Equidistant English
The New Bible Code is primarily an alphanumerical code, based on the conversion of words and phrases into numbers.
Much more publicity has been given to the so-called Torah codes found by Eliyahu Rips and Doron Witztum and popularised by Michael Drosnin in The Bible Code.[1] This type of code is based on what are known as equidistant letter-sequence (ELS) codes.[2]
In ELS codes, words and phrases are encoded by the separation of their constituent letters from each other within the text, so they are evenly spread out, like stepping stones across a stream of unrelated letters. This renders them undetectable to the casual reader. Any message can only be decoded once the 'skip interval' - the number of letters in the text between one encoded letter and the next - is known. Proponents of the Torah codes claim that if the text is then rearranged (after spaces between words have been removed) so that the number of letters per row is the same as the skip interval, words or phrases encoded at that skip interval become visible, running vertically down the text, with related words and phrases clustered near them. A simple example found in the Torah is the Hebrew word for 'Newton' crossing that for 'Gravity'.
The search for ELS codes usually requires a computer, because the skip intervals are often huge. But a manual search can be carried out within small chunks of text, because the skip intervals would also then be small. A small, manageable piece of text is what we have in the first twenty-four words of the NIV Bible, the location for the Signature of Christ, the Creation Snowflake and many other encodings. So I searched within it for ELS codes and discovered that God has made full and creative use of the NIV Bible's opening words. [3]
The God Codes
The first possible ELS code is the word 'God' at a skip interval of 8, within the NIV Bible's very first verse.
| 'God' in the First Verse of Genesis |
| INTHEBEGINNINGGODCREATEDTHEHEAVENSANDTHEEARTH |
| 123456781234567812345678123456781234567812345 |
The '888' interval is highly significant, because this is the standard value of 'Ihsous', which is Jesus in Greek.
If we then make each line of text only eight letters long we reveal a little cross right at the head of the NIV Bible.
| ELS Code in Genesis 1:1, NIV |
| Skip interval: 8 |
| ....INTH |
| EBEGINNI |
| NGGODCRE |
| ATEDTHEH |
| EAVENSAN |
| DTHEEART |
This encoding supports the Christian assertion that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, linking the ideas of God (the word 'God'), the Cross (the visual image) and Jesus Christ (the gematria). It is also a beautiful example of confluence. Three independent elements - words, numbers and form - merge to create a meaningful symbol, right at the apex of the NIV Bible.
Fellow researcher Gary val Tenuta found an identical cross in John 1:1, which mirrors Genesis 1.1 in its theme of beginnings and in its location.
| ELS Code in John 1:1-2, NIV |
| Skip interval: 29 |
| INTHEBEGINNINGWASTHEWORDANDTH |
| EWORDWASWITHGODANDTHEWORDWASG |
| ODHEWASWITHGODINTHEBEGINNINGW |
The skip interval this time is 29, the reduced value of 'Messiah', another word linked to Jesus.
The Ark
The next ELS code identifies the location of the only material object considered sacred in Judaism.
| ELS Code in Genesis 1:1-3, NIV |
| Skip Interval: 37 |
| INTHEBEGINNINGGODCREATEDTHEHEAVENSAND |
| THEEARTHNOWTHEEARTHWASFORMLESSANDEMPT |
| YDARKNESSWASOVERTHESURFACEOFTHEDEEPAN |
| DTHESPIRITOFGODWASHOVERINGOVERTHEWATE |
| RSANDGOD |
The skip interval here is 37 letters and the ark is found encoded in this precise location, within the first 37 words of the NIV Bible. Geometrically, 37 is a hexagram number and hexagram 37 is the seed of the Creation Snowflake, also encoded in this location.
37 is itself associated with The Deity. Here I am using the reduced value system, a supplimentary system of gematria utilised by the code.
The Lord (r) ...= 37
Spirit (r) .........= 37
This ELS encoding ends on the last letter of the 27th word, 27 being the reduced value of 'The Ark'. 27 is also the cube of three, the cube representing perfection and three representing spirit and completeness. The Ark was located within the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, a perfect, hollow cube.
Finally, the encoding also ends on the 115th letter, 115 being the ordinal value of the Hebrew words meaning 'Jesus the Messiah'.
In the next page the Ark of the Testimony is revealed.
The Creator
Artists sign their works and the Encoder of the New Bible Code has done the same, in this stunning matrix.
| ELS Code in Genesis 1:1-2, NIV |
| Skip interval: 29 |
| INTHEBEGINNINGGODCREATEDTHEHE |
| AVENSANDTHEEARTHNOWTHEEARTHWA |
| SFORMLESSANDEMPTYDARKNESSWASO |
| VERTHESURFACEOFTHEDEEPANDTHES |
| PIRITOFGODWASHOVERINGOVERTHEW |
The skip interval is again 29, reduced value of 'Messiah'.
The Signature of Christ
I discovered the ELS encodings aroud 2004 and at first I thought they might be coincidental. However, that was before I discovered the Signature of Christ at the same location, which combines with the last ELS code above. The two codes are independent of each other and, as you will see, validate each other by their precise placement. Here are the signatures in summary.
On rechecking this phenomenon in April 2007, I noticed that the last letter of the word CODE is also the last letter of the NIV Bible’s first twenty-four words, the very words within which the signatures are found! In fact one letter is found within each group of six words, as shown below:
So the reality of these ELS codes is verified by their integration with the Signatures of Christ and the other encodings that are found within the NIV Bible's opening words.
The Coder
The last ELS code can be extended one letter further, to repeat the same message again, this time referring to the coder.
| ELS Code in Genesis 1:1-2, NIV |
| Skip interval: 29 |
| INTHEBEGINNINGGODCREATEDTHEHE |
| AVENSANDTHEEARTHNOWTHEEARTHWA |
| SFORMLESSANDEMPTYDARKNESSWASO |
| VERTHESURFACEOFTHEDEEPANDTHES |
| PIRITOFGODWASHOVERINGOVERTHEW |
Just in case the reader is still uncertain of the code's provenance the gematria of these two words has God's numerical signature.
God + Coder (o) = 71
God (s) ...............= 71
The R in 'coder' ends in the middle of the word 'hovering', perhaps suggesting that the code was created by the spirit of God 'hovering' over the writers and translaters of the Bible, up to and including the writing of the NIV Bible.
Summary
These ELS codes integrate perfectly with the gematria codes in the same location, reveal the name of the Encoder Himself and identify God with the figure of Jesus Christ. ELS codes and gematria codes are completely independent of each other and encode information in different ways, yet they proclaim the same message and so must come from the same source. The existence of these beautifully compact codes is a further stamp of authenticity on the New Bible Code and another illustration of the sheer scope of this phenomenon.
It is truly a marvel that so much information can have been encoded in the first few words of the NIV Bible, especially when it is borne in mind that the NIV is a translation of words already written in another language and the passage has to make grammatical sense. The translators didn't have much to work with, which meant that neither did the encoder. But then with God anything is possible.
Bill Downie 18/3/13
Latest update 12/3/26
Notes
1. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bible-Code-Michael-Drosnin/dp/0752809326
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_code
3. The existence of these simple ELS codes also provides support for the Torah codes and indicates that it is a more widespread phenomenon than may have been supposed by some.