because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

• Mark 6:20

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

• 1 Corinthians 9:25

This quiz stems from recent word games that I have downloaded and play for only a couple of minutes each day to keep my mind sharp.  The more difficult puzzles might take 6-7 minutes.

One word game is Figgerits.  They assign numbers to each letter in the alphabet.  They then take a quotation and apply the number code.  They follow the coded quotation with questions.  The answer to each question is also given in the same code.  So, you can answer some of the questions and then start piecing the quotation together.  Then you work back and forth to answer all the questions and get the entire quotation completely decoded.

The other word game is Cryptograms.  In the magazines of word games, a Cryptogram is basically a letter substitution cypher.  But in the word game app that I downloaded, it uses the same logic as the Figgerit, substituting numbers for the letters in the quotation.

So, I got an idea of a blend of these two games.  I have two Bible verses from the New Testament.  As a hint, they both speak of God’s love.  I used a substitution code based on the letter used most often got the number 26, the next most often used letter 25, and so on down the line.  I may have missed on one letter or another.  I even coded the Bible Reference.  The numbers in brackets [] are numbers.  Thus, [4:16] is chapter 4, verse 16.  One letter in the two Bible books, is not in either of the verses.  The code for that letter is 05.  There are four letters not used in the verses on the names of the Bible books.

All numbers are shown as two digit numbers.  Instead as displaying nine as 9, it is displayed as 09.  There is an asterisk to separate numbers (letters).  A space, as usual, separates words.  All usual punctuation is the same and the verses are quoted from the NIV.

The Coded verses will be followed by a few questions.  These quiz questions will have the answer shown in the same code.  Thus, if you do not wish to solve the puzzle in pure Cryptogram fashion, you can answer the questions to get some of the letters solved.  This adds the element of the Figgerit puzzle.

The First Verse Code

19*21*20 18*25 13*26 07*21*25*13 19*21*20 15*26*24*06 25*21 17*23*26 24*25*14*26 16*25*20 23*19*18 12*25*15 10*18.
16*25*20 22*18 24*25*14*26. 13*23*25*26*14*26*15 24*22*14*26*18 22*21 24*25*14*26 24*22*14*26*18* 22*21 16*25*20, 19*21*20 16*25*20 22*21 17*23*26*09.

[1] 05*25*23*21 [4:16]

The Second Verse Code

12*25*15 16*25*20 18*25 24*25*14*26*20 17*23*26 13*25*15*24*20 17*23*19*17 23*26 16*19*14*26 23*22*18 25*21*26 19*21*20 25*21*24*06 18*25*21, 17*23*19*17 13*23*25*26*14*26*15 11*26*24*22*26*14*26*18 22*21 23*22*09 18*23*19*24*24 21*25*17 08*26*15*22*18*23 11*10*17 23*19*14*26 26*17*26*15*21*19*24 24*22*12*26.

05*25*23*21 [3:16]

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Who was the first man?		19*20*19*09
2	What book of prophecy has the most chapters?		22*18*19*22*19*23
3	Moses was just a little what when he was placed in the papyrus basket and floated in the Nile River?		(Two word answer is inferred.) 11*19*11*06 11*25*06
4	This word is not in the Bible, but I really love what type of brownies?  Oh, how I love chocolate anything…		12*10*20*16*26
5	There are sixty-three mentions of Pilate in the New Testament, but only three of them give his first name, a Roman word derived from the Greek for the ”sea”.		08*25*21*17*22*10*18
6	What is the last book of the Bible?		15*26*14*26*24*19*17*22*25*21
7	The big clue is the answer to question 6, but there are only two letters left, and they are in the word for a Chinese cooking pan, great for making stir fry.  I used to use one often.		13*25*07

The trick to getting the code solving started for a cryptogram is looking for a few things.  In the English language, the letter “E” is often the most used.  Then you might think the most often used three-letter word would be “the.”  An apostrophe (‘) would indicate a possessive or a contraction, but I do not see any in the coded verses.  Thus, the absence of that punctuation mark would give you a big hint as to how things are worded.

But wait.  Since these are Bible verses, would those basic Cryptogram solving ideas work?  God might be mentioned more often than the word “the.”

And do not forget that the clue in the introduction was that these two verses say something about God’s love.  Oops, without the possessive, that would be worded differently.  But then, maybe love, being a verb is in a different conjugation or tense, like loves or loved.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Who was the first man?	Genesis 2:20	19*20*19*09
2	What book of prophecy has the most chapters?	N/A	22*18*19*22*19*23
3	Moses was just a little what when he was placed in the papyrus basket and floated in the Nile River?	Exodus 2:3	(Two word answer is inferred.) 11*19*11*06 11*25*06
4	This word is not in the Bible, but I really love what type of brownies?  Oh, how I love chocolate anything…	N/A	12*10*20*16*26
5	There are sixty-three mentions of Pilate in the New Testament, but only three of them give his first name, a Roman word derived from the Greek for the ”sea”.	Luke 3:1; Acts 4:17; 1 Timothy 6:13	08*25*21*17*22*10*18
6	What is the last book of the Bible?	N/A	15*26*14*26*24*19*17*22*25*21
7	The big clue is the answer to question 6, but there are only two letters left, and they are in the word for a Chinese cooking pan, great for making stir fry.  I used to use one often.	N/A	13*25*07

As for the Figgerits, I do not think any of the word puzzles in the magazines leave a letter out of the quotation, but my phone app often does.

For the coded verses above, all the letters in the verses are found in the clue questions, but the one letter (code = 05) is not in any of the clue answers.  Hopefully, you have already solved the puzzles and you have only five letters left that have not been used.  Do I really need another hint?

My inspiration for this quiz was that I downloaded a Cryptogram Bible verse application onto my phone.  They will give 3-4 letters to get you started.  The verses are from the KJV version.  And by the time I have finished the free letters, I rarely need to guess.  I simply start typing the verse. While it does not challenge me very much on the game, it gave me the idea of using a two-tiered approach.  A Cryptogram for the code breaking enthusiasts and then a Figgerit for those that need a few more hints.

But one last hint if you are desperate.  The unused letters in the verses and in the names of the Bible books are: C, Q, X, Z.  I agree with you.  That was not a lot of help.  Hey, it eliminates a few books of the Bible, like Exodus, Ezekiel, and Colossians.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Who was the first man?	Genesis 2:20	19*20*19*09 (Adam)
2	What book of prophecy has the most chapters?	N/A	22*18*19*22*19*23 (Isaiah)
3	Moses was just a little what when he was placed in the papyrus basket and floated in the Nile River?	Exodus 2:3	(Two word answer is inferred.) 11*19*11*06 11*25*06 (baby boy)
4	This word is not in the Bible, but I really love what type of brownies?  Oh, how I love chocolate anything…	N/A	12*10*20*16*26 (Fudge)
5	There are sixty-three mentions of Pilate in the New Testament, but only three of them give his first name, a Roman word derived from the Greek for the ”sea”.	Luke 3:1; Acts 4:17; 1 Timothy 6:13	08*25*21*17*22*10*18 (Pontius)
6	What is the last book of the Bible?	N/A	15*26*14*26*24*19*17*22*25*21 (Revelation)
7	The big clue is the answer to question 6, but there are only two letters left, and they are in the word for a Chinese cooking pan, great for making stir fry.  I used to use one often.	N/A	13*25*07 (Wok)

The verses, now decoded:

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

• 1 John 4:16

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.

• John 3:16

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Cory Asbury singing Reckless Love.

Here are the Asidors singing Think about His Love.

Here is Casting Crowns singing Love Moved First.

Here are Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham singing Love of God.

In thinking about the Love of God, I could keep going with the music selections.

This was a nice quiz idea, but if there is a large outcry, I might shelve it for a while at least.

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.