What Is Gematria?

Gematria is an alphanumeric code where letters and words in the Hebrew alphabet are assigned numbers, values, or calculations. It is commonly used in Jewish culture to understand text, particularly within the Torah, on a deeper and more spiritual level.

This type of coding practice was thought to be first used back in the 8th century BC. Since then, it has been adopted by the Jewish culture and similar variations have been used in the Greeks isopsephy, Arabic abjad numerals, and English gematria.

What Is the Point of Gematria?

Gematria is most commonly used within Jewish culture. It can be used as a number system. However, the most common use of gematria is to obtain a more spiritual understanding of a religious text. The exact meaning drawn from gematria depends on a person's individual beliefs. An ancient version of gematria was a fully developed mathematical system that used words to reveal sums that they intended future readers to discover.

An example of gematria is the word Hebrew word chai (חי), which means alive. Using gematria, it can be uncovered that the word chai has a numerical value of 18 in the Mispar Gadol variation. Because of the numerical value of the word in gematria, 18 has become a lucky number for many Jewish people.

What Is the Difference Between Numerology and Gematria?

Numerology, as a general definition is the study of numbers. In biblical terms, numerology is the study of how numbers used in scriptures have a symbolic meaning. For example, the twelve disciples, twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve apostles.

Based on these definitions, the difference between numerology and gematria - in simple terms - is that gematria is the practice of assigning a numerical value to letters and words in the Hebrew alphabet to uncover hidden meanings within the text. Whereas numerology is the study of numbers as they are to decipher their symbolic meaning.

What Is the Gematria Calculator?

The Gematria Calculator is a Hebrew numerology calculator that shows you the gematria value of words, phrases, names, or a batch of text. It's an easy-to-use online tool that can help you understand the Gematria value of the text in the Hebrew alphabet, enabling you to study the deeper meaning contained within words, names, or text. With this gematria decoder, you can decode the meaning of a word or phrase based on the gematria value.

How to Use the Gematria Calculator

Just type the words, letters, or name you want to the input above to see the Gematria value.

Thanks to Bethsheba Ashe for her guidance on Hebrew transliteration.