“Unless you know the code, it has no meaning.”

John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

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Decoding Attempt 1

If the King James Bible contains a Baconian bi-literal cipher using the italicized words, then there should be clues to guide the solution. There appears to be one possible clue in the verse numbers that precede the first italicized word and following the last italicized word of the Bible.

• Verse numbers from the Beginning: 1 + 2 = 3
• Verse numbers from the End: 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 +21 = 111

• 3 X 111 = 333, possibly indicating that the first three words should each have three letters.

Using the first and last italicized words, there is only one way to arrange the words so that the first three words, each have three letters. A Baconian Cipher needs five terms to select one letter, so the first five words, alternating from the end and beginning follow,

• The last word is “ARE”.
• The first word is “WAS”.
• The second last word is “ARE”.
• The second first word is “IT”.
• The third last word is “BE”.

• Combined, the first five word sequence is, ARE WAS ARE IT BE.

• There are a total of 13 letters in the first sequence, adding the 5 words, gives 13 + 5 = 18.
• A possible reference to verse 13:18 of Revelation

The standard gematria value of the 5 words is,

“ARE WAS ARE IT BE” = 127

If this sequence is correct, then there should be some indication built into the text. The first three words were indicated by the 333 value of the verse numbers. It would make sense to focus the search for a confirmation on the last two words. The last two words are both found in in verse 4, as shown in Figure 1.

• In Genesis, the word “IT” is the 7th word from the beginning of the 4th verse. Recall that JESUS = 74, as a possible confirmation.
• In Revelation, the word “BE” is the 4th word from the end of the 4th verse.
• 74 and 44 form an unbalanced divide of four. The number 7 appears once and the number 4 three times.

Looking closer at the 7 and 4 words provides a much needed confirmation.

• “And God saw the light, that it + be in their foreheads.” = 426
• Since there are 2 punctuation marks in the text above, add 2 to the gematria value to get, 426 + 2 = 428
• Recall that the five word sequence has a value of “ARE WAS ARE IT BE” = 127
• Adding, 428 + 127 = 555
• 555 is a version of 666 and the height of the Washington Monument.

An example of a Key to Bacon’s bi-literal cipher can be found in a book by Charles Loughridge, Key to the bi-literal cipher of Francis Bacon. The sample key is shown in Figure 2. Note that this key only has 24 letters. The assumption is that the I/J and U/V pairs are the same.

Using the number of letters in each word, the first sequence decodes to the letter “D” as follows,

• Letter Count: ARE WAS ARE IT BE = 3 3 3 2 2
• Odd/Even: Odd Odd Odd Even Even
• Let the Odd letter count be interpreted as “a” in Bacon’s Key, and Even as the letter “b”.
• Odd Odd Odd Even Even = aaabb = D

“D” = 4, which could be related to the last two words that both appear in verse 4. If “D” is the correct decoded letter, then there should be a confirmation built into the text as well. One approach to find the confirmation would be to look a the first and last occurrences of the letter “D” in Genesis and Revelation.

The confirmation is once again found by using the gematria value of the text before and after the first and last letter “D”, respectively,

• “In the beginning God + d Iesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” = 503
• Adding 2 for the 2 periods gives, 503 + 2 = 505
• The value of the Odd/Even sequence is, “Odd odd odd even even” = 161
• Adding the two values confirms both the Odd/Even interpretation and the decoded letter, “D”.
• 505 + 161 = 666

• There are a total of 47 characters to the first and last “D” in the Bible.
• The repeated use of the numbers 4 and 7 could be a hint that a shift is needed.
• Since “D” = 4 and “G” = 7, this could be a clue to shift from “D” to “G” by adding 3 to the decoded letter.

If the first letter decoded using the first Baconian sequence is to be shifted from “D” to “G”, it does not mean that all of the decoded letters will have the same three letter shift. That would be too easy and would not require much effort to break the code. If the author is going to go to the trouble of shifting the letters, it would make sense to use a different shift for each letter, thus requiring that a Key be found. Shifting the first letter to “G” could imply that the first three letters are to be shifted so that “GOD” is the final result. Using this approach, a possible key to the Baconian Cipher is shown in Figure 4. The shift for the fourth letter in the Key is determined by using the value of the other three decoded letters and the target number 888.

• The first three decoded letters before the shift are, “DFN” =24
• 888 = 24 X 37, suggesting that the fourth shift value is 37.

• Confirmation of the shifted letters “GOD P” is found in Genesis, starting with the first “GOD” through the first letter “P”.
• The “G” in “GOD” is the 15th letter from the beginning of the Bible.
• “God created the heauen, and the Earth. And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and darknesse was up” = 873
• 873 + 15 = 888, confirming the decoded and shifted letters.
• The letter “O” = 15 also follows the letter “P”.

Another possibility is that the shifted value of the fourth sequence is 37, rather than the shift being 37. To shift 5 to 37, would require a shift of 32, as shown in Figure 5.

Potentially stronger confirmations of the second Key can be found at the beginning of the Bible as well.

• In this case, the first three decoded letters before the shift are also “DFN” =24
• Here, because 888 = 24 X 37, an unbalanced divide of 4 is achieved by using the first three letters before the shift and the last letter after the shift.
• “GOD” = 26, and the fourth shifted value is 37.
• 26 X 37 = 962 = 888 + 74, possibly a clue to look for both 888 and 74.

• Confirmation of the shifted letters “GOD P” is found in Genesis, starting with the first “GOD” through the first letter “P”.
• “God created the heauen, and the Earth. And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and dark” = 731
• There are a total of 74 characters from “GOD” to the first “K”.
• JESUS = 74, and the first and last letters are “GK” = 18
• 74 X 18 = 1332 = 2 X 666

• From the beginning of Genesis 1:1,
• “In the beginning God created the heauen, and the Earth. And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and dark” = 868
• With a total of 20 words, 868 + 20 = 888

If things were as simple as finding the correct Key, the code should be broken at this point. However, it is probably not that simple. The actual decoded message does not have to begin immediately after the Key definition. In fact, the coded message could begin anywhere in the Bible. We must determine where the code starts. The location of the first word from the beginning and end will likely be different. Following the First four Baconian sequences, the next three lines appear to contain some sort of message about the starting location.

Running Totals 777 and 147

In Figure 5, line 21 appears to contain an important clue. The next word in the sequence is “BE”, which has a value of 7, and the running total of the italicized words is 777 on line 21. The numbers 7 and 777 form an unbalanced divide of 4.

The starting word from the beginning of the Bible might be Word number 233, which has a running total letter count of 777 in Figure 6.

In Figures 4 and 5, 777 and 147 can be found vertically in lines 21-23. The italicized letter count from the beginning of the Bible has the value 777 on line 233.

Figure 7 shows the first seven words from the end of the Bible.

• Lines 1,4, and 7 correspond to the number 147.
• In reverse order, the corresponding letter count is 6, 5, and 3, or 653.
• The remaining letter counts on lines 2, 3, 5, and 6, are 3 + 2 + 5 + 3 = 13.
• 653 + 13 = 666

666 confirms that 147 is important and should be sought out using the italicized words from the end of the Bible.

The letter count from the end of the Bible is 147 on line 36, as shown in Figure 8. Recall that the sum of all numbers from 1 to 36 is 666. Also, note 74 = JESUS on line 21, and 87 = TRUTH on line 24. Lines 23 and 47 also have the same word, “WERE”, as was found on line 233 from the beginning of the Bible.

Let’s look at the potential confirmations for these two words.

• From the Beginning : 777 letters on line 233 : MYSTERY = 125
• From the End : 147 letters on line 36 : WERE = 51
• 125 – 51 = 74 = JESUS

• Line 37 : COME = 36 : 37 X 36 = 1332 = 2 X 666

• Lines 23 to 36 : WERE to MYSTERY = 814
• 888 – 814 = 74 = JESUS
• Lines 36 to 47 : WERE to MYSTERY = 51 letters, and WERE = 51
• Adding the line numbers from 23 to 47 = 875
• 888 – 875 = 13 = JC

• The total value of all the words from line 23 to line 47 is WERE to WERE = 1323
• 1332 – 1323 = 9
• 9 X 74 (JESUS) = 666, possibly a hint to look for the number 74 and/or 9.

Starting at the end with “MYSTERY” on Line 36, and “WERE” at the beginning on line 233, alternate the words to create a second Key, shown in Figure 9.

The second Baconian sequence only works when read in reverse order. This is a hint to decode the four sequences here in reverse order.

• The total value of the decoded Baconian sequences is “GZAB” = 36
• 36 is the line number from the end of the Bible that had a running total letter count of 147.

• The total value of the first 15 words, that form the first three sequences, is 669.
• 669 – 3 = 666, confirming that this arrangement is correct.

• The total value of the first 20 words, that form the first 4 sequences, is 860.
• 888 – 860 = 28 : 28 – 2 = “GOD”, Possibly a hint to shift the letters again to find “GOD”, as we did previously in the first Key.

In the first Key, the first decoded letter, “D”, was shifted to get “G” in “GOD”. In this case, it makes sense to do the opposite because the first decoded letter is “G”. Shifting “G” = 7 to “D” = 4, produces the number 74 = JESUS. This also agrees with the letter count of the first two words, MYSTERY and WERE. The first three letters are shifted to get “GOD” in reverse order.

In the first Key, the four shifted letters had a value of “GOD K” = 37. Line 37 from the end has a value of “COME” = 36. This could be a hint to adjust the fourth shift value so that the total of the four shifted letters is 36. To get a total value of 36, the fourth shifted letter must be “J = 10, with a shift of 8.

• Combining the shifted letters of the two Keys, “GOD K” + “DOG J” = 73 = IESUS.
• The italicized word on line 73 from the end is “IS” = 28
• The total of the 20 words in the Key is 860, and 860 + 28 = 888, confirming the value 73 for both Keys.

The next step is to confirm the “DOG J” shifted letter sequence at the end of the Bible. Revelation 22, verses 15 and 16 hold the confirmation.

• 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoeuer loueth and maketh a lie.
• 16 I Iesus haue sent mine Angel, to testifie vnto you these things in the Churches. I am the roote and the offspring of Dauid, and the bright and morning starre.

• “DOG” is in verse 15 and there are 13 letters before “DOG”.
• IESUS = 73, and 73 is the total of the 8 decoded letters from both keys.
• “IESUS” is a fallback to the Old English spelling of “JESUS”. The “I” is really a “J”, so the confirmation covers “DOG” to “I” in “IESUS”

dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoeuer loueth and maketh a lie I I = 976

• 976 – 888 = 88
• There are a total of 18 words and 88 letters in the phrase. Combined with the 13 letters before “dogs”, it is a reference to Revelation 13:18, and by default, 666.
• The total of the four shift values in Figure 9 is also 88 in Figure 9.

So, now we have two keys, one that decodes the Baconian sequence in the order it is interwoven from the Bible, and the other decodes the sequence in reverse order. There are four sequences per Key, implying that the direction of decoding the sequences alternates between forward and reverse every four sequences.

But, there is still a problem. The Keys do not appear to decode anything else from this point, implying that we do not yet have the correct starting location. The first sequence in Figure 9 appears to hold a clue.

• The first 5 words from are: “MYSTERY WERE COME ARE ONE”
• The first two words have a letter count of 7 and 4, respectively, giving the number 74 = JESUS
• The value for JESUS indicates that the rest of this sequence could be important.
• The next three words have a letter count of 4, 3, and 3, respectively.
• Recall that the numbers 233 and 433 were hidden in the first Key, Figure 5. 233 + 433 = 666
• Line number 233 from the beginning of the Bible had a letter count of 777.
• The clue here could be to combine line 233 from the beginning with line 433 from the end.

Line Numbers 233 and 433

The 433rd italicized word from the end of the Bible is “HEE” in Ephesians 2:1, see Figure 10.

There is a lot going on on this page, so bear with me. I will try to put it in some logical form, but it may take a little work to understand. The first thing to notice is the position of the 433rd italicized word, “HEE” = 18. The end of the word is the 13th letter of the line, and the line is the 37th line from the top of the page and the 13th line from the bottom of the page. Two important numbers can be derived from this layout.

• Obviously the numbers 13, 18, and 37 are hinted at, along with 36 because the first 36 lines on the page are separated by the description of chapter 2.
• 13 X 18 = 234, and is a reference to Revelation 13:18, and the number 666.
• 37 X 18 = 666, potentially a direct confirmation of the importance of the 433rd word.
• When combined with the 233rd word from the beginning of the Bible, 233 + 433 = 666.

The next thing to notice is that the description of verse 13 at the beginning of chapter 2 is out of order. 13 is placed before verses 11 and 12. This could be just a sloppy mistake, but mistakes are often used to pull the readers attention to certain parts of the Bible. The first thing to look at is the most obvious, the description text and the numbers. Figure 11 shows a closeup of the description text.

And you hath hee quickned who were dead in trespasses, and sinnes.

• “HEE” = 18, and from the beginning of the verse, there are 13 total letters through “HEE”.
• This is a reference to Revelation 13:18, and possibly the number 234.
• The next word in the verse, “QUICKNED” is not spelled correctly, it is missing the letter “E” between “K” and “N”.
• Using the “mistake” as a divider, there are 18 letters before the mistake and 37 characters after it.
• 18 letters: “And you hath hee quick” = 196
• 37 characters: “ned who were dead in trespasses, and sinnes.” = 397
• This appears to be a hint at 18 X 37 = 666

The 37 characters have a value of 397 above, and the 397th word is “THINGS”, which has six letters, as shown in Figure 12. “THINGS” is repeated three times, forming the number 666.

Going back to Figure 11 and the description of chapter II,

• The total of the verses in the description are 1 + 3 + 5 + 10 + 13 + 11 + 12 + 19 = 74 = JESUS
• The description of verse 13 reads, “beeing brought neere by Christ, should not live as”, which has a value of 480
• There are a total of 41 letters in the description for verse 13, and “KEY” = 41, implying that this test is a key for something.
• Subtracting the value of “KEY” from the total of the description gives, 480 – 41 = 439
• 439 is 6 more than the 433rd word. Recall that 233 + 433 = 666. Combining 666 with 6 forms an unbalanced divide of four, possibly implying that we need to use word 439.

There are 74 letters after the description of verse 13. The first letter after verse 13 is “G” and the last is “D”, implying “GD” = 74. This is telling us to pay attention to this text as a group.

• “Gentiles and forreiners in time past but as citizens with the Saints and the family of God” = 871
• Since there are 17 words, 871 + 17 = 888
• This is a possible hint to look for 888.

Interestingly, verse 13 appears to contain a clue as well. The verse reads as, “But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” This verse appears to be suggesting that we are getting closer to the end and “CHRIST” = 77 will hold the key.

Figure 13 shows word 439 in relation to word 433. On lines 433 and 434, note that the gematria values of each word are 18 and 37, respectively. Since 18 X 37 = 666, this appears to confirm the combination of words 233 from the beginning and 433 from the end. Words 438 and 439 are both the same word, “”BE” = 7. Combined these two lines represent the number 77 = CHRIST. COmbined with the clue in verse 13, it appears to suggest that we need to move to word 439, instead of 433.

Word 439 is 6 words after 433. Since 433 combined with 233 from the beginning produces the number 666, the fourth 6 is obtained by moving to word 439. This is once again an unbalanced divide of 4 parts, or the number 6 divided into a group of three and one.

Taking a closer look at word 439, it is found in the last line of Galatians 6:18, see Figure 14.

• The verse chapter and number confirm the unbalanced divide of four using the number 6.
• Since 18 = 6 + 6 + 6, it can be interpreted as 666.
• Combined with the chapter number, 6 and 666 is the same confirmation from word 433 to 439.

Figure 15 shows the text of Galatians 6:18.

• Verse 18 has 37 characters before word 439. 18 X 37 = 666.
• There are also 18 letters after “BE”.
• Verse 18 has a total of 13 words, producing a reference to 13:18 agian.

• The text through the word “BE” can be interpreted two different ways because Jesus is spelled with an “I” in the King James Bible.
• With the letter “I”: “Brethren, the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be” = 438
• With the letter “J”: “Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be” = 439
• In Figure 12, words 438 and 439 are both “BE” = 7, which can be interpreted as 77 = “CHRIST”, once again confirming line 439.

• One additional confirmation is built into the text from the word “BE” to the end of the chapter,
• “be with your spirit. Amen. Unto the Galatians, written from Rome.” = 669
• Subtracting 3 for the three punctuation marks in the text above, 669 – 3 = 666.

In printing terminology, a “leaf” is any of the sheets of paper bound in a book, each side of which constitutes a page. There are two pages per leaf in a book. The 439th italicized word from the end of the Bible is found at the beginning of the 38th leaf from the end.

There are a total of 18 italicized words found on leaf 38 from the end of the Bible. The 18 words are shown in Figure 12. The total letter count of the 18 words is 74. There are a total of 37 leaves or 74 pages from the end of the Bible to the 18 words and 74 letters on leaf 38.

The first and last italicized words on leaf 38 are “BE” and “WERE”. Recall that “WERE” is also the 233rd italicized word from the beginning of the Bible. But, is word 233 the right word? 433 was shifted to 439. Should the word from the beginning of the Bible be moved from 233? If so, where to?

Things are getting a little confusing, but there does seem to be a direction to follow. The numbers 74 and 18 combined with what appears to be a hint at the word “CHRIST” and the number 77, could be referring back to the first italicized word at the beginning of the Bible. The first page of Genesis is actually the 77th page of the King James Bible from the title page. Since Genesis begins on page 77 and CHRIST = 77, the hint could be to look at this page again. Figure 16 shows the first Italicized word on page 77 of the Bible.

• Include the description text before Chapter 1 of Genesis.
• If each of the six hyphenated words are counted as two words, then there are 74 words before “WAS”.
• There are 18 words after “WAS”
• This agrees with the 74 : 18 clue previously obtained from the 439th word from the end of the Bible.

For the next clue, look to GOD. The word “GOD” appears three times in the text cited above. Once in the description text and once in each of verses 1 and 2.

• First, look for the unbalanced divide of four.
• “GOD GOD GOD WAS” Four words. Three the same, and one different.
• JESUS is the first and the last. The first and last letters of “GOD” are “GD” = 74 = JESUS
• The first and last letters of “WAS” are “WS” = 42
• Multiply, 74 X 42 = 3108 = 2 X 666 + 2 X 888

Again, counting the hyphenated words as two separate words, from the first “GOD” to the third “GOD”, there are a total of 41 words, and 41 = “KEY”. This implies that the text from “GOD” to “GOD” is the Key..

“God. Al- so the appointment of food. In the beginning God created the heaven, and the Earth. And the earth was with- out forme, and voyd, and darke- ness was upon the face of the deepe: and the spirit of God“

• There are a total of 167 characters and 41 words from God to God.
• 167 + 41 = 208

Figure 17 shows word 208 from the end of the Bible. “COVENANT” is found three times in a row and with 8 letters per word, that gives the number 888, which is Jesus in Greek.

Word 208 from the end of the Bible is found on the 42nd page from the end, in Hebrews 8:7. As shown in Figure 18, all three of the italicized “COVENANT” words are on this same page.

• Removing all punctuation, there are a total of 875 letters from the first “COUENANT” to the third.
• 888 – 875 = 13
• The middle “COUENANT” is in verse 13, and is the 207th word from the end of the Bible.

Let’s take a closer look at verse 13 and the “COUENANT” word in Figure 19.

• The first 6 words of the verse have 18 characters, forming an unbalanced divide of four with 6 and 666 because 18 = 6 + 6 + 6.
• After “Couenant”, there are 18 words and 74 letters, confirming the 18:74 combination again.
• The gematria value of the phrase from “Couenant” to the end is 889, 1 more than 888.
• The total gematria value of the entire verse is 1074.
• 1074 – 888 = 186
• Since “COUENANT” = 93, and “COUENANT COUENANT” = 186, we get the result, “888 + COUENANT + COUENANT”.
• This is a direct confirmation of the three “COUENANT” italicized words and the value 888 formed by the letter count, while emphasizing that the middle “COUENANT”, in verse 13 is the likely word to use for the starting point of the code.

Decode 207:1

Starting with word 207 from the end and the first word from the beginning, the following Baconian sequence is obtained,

• COUENANT WAS COUENANT IT IS = 8 3 8 2 2 = E O E E E
• EOEEE = Z = 26 = GOD

The first shift should be either 3 or 23 depending on which key should be used first. This would make the first decoded letter either 3 = C, or 23 = W. It is interesting to note that the first letter of the first two words in the sequence begin with “C” and “W”, respectively.