Contributed by Craig Paardekooper: Published 09/09/2003
The primary research presented in this article was prepared by Craig Paardekooper.
The graphics and web development were produced by Richard Amiel McGough.
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Structural Numbers of the Bible
A. Introduction
The word "Bible" (, Biblios) means "Book".
It has a gematrical value of n314, which is the first three digits of
100 x pi, where pi is the circumference of a unit circle, 3.141592.... Pi is well approximated by
the ratio n22/n7, which is, in fact, the best approximation to pi using integers less than 100.
See http://www.biblewheel.com/GR/GR_314.php for other words that sum to n314.
The Number n22/n7 will be used in the discussion below as the approximate
ratio of the diameter of a circle to it's circumference.
The fact that the Canon Wheel shows the Bible naturally
divides into n22 spokes and n7 sections suggests a connection between Numbers n22 and n7 and the
Bible as a Circle or Wheel. Note also that a circle suggests completion and perfection.
B. Book, Chapter and Verse of The WORD
There are 4 numbers that most scholars would recognise as relating to the dimensions
of the Bible. These are 66, 1189, 31102, and 373. The Bible statistics may be
confirmed at http://www.marshcommentary.com/stats/ .
66 | = the number of books in the Bible. |
1189 | = the number of chapters in the Bible. |
31102 | = the number of verses in the Bible. |
373 | = the gematrical value of "The Word" (cf. Logos Star) |
At first sight, these numbers seem unrelated. It may come as a surprise, therefore, that all
these numbers are related, and form a curious pattern based on the numbers 22 and 7:
31102 | x 1000 / 22 | = 1189 x 1189.005 |
31102 | x 1000 / 7 | = 666.6 x 6665.3 |
1189 x 1189 | x 22 / 7 | = 666.6 x 6665.3 |
666.6 x 666.6 | x 22 / 7 | = 3737 x 373.7 |
These relations are exact to within the accuracy of the digits shown. The last
equation relates these numbers to the Heart of Wisdom (37) and the Logos Star (373)
which form the basis of the Creation Holograph and the Logos Holograph.
Here's a schematic of the above relations:
Just as the word "Bible" is a collective name that integrates all the books, chapters and verses, so
it appears that the structual numbers of the Bible (314 approx. = 22/7) are related by close approximations based
on the Numbers 22 and 7.
C. For The Future
A deeper integration with the number of words and the number of letters in the Bible awaits further
research. (Scholars with the facility to count either should email Craig Paardekooper at
craig_pkooper@yahoo.com). This concerns a word or letter count
in the original languages of the Bible - Hebrew for Old Testament, and Greek for New Testament.
Your input will be greatly appreciated.
The initial findings look quite interesting.
A word count was made of the number of Hebrew words in the Old Testament (the Massoretic Text). Then,
a word count was made of the number of Greek words in the New Testament
(Nestle-Aland/ United Bible Society Text).
Number of OT Words (Hebrew) | = 306,375 |
Number of NT Words (Greek) | = 138,020 (cf. New Testament Statistics ) |
Total Number of Words | = 444,395. Note that 444,395 = 666.6 x 666.659,
almost the perfect square of 666.6. |
The number of letters in the Bible remains to be counted. The above findings suggest a
consistent pattern that should penetrate to the level of the letter. I don't think anyone has ever
counted the number of Hebrew and Greek letters in the Bible, so it will be a first.
I wonder what we will find.
As a further point of interest, these results also integrate quite well with the findings of
Vernon Jenkins in his article concerning the structure of Genesis 1:1 called
The Arbiters of Truth .
Circular Relations
I begin with this symmetrical approximate representation of the numbers encountered above:
7 x | 3.737 x | 3737 x | 7 / 22 = | 31102 (verses) |
| 373.7 x | 3737 x | 7 / 22 = | 444395 (words) |
| | 3737 x | 7 / 22 = | 1189 (chapters) |
The precise figures are:
7 x | 3.737 x | 3737 x | 6.9994 / 22 = | 31102 (verses) |
| 373.7 x | 3737 x | 7.0007 / 22 = | 444395 (words) |
| | 3737 x | 6.9997 / 22 = | 1189 (chapters) |
Notice how the factors making up the chapter, verse, and word counts are almost identical.
In each case, the term in the fourth column is within 7 +/- .0007.
Sumarizing these approximations, we have:
- There are approximately 373.7 words per chapter
- There are approximately 7 x 3.737 verses per chapter
- There are approximately 7 x 3737/22 chapters in the whole Bible
Three circles can be drawn. Let the circumferences of the circles be -
- 3737
- 373.7 x 3737
- 3.737 x 3737 x 7 respectively
Then the diameters of these circles will be -
- Total number of chapters in the Bible
- Total number of words in the Bible
- Total number of verses in the Bible.
Given the initial finding that the number of words in the Bible was equivalent to the
diameter of a circle of circumference 3737 x 373.7, is it not a great coincidence that
the chapters and verses should form practically the same pattern?
The chapter divisions were introduced into the Latin Vulgate in 1290 by a Professor Stephen Langton.
However, it is only when these divisions are applied to the original Hebrew and Greek texts that
the pattern emerges. And this was not done for another 200 years.
Furthermore, Stephen Langton introduced the chapter divisions into the Catholic Bible. The pattern
would therefore remain completely hidden until the Hebrew Old Testament Canon was adopted by
the Protestant Church at the time of the Reformation.
The verse divisions have always been part of the Hebrew Old Testament, though they were
not numbered until the Middle Ages. Robert Estienne (better known to us as Stephens) introduced a
system of numbered verse divisions in his Greek New Testament published at Geneva in 1551, and
into the Latin Vulgate published at Geneva in 1555. For this he used as his model
the short verses into which the Hebrew Bible had been divided by Rabbi Nathan in 1508.
Henry Stephens, Robert's father, had introduced verse numbers in his 1509 edition of the Psalms.
A detailed history can be found at this site:
www.holybible.com/resources/Trinitarian/article_462_5.htm
It is astounding that the words, chapters and verses have been so ordered as to
exhibit the patterns shown above. It suggests a provident force at work – a force signified by the
number 373.
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