Top Ten

Examples of Gematria

Ten examples of Gematria that astonished us...

We thought it would be cool to show people a 'top ten' list of amazing gematria calculations that we've found over the past decade.
Which ones are your favorites?
Working backwards from 10th to first place...





[Abbr: b.g biblical gematria. r.c reversal cipher. s.c standard cipher.]


10.
אתה ארור לאל יהו ארור תמת ארור ארור מת תמת ארור אתה ליהו ארור
AThH ARVR LAL IHV ARVR ThMTh ARVR ARVR MTh ThMTh ARVR AThH LIHV ARVR
You are cursed by God YHW, cursed to die, cursed, cursed, to die death, cursed, you are by YHW, cursed.
- The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet - 
IShRAL + (LAL YHW ÷ 2) + (N ÷ 2) = 310
(N ÷ 2) + N + (IShRAL ÷ 2) + LYHV = 248


I've transliterated the letters for these sums rather than wrestle with the interface that gets very confused when you have brackets, numerals and a right to left writing script. Perhaps two of the oldest phrasings of numerical grammar accompany those of blessings and curses. A blessing is a multiplication by two, for instance the Sabbath is the 'blessed day' and in Exodus  Israel would collect a double portion of manna to cover this day. A curse is the opposite - a division by two or a halving of the portions allotted.

The calculation in the tablet’s text requires that you replace אתה with ישראל, “Israel”, because the curse is against Israel. There are established conventions for using the אתה in this fashion in Biblical texts. The resulting totals are multiplies of אל (31) which means 'God'. 248 is also the value of the name אברהם Abraham, and is a value of a prominent great gate of the Merkabah when multiplied by 10. 

310 = 10 × אל
248 = 8 × אל 

If you accept the recent translation of the Mount Ebal curse tablet by distinguished Professor Gershon Galil (and not everyone does) then the mathematics of the tablet is proof the methodology predates the exile by centuries, possibly into the late Bronze age, and it demonstrates that even in these early days the practice was coherent, rule-based, mathematical exegesis. All I can contribute to the debate over the readings is this - if Galil is to be accused of pareidolia then he has chosen to see an arrangement which, completely unknown to him, included a lovely bit of mathematics. 


9.
ι ιη ιησ ιησο ιησου ιησους = 2110 (s.c)
χ χρ χρι χρισ χριστ χριστο χριστος = 6890 (s.c)
- Jesus Christ -
2110 + 6890 = 9000


This calculation was done with the Standard Greek Cipher (so its not been hidden), but nevertheless I've not heard of anyone iterating through the nominative form of the name of Jesus Christ like this, despite the practice being known of from at least the second century CE in amulets and wards (for example with the magic word Abracadabra). It's generally a good idea to do this type of checking with names. It seems to have been a popular pastime and it can explain a few things, for example the amount of Gold that came to Solomon in the first year of his reign likely was symbolic of taxes collected from the city of Jerusalem, given that:
י יר ירו ירוש ירושל ירושלם = 666   (r.c)  


8.
ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ויהי אור׃
And said Elohim "Let there be light, and there was light."
- Genesis 1:3
אלהים +אור+אור = 500  (b.g)

וירא אלהים את האור כי טוב ויבדל אלהים בין האור ובין החשך׃
And saw Elohim the light that was good and divided Elohim between the light and between the darkness.
- Genesis 1:4
אלהים האור טוב גם וק ול = 500   (b.g)

500 + 500 = 1000


The value of the large Aleph is 1000. The verses of Genesis 3-4 belong to the domain of the two Palaces of the Aleph on the Merkabah. Each of the Palaces represents a polarity of light vs darkness, day vs night. I think this is a very beautiful example of poetic intentionality by the scribe who composed it.   


7.
רק מערי העמים האלה אשר יהוה אלהיך נתן לך נחלה לא תחיה כל נשמה׃
כי החרם תחרימם החתי והאמרי הכנעני והפרזי החוי והיבוסי כאשר צוך יהוה אלהיך׃
Only in the cities of these peoples that YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as YHWH your God has commanded you.
- Deuteronomy 20:16-17 -
מערי העמים יהוה אלהיך נחלה נשמה החתי והאמרי הכנעני והפרזי החוי והיבוסי יהוה אלהיך = 1790  (b.g)
החתי והאמרי הכנעני והפרזי החוי והיבוסי = 930  (b.g)
(Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite)
1790 - 930 = 860


Given that the words 'kill' and 'destroy' are operators that mean subtraction, there's always some difficulty believing the plain (peshat) meaning of any biblical text that discusses killing. Indeed, there are some calculations that appear to negate the peshat meaning by producing a sum of 0, which may indicate that some details may be there simply for their story and/or numerical value.

The value 860 is significant because אלהים is 86 and 860 is 10 × 86.

930 is אל ('God') × 3 × 10.

93 is the gate value of the final Heh of the Holy Name on the Merkabah.

I like these calculations because they remind me to be cautious when biblical writers start compiling lists, because they're usually for the purposes of calculation.


6.
ויסף אברהם ויקח אשה ושמה קטורה
And again Abraham, and took wife and named Keturah
- Genesis 25:1 - 
(r.c) קטורה = אלסבע (b.g)
Elsheba = Keturah
אברהם אברהם קיא אלסבע = 770 (b.g)


Not the most complicated piece of gematria you'll ever see, but it demonstrates how sometimes true names and complimentary names of biblical characters can be concealed with the reversal cipher. For Keturah (incense), we have Elsheba אלסבע, and the gematria is crafted to unfurl only with the cipher word. 

Note:  ויסף 'and again' indicates to double the next word which is 'Abraham'. קיא is only the value of 111, and not a word. It is the pre-set value of the word אשה 'woman' or 'wife'.


5.
וארא והנה רוח סערה באה מן הצפון ענן גדול ואש מתלקחת ונגה לו סביב ומתוכה כעין החשמל מתוך האש׃
And I looked and behold! A spirit, a whirlwind came out of the North! A cloud great and fire engulfing itself and brightness to it around and from the midst like the color of amber from the midst of the fire. 
- Ezekiel 1:4 -
ב סערה - הצפו + ענן ענן ש ונגה לז כעין מג ש = 790   (r.c)
ו ו ר ס ב מ ה ע ג ו מ ו ל ס ו כ ה מ ה = 610   (b.g)
790 + 610 = 1400

This type of combined calculation using both gematria and notariqon, with the reversal cipher for the gematria is a common practice in Ezekiel's writings. Ezekiel is using the word רוח (ruach) 'spirit' or 'wind' which has a preset value of 2, and the word האש 'the fire' which has a preset value of 3.   The word מן 'from' is a subtraction operator, which is why we subtract the word הצפו 'the North' from the calculation. גדול (gedul) 'great' means to multiply the former word by 2 which is why we have two clouds ענן ענן in the calculation. Besides these operators and values, we also have two division operations signified by ומתוכה and מתוך which suggest החשמל (86) 'the amber' should be halved into 43 (מג), and סביב (74) 'around' should be halved into 37 (לז). We have to work the division in the sums before entering the calculations into Shematria. 

I like this calculation from Ezekiel because it one of the simpler ones, but also because there is a story about a boy who studied it so deeply he set himself on fire. Ezekiel can set very difficult calculations but he also demonstrates the full power of computational grammar, so he's a scribe that all gematraists want to understand better. Eventually.  


4.
Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν. ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν.
καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ.
Here is wisdom Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
- Revelation 13:18 -
ω η σ ε ο ε ν ψ τ α τ θ α γ α ε κ ο α α ε ε ε = 1300   (r.c)
&
ἔχουσιν ἐπ’ αὐτῶν βασιλέα τὸν ἄγγελον τῆς ἀβύσσου, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἑβραϊστί Ἀβαδδών καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ ὄνομα ἔχει Ἀπολλύων.
And they had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
- Revelation 9:11 -
βασιλεα + αγγελον + αβυσσου + אבדון + απολλυων = 1300   (b.g)


One might think that after hundreds of years of intense study, Revelation 13:18 would have nothing left to divulge, but you'd be wrong. It has a lovely example of notariqon with a value exactly matching the gematria of 9:11 to reveal the name of the Beast.

The value of '13' hundred may correspond to it becoming an 'unlucky number' due to the fact it was the 13th disciple 'Judas' which betrayed Jesus for the infamous 30 pieces of silver.

But the reason I love this pair is that 9:11 deliberately mixes the two writing scripts. You need to use the Hebrew word for Abaddon (אבדון) along with the Greek words for 'king' + 'angel' + 'abyss' + 'Apollyon'. These verses seem almost playful, for all their grim subject matter. 

Behold! The Art and Practice of Gematria

Ad | Behold! The Art and Practice
of Gematria (third edition)

In biblical times, Gematria was a formal system of math that had rules and conventions to make it verifiable.
Behold has everything you need to find gematria in biblical texts and use it to read the Bible in its proper context.

Learn the meaning of the Hebrew letters and of their origins in ancient Egypt, and find out how thousands of years later, Kabbalists and Occultists would use the Holy Chariot and ancient gematria ciphers in their own writings.


3.
ויסע מלאך האלהים ההלך לפני מחנה ישראל וילך מאחריהם ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ויעמד מאחריהם ויבא בין מחנה מצרים ובין מחנה ישראל ויהי הענן והחשך ויאר את הלילה ולא קרב זה אל זה כל הלילה ויט משה את ידו על הים ויולך יהוה את הים ברוח קדים עזה כל הלילה וישם את הים לחרבה ויבקעו המים = 9000   (r.c)
And moved the Angel of the Elohim who went to face the camp of Israel, and went behind them and circled the pillar of the cloud from before their face, and stood behind them and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel and it was a cloud and darkness to them but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
- Exodus 14:19-21 -


These three lines are called the Shemhamphorash, which means "the explicit name", which was originally a Tannaic term for the Tetragrammaton. There is no need to publish separate gematria for these verses, because the entirety of the three lines is computed as one sum. 

In the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, the 72-fold name is derived from Exodus 14:19–21, when it is read  read boustrophedonically to produce 72 names of three letters. According to Kabbalist legends,  the 72-fold name was used by Moses to cross the Red Sea, and that it could grant later holy men the power to cast out demons, heal the sick, prevent natural disasters, and even kill enemies.

I think this calculation was created to celebrate the symbolic birth of the nation of Israel. As we see from Genesis 2, the creation of Eve, who is traditionally believed to have been the first 'birth' occurs under the letter Tsade (90). The multiplication of the 90 a hundredfold symbolizes the expansion of the term to cover the birth of a people, rather than a single individual.

The idea behind reading the lines boustrophedonically may have come from a stray reference to a "reversal" of line twenty by Rashi, but this may have been a reference to the reversal of the cipher (i.e. the reversal cipher). Later writers naturally assumed that the Shemhamphorash should be read boustrophedonically to reveal 72 angelic names.


2.
ויאמר יהוה אל משה ראה נתתיך אלהים לפרעה ואהרן אחיך יהיה נביאך׃
And said YaHeW to Moshe 'Look! I give you Elohim Pharaoh and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.'
- Exodus 7:1 -
יהו משה אלהים ר ואהרן נביאך = 700   (b.g)


This calculation includes the set-value of the letter Resh for 'Pharaoh' (200). At first glance it appears straightforward enough ... until you realize the calculation is using the three lettered name of God YHW. That’s a forensic watermark for dating layers of the Tanakh. It signifies the calculation was probably written in the late Bronze age or early Iron age.


1.
בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ׃
In-the-beginning created Elohim the Heavens and the Earth.
- Genesis 1:1 -
ב בר ברא בראש בראשי בראשית = 2000   (r.c)
בראשית + אלהים + השמים + הארץ = 700   (b.g)
ב + ב + א + א + ה + ו + ה = 800   (r.c)
etc.


The winner is (of course) the first line of the Book of Genesis, because without doubt it is one of the most complex and sublime gematria sums in history, and for that reason it deserves a special article to itself, so you can appreciate its true awesomeness:
  THE HOLY NAME & GENESIS 1:1

© Shematria Gematria Calculator
Copyright 2025 Bethsheba Ashe - All Rights Reserved
See our Terms, Conditions & our Privacy Policy