Fun With the Bible Code
Homemade Biblical prophecies made easy
Over the past few centuries, numerous theories have arisen about “hidden messages” supposedly inscribed in the Bible (and other holy texts). These messages can only be revealed, for example, by reading every other letter of the text, or every seventh letter, and so on. Many believe that these messages have prophetic value, and even that the “true” word of God is somehow tangled within these codes.
The irony here is quite thick, since it is the Bible itself that is supposed to be the “word of God,” not some arbitrary partition of it. It’s as if the Bible Code enthusiasts have read the Bible and found nothing but absurdity, so they began to read not only between the lines, but between the letters!
We tried to read the Bible the “ordinary” way, but it made no sense. That must mean that we’re just not skipping the right number of letters!
In any case, the “messages” that are discovered are very brief — single words, or a perhaps a short phrase, for example, “JFK SHOT,” or “PAUL IS DEAD.” Obviously, these can easily be interpreted as “prophetic” statements. However, the irony grows even thicker because, like all Biblical prophecies, they are always discovered a little after the fact (vaticinium ex eventu).
In about an hour of programming time, I developed a small Windows application that performs this exact function — search for hidden codes in the text of the Bible. I then obtained the King James translation from Gutenberg, and eliminated all whitespace, punctuation, and verse numbers. Finally, I began my investigation. What I found was not necessarily surprising, but fascinating nonetheless. The following is just a short list of all the “revealing” statements I found in my search. Be prepared, and keep in mind that these are actual blocks of text from the Bible — you can even read through them to be sure.
Update!
At long last, I’ve recovered the source code for my Bible Code Finder application! The program takes a plain text file (preferably a large one), and allows you to scan it for occurrences of words with equidistant letter spacing. Download the program and, if you’d like, browse the source code repository. To download the full text of the Bible (or a great number of other texts), visit Project Gutenberg.
It works like this: start the program and open the text file that you want to search (the program automatically strips punctuation and whitespace). Then enter up to seven words to look for, and click the Start button! The program will find the first occurrence of all words within a certain range, unless you select “Find All” instead of “Find One.” The result(s) will be shown in the Results tab.
The “Frame Size” parameter is the range (in letters) within which all words must be found. “Min Delta” and “Max Delta” are the minimum and maximum letter spacing of words to search.
Obviously, longer words will take longer to search for. Generally it’s highly improbable to find combinations with words longer than 8 letters. On the other hand, don’t search for words shorter than three letters, since too many results will be found. As a rule, try to enter longer words first, then shorter words. This will result in a quicker search.
Genesis 1:1+
“We are the Borg”
Genesis 11:28+
“God ain’t real”
Genesis 46:27+
“Jesus, phony”
Exodus 6:20+
“WTC plane crash”
Ezra 4:15+
“Jesus saves none”
Jeremiah 13:16+
“Jesus sucks”
Leviticus 10:7+
“Hello Kitty”
Numbers 1:20+
“Shuttle lost”
Numbers 28:3+
“Bugs Bunny”
Hebrews 2:17+
“Kennedy shot”
2 Chronicles 1:17+
“Kilroy was here”
Luke 9:3+
“Dmitry Brant”
What Have We Learned?
Something, I hope. In fact, I ran the exact same program on a large Microsoft help file, and obtained quite similar results. I suppose that even the above “prophecies” cannot be valid because the King James Bible is only a translation of the original Hebrew and Greek. But we can safely hypothesize that, given a large enough source of text, no matter what language, any word or phrase can be found using similar methods.
August 13th, 2005 at 9:57 am
Too funny!
August 17th, 2005 at 11:41 am
Unraveling this phenomenon, the Bible itself never indicates there are hidden messages by skipping Hebrew letters in the written text. This is merely a man-made “discovery.” I have studied the Bible most of my life and have found it to be very revealing in itself, not of future, or post-prophetic events, but of the nature of humanity and the solution to our plight.
August 17th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
You are correct; indeed, the very purpose of this article was to show the pointlessness of searching for prophetic codes in the Bible, or other holy texts. We cannot, however, deny the fact that a great number of people actually believe that such messages exist and have divine origin.
August 30th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
Very funny stuff! You ought to share a bit of your methods so that others can have this sort of fun; at least, if it’s simple enough that others could replicate it.
September 24th, 2005 at 1:01 am
Haha, this is hillarious! I dig your blog. Keep up the cool posts
October 4th, 2005 at 2:04 am
Too cool. Any chance of sharing your application so others can see what they can find?
October 4th, 2005 at 7:35 am
I would love to share it, but I can’t find the source code! I might have to write it fresh all over again.
November 15th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
What part of the Bible is “very revealing” Dr. Kempert? And what kind of doctor are you? Are all the mistakes, contradictions and inaccuracies in the Bible very revealing to you also?
December 7th, 2005 at 1:39 am
too bad you can’t see the truth in the Bible. those letter spaced out everywhere mean nothing. its unfortunate that you will only see the truth when Christ returns and by then it will be too late for you–why not put hope in something like the Bible–what else is there to live for in the world? even if the Bible is completely made up (which I obviously don’t believe), at least I still lived for something…and guess what, if it’s it true, i’ll be having beyond an amazing time in heaven with God for eternity.
December 13th, 2005 at 1:44 am
Of course the spaced-apart letters mean nothing. He already stated that the point of doing the conspiracy theory code was that there is no point in finding conspiracy theories in the code.
Now as for you condescending tone, I’m sure that’s the last thing Dmitry or anyone here wants to hear. Get off your high horse and realize that being the majority doesn’t mean being better.
December 13th, 2005 at 10:50 am
It seems that the main point of this page isn’t going across very well!
December 26th, 2005 at 11:55 pm
Your point about believing “just in case” is called Pascal’s Wager and has been thoroughly discussed at length and is fully illogical. Try again. http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/pascalswager.html
January 11th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Another possible interpretation is that the writers of the Microsoft Help File were also inspired by God. Perhaps we should call it the Book of Bill, or the Gospel of Gates. Did you know that if you press CTRL-ALT-G at just the right clock cycle that you will be elevated to the Rapture?
January 20th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Rereading this I just noticed you said “What else is there to live for?”
Are you really that shelter and deprived of wordly things and even an opinion… that you can’t find any other thing in your world worth living (and perhaps dying for) on your own? You need the help of a 2-millenia-year old book to tell you what to live for and anything else is futility? Oh don’t get me wrong, I embrace impermanece and realize that if I love something that will end my heart could get broken, but seriously… is there nothing in this world you would devote your life to? A lover, your family, a hobby you have a passion for (like art, music, or even stuff like doctors) or just living to help people? I think your comment speaks low about the level of complexity and personality in your head. Try finding meaning and devotion on your own. If you fail, you can try the whole being dead scene since you’ll be welcomed by your supposed maker that you so fervently deny other entities around you just to love and eventually meet him anyway.
April 6th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
This is a bunch of boloney. No matter what junk and rumors people conjure up, we Christians will continue to believe in Him, Christ Jesus, who died for us (a deed none of us could ever match or carry on to Him), and loves us deeply so. So, I would hope that no one who reads this article (which, in my opinion, no one should ever read it), would ever, in their wildest dreams, belive any of this, and instead pray for those who do.
April 29th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
I’m going to pray alright…pray that one day bible thumpers will go away and let those of us firmly rooted in reality live our lives. You people totally missed the point here.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I used the Hebrew bible and found goats, blows, falwell, ass, gere and hamster all in genesis. Given that these words are all predictive of events that happened in the twentieth century, I figured the bible code phenomenon must be correct. But, being scientifically minded, I decided to do one further test. I looked for JFK, assassinated, emperor, trajan, paris, eighteen-twenty two. Since these words didn’t all turn up in any one book of the bible, it proves that bible code doesn’t lie. After all, we all know that JFK wasn’t assassinated by emperor trajan in paris in 1822. So where’s your neat little theory now, Einstein?
July 20th, 2007 at 3:02 am
An authoritarian “god”, the nonsensical “bible”, the dubious “jesus”, the fabricated scapegoat “satan”, the ridiculous “hell”… its all a load of crap and lies. That is all this all means. Free yourself, humanity!
Read “The Mysterious Stranger”, by Mark Twain, at least.
There is only one hell and it is authoritarianism, endless war, and self-deception.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:35 am
“Marissa:
I’m going to pray alright-pray that one day bible thumpers will go away and let those of us firmly rooted in reality live our lives. You people totally missed the point here.”
amen to that sister!
October 9th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
This is great! My Bib Worldview homework was to make up a fake Bible code, and this program is the best!
October 25th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Forget the bible – go back and try again with the original Hebrew scrolls, using the original hebrew letters with their corresponding numbers – then you might have got something.
Failing this, go out and buy yourself a nice ‘wordsearch’ book to keep yourself amused
January 1st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Vlad has it right. Really this is a pretty uneducated attempt at disproving biblical code, as anyone that has researched this on any level, very well understands that the basis is not in the English version, but rather in the original Hebrew text.
whoa, this is some study, real scientific and all. I could probably find Dmirty Brant in a Dr. Seuss book. Blown away man, what a great article. You poor thing…
Sure , probably just as easier to go with the whole evolution theory where a non-sterile mutation was produced after millions of years, and whoa, it just so happens that a non-sterile compatible sexual mate showed up on the scene within the life time of that first woopsie “mutation-man”, and happened to run into each other, and were willing and able to reproduce. Not to mention potential food supplies…
Then we still have to discuss the millions of other species on this planet. And then there is the transitional fossil record that seems to have gone missing. Ugh, you people, just admit it, God did create everything. Just be honest and admit that you don’t want to know him nor hear what he has to say.
Really, that’s all it is, isn’t it?
March 12th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Nice! I’ve been trying to do this. Its funny what you can find in a piece of text! Do you still got the source code? The link asks for a password.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
i agree that the bible code is inaccurate. however the bible is the ultimate source of truth. God is real. if you dont believe in a god, research some of the book. it is by far the most accurate source of history, cultures such as the edomites, and the hittites were believed to not be real but their lost cultures were found.also many geological and archaeolical proof of the parting of the red sea and the great flood.
have you ever seen indiana jones and the last crusade? in “the valley of the cresent moon” when indiana and his dad whent to that stone temple lookin thing in the cliff wall remember? and you heard an owl shreik?
in the bible… i believe it was samuel who prophesized this, and i paraphrase, he says “God will smite the edomites land and whipe his peoples from the face of the earth. the edomites constantly fought with the israelites, the israelite descended from jacob, the edomites from esau, and if you dont know their story look it up, it either in genesis or exodus.
any, that temple thing was actually a city carved into rock. a magnificent city of the ancient edomites that occording to secular sourses didnt exist until it was discoverd in the late 1800s by a swiss explorer. and as the prophecy came true, that magnificent city was forgotten from histoy, along with its people, and it is only inhabited by owls.
my point being is, why would God hide prophecies into coding in the bible when he gives out his word already in a book? why would he make it impossible to decipher it until modern times.
the bible code is false, but as is, its just someones theory. it does not destroy the validity of the bible.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
another thing for trueman
lets say you were just as “crazy” as all the disciples and as “crazy” as jesus believing he was a God.
lets say you are going to be painfully crusifide if you didnt recant your lies. wouldnt you just say “ok just kiddin… dont crucify me!”
jesus was crucifide, peter crucifide upside down, the apostle john was exiled and jailed in an island then slowly dipped into boiling oil. others were stoned, roasted alive, fed to wild animals etc.
wouldnt you think that out of all thoses people, if they were lying, at least one would say, “dont kill me i admit, it was a lie”.
but no, they didnt, so they died horribly painful deaths for a bunch of lies? to glorify a faker? its for you to think about, i know wat i think.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Well, Roscoe, it would appear to me…hold on…let me copy paste…”the bible code is false, but as is, its just someones theory. it does not destroy the validity of the bible.” Take a look at that. Now take a look at the authors of the bible. God doesn’t write anything, does he? It’s all human work. And you should know that humans are VERY easily mistaken. So, wouldn’t the bible be just a bunch of theories? which means it wouldn’t destroy the validity of anyone elses theories here or anywhere in the world either. Maybe paying attention to your own words would make you half as wise as you think the bible does.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
One way of testing the bible codes to find if they are real is to put in the name of the lotter you want to win and the date it is coming up and just add abunch of numbers until you get all the numbers coming up in the hebrew scriptures
May 16th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
well russ i would have to agree with you in that stance. the bible cade is a theory, such as evolution, and hell aliens.
My point being, what separates this theory from biblical “theory” is the prophesies. For All the prophesies that have come true over the thousands of years, its impossible odds. It would be completely impossible, that by chance, these prophesies randomly came true. Old testament prophesies that point to jesus… and so on… you should read some and research.
and Russ… theres no need to be a smart ass, you have a good thought, good opinions. but that one line, from what i wrote, does in no way prove me wrong. If you do your own research and get back to me it would be a way better arguement.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
The point of this page is to point and laugh at the comedy of the “Holy-est Word Search Ever”
September 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
[...] have recently been messing around with a few “Bible Code” generators, purely to see what I could find. For those who don’t know, the Bible Code is the idea that [...]
October 10th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
[...] 1 Dmitry Brant [...]
February 20th, 2009 at 11:29 am
You do realize English did not exist at the time the bible was penned right? Please tell me this is a joke. If you are going to scoff the Bible Code, please muster some semblance of intelligence and use the HEBREW text. Otherwise you are just exposing your ignorance and making yourself look silly.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:58 am
@Malachi,
You do realize what the point of this page is, right? It’s to satirize the notion of finding “codes” in any language, not just the original Hebrew!
Also, I clearly stated towards the end of the article that I’m fully aware that English wasn’t the original language of the Bible. I’m sorry you missed that part.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
The sheer level of religious insecurity on this page is hilariously overblown.
How are you people (the bible-thumping people, not the sensible people) not understanding that this is just for FUN. It’s just showing a fun little application which searches text. You could probably find the entirity of the creation story in Lord of the Rings with enough time (and if you were REALLY bored).
The point is that this isn’t about disproving God’s existance, or your faith in Him. This is about having a laugh at what is, at best, a notion about hidden prophecies in the bible, which has served only to waste some people’s entire lives as they search for the true answers in a book supposedly full of them.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
@db
This post is hilarious and phenomenally creative. Thank you.
March 16th, 2009 at 1:34 am
Thanks so much! I had to do some equidistant letter spacing for my bible interpretation class in school. We had to find words in regular text to show how foolish ELS really is. It took my classmates several hours. It took me several minutes haha.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:17 am
I have to agree with Dr.Kempert, I, too, have studied the Bible some 30 years
and it isn’t about hidden words or meanings, so I agree with this author of
the software that anyone can pick and choose what they want it to reveal.
However, the whole point of the Bible is that it is a guide to the saving grace
plan of God through His Son, Jesus. There’s no mystery in that. You either
accept His Son Jesus and end up in Heaven, or you don’t and end up somewhere else.
If you’ve chosen the 1st one, then the Bible is a learning book on how to live
a Godly life. So, maybe this software is fun, fine, but a total waste of my time.
I just happened to come to this site for his other software, which is mighty fine!
March 31st, 2009 at 11:39 am
If it’s that simple, then why did it take you 30 years to study the bible? Talk about a waste of time!
April 1st, 2009 at 3:17 am
I fall asleep praying for our very souls, meaning everyone. The way to eternal life…Live by the T E N C O M M A N D M E N T S. It is our only hope. It says it all.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Friggin hilarious. So nice to find on GOOD friday too.
HA
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 am
I thought Bible Code only worked with the original languages because they are number based. No western language, that I am aware of, is number based.
1Co 1:18-25 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (19) For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” (20) Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (21) For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (22) For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, (23) but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, (24) but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (25) For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
This is so comedic! I’ve already discovered subliminal “messages” in Alice in Wonderland. It’s so silly – I’ve made Lewis Carroll sound like an antisemitic. I don’t know how I can show you them in this medium. Should I just upload the pics to a free image uploading site or something, then link to that site in the comments?
And good grief, people, no wonder your beliefs are treated like a joke when you make such silly comments! All I have to say on the matter of the ethics and truth of the Bible is that it has the relative moral value of Ed, Edd, n Eddy.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
It is amazing how easily people start being “absolutely” certain that God gave them exclusive patent rights regarding “undoubted” truths and salvation.It is sad that average Bible reader can scarcely read any English,say originating in 10th century and is not doubting that THE BOOK must have changed.As to reading and understanding arameic-well ,I don’t know how many persons in the world can accomplish that.Certainly not your enlightened man of God,thundering on a TV against sinners,perverts and atheists.In reality,it doesn’t matter if you follow Buddha,Jesus,or Mithra.The only thing which matters is that you don’t impose your sanctimonious attitude on others and threaten them with hellfire.And codes?They can be discovered in abundance in Yellow Pages certainly.Great work Dmitry,congratulations
June 30th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I’m a Luthern, and I study Cryptography. If all of you here seriously don’t believe that there’s a code in the bible, you need to study the History Channel’s DVD’s called the Bible Code I and II, and pay attention to http://www.torahcodes.net, and Harold Gans. Then come back and convince me that there ISN’T hidden codes in there !!! There is not 1 cryptographer that can PROVE that it’s false. Enough Said.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
And by the way, your “codes” ( and others who say that they can find them in the yellow pages and elsewhere ) would not stand up to even the most basic cryptography challenge. The actual bible codes do. And by the way, they’re not taken from an english translation, they’re taken from the Hebrew torah, minus the blank spaces between words.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
[slap palm on forehead] If you knew anything about cryptography, you wouldn’t be commenting here. You’d be having a laugh along with everyone else. Thanks for contributing to the humor of the article.