Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• John 14:6

For those of you who enjoy cryptograms, this quiz will be easy.  I do not enjoy them that much, but for this one, I am providing a lot of hints.

A Cryptogram is a basic substitution code.  Let’s say an “A” in the message is substituted with a “D”.  Thus all of the “A” letters in the message will appear in the code as a “D”.  Usually Cryptograms are random substitutions, but in this case, I am making it easy.  I am simply shifting the alphabet.  The example of “A” in the message becomes “D” in the coded message would mean that “B” is an “E” in the code and “C” is an “F” in the code.  The letters wrap around so that “XYZ” would be “ABC” in the code.

This example above was a three-letter shift.  The code used in this quiz is more than a ten-letter shift.

As an example of a cryptogram (with a three-letter shift), the phrase “I am the way” in the Scripture above would be “L DP WKH ZDB”.

I have coded three books of the Bible (a Cryptoquiz, of sorts) and three Bible verses, all from the book of John.  The first is obviously very short.  (Do you need that hint to be more definitive?).  The second and third should be very familiar verses.  The second verse is memorized by many people.  (Another hint) The third verse is well known and has a lot of repeated words.  (Another hint).

Since this is an alphabet shift cypher, once you get one letter you have solved the entire thing, if you do not mind counting the number of letters the code has shifted.  Every verse and book of the Bible uses the same code.  If people like this type of quiz, I could make the future cryptograms harder.

The Coded Books of the Bible

1. ADLWXD
2. TDLTLS
3. ZMLOTLS

The Coded Verse

1. UPDFD HPAE.
2. QZC RZO DZ WZGPO ESP HZCWO ESLE SP RLGP STD ZYP LYO ZYWJ DZY, ESLE HSZPGPC MPWTPGPD TY STX DSLWW YZE APCTDS MFE SLGP PEPCYLW WTQP.
3. TY ESP MPRTYYTYR HLD ESP HZCO, LYO ESP HZCO HLD HTES RZO, LYO ESP HZCO HLD RZO.

In working cryptograms, you look for specific repeated sets of letters, usually in short words.  What are common short words that might appear more than once in a sentence?  “A” “AN” “AND” “THE”.  Note: not all these words are in the codes, especially with no single letter words.  You might count the number of times that a code letter is used and compare that to the commonly used letters: “E”, “T”, “A”, “I”, “O”.  I used the NIV and showed all punctuation.  What words might appear after a comma?  Since these are Bible verses, what words might you find?  Then adding those words commonly used in the Bible with the letters most often used in the code …

In the books of the Bible, notice that two of the books end in the same three letters and that the third letter in the code for each book is the same in each case.  A big hint that may not be helpful at all:  The only three books that share that third letter in the Bible.  Among the books is the book with the most chapters and one of the books with the least chapters.

Bible References:

1. John 11:35
2. John 3:16
3. John 1:1

 And I hope autocorrect did not mess with the codes after I fixed autocorrect’s previous “corrections.” I thought I had it set to ignore words in all Caps. 

…

   …

   …

The Answers:

1. Psalms
2. Isaiah
3. Obadiah

1. Jesus wept.
2. For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Just think, almighty God came to earth in the flesh and dwelt among us, and He cares so much for us that He might weep for each of us.

My wife might not like the music selections this week.  They are all a bit slow.  Here is a video with the Redeemed Quartet singing, Have a Little Talk with Jesus.

And here are the Martins singing Softly and Tenderly.

And here is Cliff Barrows leading the Gaither Homecoming Crowd, crusade and revival style, in singing Blessed Assurance.

And why not the composer, Squire Parsons (with Ernie Haase and the Signature Sound), singing Beulah Land.  This was the hymn at my father’s funeral.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.