore, undoubtedly, happy.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole BiblePuritan
Genesis 5:1
The secret things belong unto the Lord--This verse has no apparent connection with the thread of discourse. It is thought to have been said in answer to the looks of astonishment or the words of inquiry as to whether they would be ever so wicked as to deserve such punishments.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole BibleReformed
Deuteronomy 29:29
But it is not through the agency of a Christian ministry that all true disciples are gathered. Jesus Himself, by unseen methods, gathers some, who afterwards are recognized by the constituted fishers of men, and mingle with the fruit of their labors.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole BibleReformed
John 21:11
Study it deeper
5 moves a student can make from here. Every one opens a tool on this site.
Trace one word to every place it stands
A word page lists every verse that word occurs in, with its definition and its range of meaning. Start with the roots that occur most under the passages above.
Walk out from the passages
The passages above carry 53 cross-references between them, links from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, the great 1830s reference work, together with the reader-voted index at OpenBible.info. The most-linked destinations:
Read it in both testaments
Set the earliest passage beside the New Testament one and ask what changed and what did not, the shape of gematria before Christ and after him.
Read the whole chapter around it
A verse quoted alone can mean almost anything. Open Genesis 5 in the reader, where the Hebrew or Greek sits under every line.
See everywhere else it appears
The search page is a doorway: it returns verses, word studies, people, places and studies for one term at once.
Where this comes from
Neither language had separate numerals: aleph is 1, beth is 2, iota is 10. Scripture uses the fact openly when Revelation 13:18 asks the reader to "count the number of the beast… six hundred threescore and six."
The discipline is in the restraint. Letter values are data about the text, not a decoder ring laid over it; a reading stands only when the plain sense of the passage already carries it.