Ciphers in the Bible

Found an interesting tidbit in a children’s book I have: The First Book of Codes and Ciphers by Sam and Beryl Epstein.

The First Book of Codes and Ciphers
The First Book of Codes and Ciphers, Sam and Beryl Epstein

And 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 25:26)

SHESHACH in Jeremiah 25:26, and elsewhere, is a Hebrew backward alphabet cipher called ATHBASH (the English equivalent of which would be AZBY, although we would transliterate it as ATBASH). SHESHACH means BABYLON (or BABEL).

The same type of cipher is used in Jeremiah 51:1 and 51:41.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbash.

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