Get started
- Choose a Torah portion. The browser opens with Bereshit, the first of the 54 individual portions.
- Keep Standard · Hechrechi, Whole word, and As written · ketiv for a first exploration.
- Turn on Show word values to see the numbers. Enable Show glosses for English lexical meanings.
- Click a Hebrew word. Its value appears under Explore connections, with matching passages from the selected portion.
For example, in Genesis 1:1, בְּרֵאשִׁית has the standard whole-word value 913. Open Bereshit with these settings, then select the first word.
Choose the calculation
Gematria method changes how consonants receive values. Calculate from determines which spelling or word unit is counted:
- Whole word
- Combines attached BHSA parts and counts the resulting word once. For example, ב + ראשית is treated as one whole word.
- Word part
- Counts each BHSA word unit separately. An attached prefix can therefore have its own value.
- Dictionary form
- Calculates from the normalized dictionary spelling of each BHSA word unit, while displaying the word as it occurs in the text.
Text reading selects the written form (ketiv) or the recorded reading (qere). Qere uses ketiv where no alternative is recorded. A recorded empty reading remains empty. Dictionary-form values stay the same when changing the reading, although the displayed text may change.
Vowels and cantillation are displayed, but only the normalized consonants contribute to gematria.
Read the text
- Show word values
- Displays the current numerical value below each word, in both the reader and search results.
- Show glosses
- Displays BHSA English dictionary glosses. Attached parts in whole-word mode join their glosses with a plus sign. These are lexical meanings, not a contextual translation of the verse.
- Box phrases / Box clauses
- Shows optional outlines for the BHSA linguistic structures. Phrase outlines are teal; clause outlines are rose. Enable either or both. Boxes include glosses and numbers when shown; a structure interrupted by other words is displayed in separate runs.
- Go to verse / Previous / Next
- Jumps to a verse or browses pages of 12 verses. A structure that continues beyond a displayed verse or passage is shown only for its visible words.
- SHEBANQ
- Opens the verse in SHEBANQ, using BHSA 2021, in a new tab for further textual study.
Matching words are highlighted in gold. Selecting a word shows its value under Explore connections. A small teal dot marks words with a recorded qere when the qere reading is selected.
Find connections
Match a word or a number
Click a word, or enter a non-negative whole number under Or look for a value and choose Find. For example, try 26 with the standard method. All searches stay within the selected Torah portion.
Show matching chooses verses, sentences, clauses, or phrases as the result size. Each result contains at least one word with the requested value. This matches individual word values, not the summed value of the passage.
Find shared values within a passage
Choose Find shared values to find passages containing two or more word occurrences with the same value. A repeated occurrence of the same spelling counts. Enable Require different spellings to require at least two different normalized consonantal forms; in dictionary mode, this compares dictionary forms.
Whole words count once, even when they consist of multiple BHSA parts. A whole word must fit completely inside a selected sentence, clause, or phrase to count there. Switch to Word part to examine a structure containing only part of an attached form. Empty readings and unavailable values are excluded from matches.
Browse and reset results
Show in text jumps to the first verse of a result. Show more results reveals further matches. Clear removes the selection and results. Changing the method, representation, reading, or result size recalculates the current search; choosing another portion starts a new search.
The browser URL records the portion, method, representation, and reading. A copied link opens those settings; it does not preserve search results, a selected word, or the display checkboxes.
Five gematria methods
| Method | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Standard · Hechrechi | Traditional values from 1 to 400. Final letter forms keep the ordinary letter value. |
| Final letters · Gadol | Uses extended values of 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 for ך, ם, ן, ף, ץ, respectively. |
| Alphabet order · Sidduri | Uses alphabet positions from 1 to 22. Final forms share their ordinary letter's position. |
| Reduced letters · Katan | Reduces each letter's standard value to a single digit, then adds those digits. |
| Single digit · Katan Mispari | Repeatedly reduces the standard total to a single digit. |
Sources and interpretation
Hebrew text, lexical glosses, and linguistic structures come from ETCBC BHSA 2021. Numerical features come from gematria_TF; portion boundaries and names come from BHSaddons. The portions are individual readings, not calendar-based combinations.
Verse references follow BHSA's Hebrew Bible divisions. Sentences, clauses, and phrases follow linguistic annotations. If a structural unit crosses a portion boundary, only the words in this portion are searched, and the result is marked.
Equal numbers are a textual observation and do not by themselves establish a historical intention or interpretation.
Text and derived data are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0; browser code is MIT, and this guide is CC BY 4.0. By Tony Jurg. View the project on GitHub.