What is the Atbash code, and why is it used in the Bible?

Answer

The Atbash code is a “secret” but very simple code sometimes used to conceal the true wording from those unfamiliar with Atbash (sometimes spelled “Athbash”). The code was originally developed for Hebrew, but it can easily be applied to other languages as well.

In Atbash, the first letter of an alphabet is replaced with the last letter; the second letter is replaced with the next-to-last letter; and so on. Therefore, in English, A is written as “Z”; B becomes “Y”; C is “X”; and so forth. In Atbash, “roses are red, violets are blue” becomes “ilhvh ziv ivw, erlovgh ziv yofv.”

Atbash is most commonly found in Kabalistic writings and in Jewish mysticism and allegory. However, the Bible also contains three instances of the Atbash code in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 25:26, the prophet predicts a punishment for a nation called “Sheshak”: “And after all of them, the king of Sheshak will drink it too.” In the original Hebrew, the letters of the word Sheshak transform into “Babylon” using the Atbash code.

The word Sheshak is also used in Jeremiah 51:41: “How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!” Interestingly, both the cipher, Sheshak, and its interpretation, Babylon, are side by side in this verse. The NET Bible opts not to transliterate the Atbash code word and instead uses “Babylon.”

The other occurrence of Atbash is in Jeremiah 51:1, “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.” Applying the Atbash code, the term Leb Kamai changes into “Chaldeans.” The NET Bible translates the code word as “the people who inhabit Babylonia.”

Sheshak and Leb Kamai are indeed words encoded in the Atbash code. However, there is some debate about whether Jeremiah himself used the code or if the words were added by a later scribe. The fact that the words in question do not appear

In the Septuagint, there is support for the notion that these words were not originally from Jeremiah.

It is probable that the individual who employed the Atbash code in Jeremiah intended to shield the prophet (or the subsequent scribe) from the anger of Babylonian/Chaldean authorities.