What is Bible gematria?
Bible gematria usually means counting the Hebrew (and sometimes Greek) letters of a biblical word or name. In Jewish tradition that counting is part of midrash and later kabbalistic writing. In Christian study it sometimes appears when discussing Greek New Testament words via isopsephy.
It is not the same as twentieth-century “Bible code” software claims about skip sequences in translated English Bibles. Those methods are a different genre and are not used on this site. For a full comparison of letter sums versus skip-code claims, read Bible codes: tradition vs misconception.
Letter sums vs skip-code claims
Classical gematria in commentary starts with a Hebrew or Greek word and sums its letters using a published chart — the same arithmetic this site’s calculators perform. Midrash may note that two words share a total as a homiletic hook inside tradition. That is transparent letter math on a stated spelling, not a hidden string pulled from a flat text file.
Equidistant letter sequence (ELS) “Bible code” software skips every Nth letter in a continuous translation. That method, inputs, and claims differ from mispar hechrachi on a Hebrew word. This page documents letter-sum study; it does not treat skip-code hits as verified prophecy. The Bible codes article includes a short claim checklist when you read headlines or videos.
How gematria appears in Jewish and Christian biblical study
Rabbinic literature sometimes notes that two Hebrew words share a numeric value and reads that overlap as a homiletic link — an interpretive move, labeled as tradition, not as laboratory evidence. Kabbalistic manuals list standard letter values (mispar hechrachi and variants).
Greek-speaking Christianity inherited isopsephy from the same Milesian letter-numbers used in ordinary Greek counting. Where commentators mention a total, they are using that public number system, not a secret second alphabet.
Well-known examples
The Hebrew word חי (chai, “life” / “alive”) is 8+10 = 18 in the standard aleph-bet count. That pairing is widely cited in Jewish practice as a traditional association with 18, not as a proof about other languages.
The Tetragrammaton (the four-letter Hebrew name of God) is counted as 26 in the standard values (10+5+6+5). Commentators discuss that figure inside Hebrew. It is not automatically the English word GOD (ordinal 26) — same digit, different alphabets.
Revelation 13:18 refers to counting the number of a name. Ancient readers who used isopsephy would have understood “count” in that letter-number sense. Modern identifications of that number are contested interpretation, not a feature of this calculator. For Hebrew words with finals valued 500–900, open the Mispar Gadol calculator.
Calculate a Bible-related word or name
Hebrew names belong on the Hebrew tool. English spellings belong on the homepage. For what gematria is in general, read What Is Gematria?.