In brief
So-called Bible codes are usually created by choosing letters at regular intervals in a continuous text. Interesting combinations can be found, but comparable results also appear in other sufficiently long works. Their presence alone does not establish supernatural authorship or predictive power.
What is an ELS code?
An equidistant letter sequence, or ELS, is formed by selecting a starting point in a text and then reading every second, tenth or other regularly spaced letter. A computer can quickly test many starting positions, intervals and directions. With enough searches, some sequences will resemble names, places or events.
The underlying idea has a long history. Readers have looked for concealed structures in sacred texts since medieval times, and Isaac Newton also devoted attention to biblical chronology and hidden meaning. Modern code claims became possible on a much larger scale when computers could scan Hebrew texts through thousands of combinations.
How the modern claim developed
In the twentieth century, Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl described letter patterns in the Hebrew Torah. Later researchers used computer analysis to examine Genesis. A 1988 paper reported apparent proximity between selected rabbinic names and biographical details, prompting extensive public and academic discussion.
Popular books then presented codes as references to modern people and events. Some readers understood these findings as prophecy. Critics noted, however, that several publicized forecasts did not occur and that many examples were selected only after the relevant event was already known.
Terminology note
Older versions of this archive sometimes used “ESL” in headings. The standard term is ELS: equidistant letter sequence. Theomatics is a related but distinct approach that assigns numerical values to words and phrases.
Why statistical testing matters
A visually impressive pattern is not automatically statistically unusual. Researchers need to specify the target words, spelling rules, source text, intervals and success criteria before running the test. If these choices are repeatedly adjusted after seeing the results, ordinary coincidences can appear meaningful.
Independent critics reproduced similar patterns in non-biblical works, including long literary texts. This does not prove that every individual sequence is accidental, but it demonstrates that code-like clusters are not unique to Genesis or the Torah.
Common sources of false confidence
- Many opportunities: millions of possible letter combinations make occasional recognizable results likely.
- Flexible spelling: Hebrew spelling variants and optional forms can expand the search space.
- Retrospective selection: targets chosen after an event are easier to match than predictions registered beforehand.
- Subjective proximity: researchers may disagree about how close two words must be to count.
- Selective reporting: successful-looking combinations receive attention while failed searches are rarely displayed.
Prophecy or textual coincidence?
Religious readers differ over whether sacred texts can contain layers of meaning beyond their plain wording. That theological question is separate from whether a particular computer method provides repeatable evidence. ELS research must meet the same standards of transparent methods, independent replication and fair comparison used for other statistical claims.
The available criticism gives readers strong reason not to treat ELS findings as dependable forecasts. The method has not established a consistent ability to identify future events in advance, and comparable patterns occur in unrelated texts.
Continue through this section
- Theomatics and ELS terminology, with questions about this form of analysis
- Continued ELS and theomatics analysis
- Concluding discussion of theomatics
- Responses to the ELS study and to a popular Bible-code book
- Hebrew writing and the question of whether Bible codes are real
Related reading
- Christian folklore and widely circulated legends
- Who wrote the five books of Moses?
- Who wrote the book of Genesis?
- Hebrew Scriptures and Old Testament menu
- Science and religion menu
References and historical context
- An Associated Press report dated 10 September 1999 summarized scholarly criticism of the Bible-code claim.
- Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code, Touchstone Books, 1998.
- Michael Drosnin, Bible Code II: The Countdown, Viking Press, 2002.
- “Assassinations Foretold in Moby-Dick”, an illustrative comparison showing how code-like findings can emerge in a long non-biblical text.