What is the Atbash code, and why is it used in the Bible?
Answered from the commentary of Morrish Bible Dictionary
The Atbash code reverses the Hebrew alphabet, replacing each letter with its counterpart from the other end: the second letter from the beginning becomes the second from the end, and so on. By this method, “Babylon” was changed into “Sheshach”. It is supposed that the Jews used this name to speak of judgment coming upon Babylon without offending their captors.
Verses: Jeremiah 25:26, Jeremiah 51:1, Jeremiah 51:41
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
Mystical name applied to Babylon. Jer. 25:26; Jer. 51:41; cf. Jer. 51:1. The meaning of the word is not known. According to Jerome the name Babylon, from Babel, was made up of the letters B B L (the 2nd and the 12th letters of the Hebrew alphabet) these were changed into SH SH CH (the 2nd and the 12th letters reckoning from the end of the same alphabet), a mode well known to later Jews. It has been supposed that the Jews made this alteration in the name in order that they might speak of the judgements coming upon Babylon without giving offence to those who had carried them away captive.
Verses
- Jeremiah 25:26and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
- Jeremiah 51:1Thus saith Jehovah Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the heart of those that rise against me, a destroying wind;
- Jeremiah 51:41How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth seized! How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!