Bisecting the Bible
So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
Psalm 102:21-22 (NIV)
The New Bible Code is an alphanumerical code woven into the text of the NIV Bible, modern cultural artifacts and two recent global events: 9/11 and the funeral of Pope John Paul II. I began work on the code in November 2001 and initially found isolated threads of encoded words. Later, I saw that some of these threads were part of larger braids of encoded numbers, weaving in and out of what I assumed would be an essentially unwoven main body of text. I eventually wondered just how extensively encoded was the NIV Bible. In November 2009 that question was finally answered when I discovered an encoded message that uses the entire body of text in the NIV Bible. This led to further codes, discovered by the simple act of splitting the NIV into two equal parts like a melon. Just as the seeds at the centre of a melon contain compacted information describing its genetic makeup, so this material contains the essence of the message of the New Bible Code.
The importance of these encodings was brought home to me in the most awe-inspiring way, by means of a worldwide sign coinciding with this discovery, and also by the date of the discovery itself.
For a reminder of the four systems of numeration used in the code, see Gematria in a Nutshell.
A Message Delivered in Verse
There are 31086 verses in the NIV Bible. This is 16 less than the KJV Bible which has 31102 verses, all the missing verses being taken from the New Testament. [1] If we see the zero as a divider - a technique that has been used elsewhere in the New Bible Code - then 31086 conveys the numbers 31 and 86. In gematria these are auspicious numbers indeed, because they are the standard values of two important Hebrew words: El, the root word for God meaning “the Deity” and Elohim, used over 2000 times in the Torah and the first title for our Creator used therein, meaning “God”. [2]
31 is also the reduced value of the combined Hebrew name 'YHVH Elohim', meaning 'The Lord God'.
The digits 3, 1, 8 and 6 are also found in the gematria in Greek of the phrase 'Kurios Ihsous Christos', meaning 'Lord Jesus Christ'.
The number 31086 appears, then, to be a kind of numerical signature written over the entire text of the NIV, confirming the divine provenance of the New Bible Code. However, 31086 has two very important factors, already featured many times in the New Bible Code.
31086 .................................................= 11 x 2826
The number 11 is the key number for understanding the code, encoded into the NIV Bible as a marker (literally an 'X') for 9/11-related passages and clustered around 9/11 itself to an extraordinary degree - the phenomenon that first alerted me to the spiritual significance of the event. It is also the reduced value of the name of the One whose return the code proclaims.
Jesus (r) ........................................................= 11
The number 2826 is the combined value of the message of the code, already stated in many different pages of this site and appearing yet another time in this elegant encoding.
The Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ (c) = 2826
This statement of the Second Coming may be the most significant of all, firstly because its two main elements - the Second Coming and Our Lord Jesus Christ - are already major features of the New Bible Code and secondly because the combined system of numeration is unique to the code. [3] These points are discussed below:
1. The Second Coming
This is the most common way of expressing the event (which can also be called the Second Appearing, the Second Advent, the Second Manifestation, the Second Appearance and similar alternatives) as attested by its frequent and high-profile encodings in the NIV and by comparing the hits returned from a simple Google search.
2. Our Lord Jesus Christ
In The Resurrection I show how both 9/11 and the funeral of Pope John Paul II were timed to encode the numbers 254 and 1559, which are the ordinal and standard values of the phrase 'Our Lord Jesus Christ'. This simultaneously validates these two systems of gematra, which are the foundation of the code.
3. The Combined Value Numeration System
This system is simply the sum of the well-established standard, ordinal and reduced value systems and, as far as I am aware, is unique to the New Bible Code. [4] What better system is there, then, for summarising the unique message of the New Bible Code in this high-profile encoding? This also seems to me to be the ideal way of introducing the new system of numeration.
For two further encodings of the number 2826, see Numerical Alchemy and The Number Of the Adonikam.
An Even-Handed Approach
Because 31086 is an even number there is no single middle verse in the NIV; instead there are two middle verses. These are Psalm 102, verses 21 and 22.
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord. Psalm 102: 21-22 (NIV)
These two verses are one sentence, which has simply been divided between the two verses for convenience. So to all intents and purposes this is a single statement. Another interesting phenomenon is that the verse, although uplifting and positive, is bracketed between verses expressing rather negative sentiments. Here are verses 19 to 24 of the Psalm.
Psalm 102: 19-24, NIV
19 The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
23 In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days,
24 so I said: “Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.
In fact verses 21 and 22 are probably the most inspiring to be found in a Psalm that was written as a lament and which is on the whole rather sombre in tone. [5] These two central verses have been highlighted in this way for a reason, revealed by numerating them in the usual way, which we do next.
The Central Message
In other pages I show how important numbers are encoded within the extremities of the NIV, such as the first and last verses of the Old and New Testaments,the first verses of the first few books in the two testaments. The presence of encoded numbers in the opening and closing verses of the Bible implies that there may also be encoded numbers in the central verses, and the pattern holds good (this is evidence of design), with some spectacular encodings. These encodings, like those at the extremities, relentlessly hammer home the code’s revelatory message. In fact they could be called the New Bible Code in miniature.
The number 18, as 6 + 6 + 6 and 9 + 9, plays an important part in encodings found within the NIV Bible’s first and last eighteen words, these encodings 'bookending' the rest of the text and carrying the glorious news of the Second Coming. In the first and last eighteen words of the central two verses we see a kind of reflection of the bookend encodings. Also note that, as usual, numbers are encoded as ordinal values but take on meaning as standard values.
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the . . . .
| First 18 words Psalm 102:21-22 (o) = 738 |
| The Second Appearing (s) ........... = 738 |
21 . . . . in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
| Last 18 words Psalm 102:21-22 (o) = 953 |
| Second Manifestation (s) ................= 953 |
If we now numerate the central group of nineteen words, we see the standard value of He whose coming is being proclaimed.
21 . . . . the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble . . . .
| Central 19 wds Psalm 102:21-22 (o) .= 925 |
| Jesus Christ (s) ..................................= 925 |
I recently (17/10/21) found anther encoding here, in the eleven words centred on the cental word, which appropriately is 'praise', and which is highlighted.
21 . . . . declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when the peoples . . . .
Eleven central words (o) ..................= 560
The Son of God (s) ..........................= 560
The following table shows this beautiful little suite of encodings more visually.
Here we see the Name that is above all others occupying central position in the NIV Bible, overlapped by symmetrical encodings proclaiming His return!
All of these codes are supported by numbers proclaiming their importance.
The encoding of 'Jesus Christ' is preceded by four words summing to 121 11 x 11 and the ordinal value of 'Second Coming') and succeeded by four words summing to 225 (15 x 15). 4 is 2 x 2.
The encodings of 'The Second Appearing' and 'Second Manifestation' are preceeded and succeeded by 9 words, 9 being the square of 3.
'The Son of God' is preceeded and succeeded by 8 words, 8 being the cube of 2. It covers the central word and five words either side, suggesting 515 (Jesus (s)).
That these encodings are particularly auspicious is shown by the number of squares and cubes encoded along with them. The first verse itself has 16 (4 x 4) words and both verses have 27 words (3 x 3 x 3). So in these encodings and the verse structure we have the squares of 2, 3, 4, 11 and 15 implied, as well as the cubes of 2 and 3. The square represents the world and the cube represents spiritual perfection, which is ideal for Jesus as mediator between heaven and earth.
Addendum (16/11/22)
The ordinal value of the pair of verses, 1271, is the standard value of the original Greek word meaning 'cross':
stauros/cross (s) ......= 1271
Psalm 102:21-22 (o) = 1271
This is a poignant reminder of the central import of the Crucifixion in relation to man's salvation, so central that it is imprinted here on the NIV Bible's central pair of verses.
The identification with the Cross is part of a little matrix of codes here, reinforcing the message and linking it to the Second Coming, which was announced by another crucifixion.
In the recent page The Language of the Logos I show how the Bible's central chapter, its 595th, is the key to a message about transgression and sanctification through faith, obedience and the reading of God's Word.
The Worldwide Sign
I discovered this part of the code during a frenetic period of activity that ended on 6/11/09. I spent the next two days checking for myself that there really were 31086 verses in the NIV. Only then was I sure that it was a genuine result. Next day I turned on my computer to see that the Google logo had been altered for the day to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. Here is a screen snapshot of the changed logo, which was displayed worldwide and which featured Count von Count (who teaches children counting). The word “Google” itself is a corruption of “googol”, the name given to ten to the power of a hundred. [7]
As you can see, the digits of 31086 are all present in the logo, which was changed from 'Google' to the numbers 600813. In fact, if you read it backwards and ignore the zeros you will see the numbers 31 and 86! If you take a little more licence you can also see that both the number 31 and the letters “el” it replaces give the word “El”, meaning “the Deity”, which as we saw has a Hebrew gematria of 31. Reading backwards, the numbers 8006 resemble 'good' (since the 6 is backwards if the logo is read backwards). The word 'good' is semantically related of course to 'God'. [6] This was all remarkable enough, but I also noticed that the date this logo was shown was 9/11/09 (I live in the UK, so this is UK date ordering)!
Given that the New Bible Code asserts that the event marking the Second Coming was the terrorist attacks of 9/11, this particular Google logo change, occurring on another '9/11', seemed to me like an acknowledgement that I had cracked an important part of the code. I’m not saying that the Google logo was put up so the world could see what I had done; rather, my discovery of this part of the code was timed to coincide with the display of this logo, so that I could see the importance of what I had discovered. [8]
Summary
The encoding of the NIV Bible extends to its large-scale structure, with the number of verses reduced from the 31102 of the KJV Bible to 31086, a remarkable number that identifies the Author and encapsulates the message of the code. It also points us directly to the central verses of the NIV Bible, where we find the message of the code reiterated in a concise and symmetrical manner.
Bill Downie 16/7/10
Updated 17/10/21, 16/11/22
Notes
1. The missing verses are: Matthew 17:21, 18:11, 23:14; Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26, 15:28; Luke 17:36, 23:17; John 5:4; Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:7, 28:29; Romans 16:24.
2. Elohim is the plural of Eloah (God), but is used with singular verb forms and is universally taken to mean “God”.
3. The four systems of gematria I use can be separated into a 3+1 pattern, three of the systems being established ones, one coming to me via revelation. E. H. Bullinger has shown that this is a common pattern in the Bible. For instance there are three synoptic gospels and one (John) that is more retrospective.
4. I was taught this system in a very unusual way, which I will explain in a later page (see also note 3).
5. The same phenomenon is found in the KJV Bible, the central verses of which are Psalm 103:1-2 and which are also uplifting.
6. My thanks to Kathryn LeCorre for pushing me to look for more here.
7. http://blogoscoped.com/forum/162873.html
8. Another sign occurred a few minutes after I uploaded this webpage. One of my daughters rang to say that my other daughter had just been offered a house. The number? 119!