The number 72 in gematria
Significance in the sources
חסד (chesed, “lovingkindness”) is ח 8 + ס 60 + ד 4 = 72.
The three consecutive verses Exodus 14:19, 20 and 21 each contain exactly 72 letters. We counted them in the Hebrew text. Rashi explains that the “seventy-two names” are drawn from these three verses, taking one letter from each, and calls the name formed from them shem ha-meforash, the explicit Name (Rashi on Sukkah 45a; Exodus 14:19–21).
The Talmud tells that King Ptolemy gathered seventy-two elders and placed them in separate rooms to translate the Torah into Greek (Megillah 9a).
Hebrew words with the value 72
| Word | Strong’s gloss | Strong’s no. |
|---|---|---|
| בְּלִיל בליל | mixed, feed | H1098 |
| בָּלַם בלם | muzzle | H1102 |
| דִּבְיוֹן דביון | vegetable, bulbous root | H1686 |
| חָסַד חסד | bow, be kind, reprove; kindness, piety, reproof | H2616, H2617 |
| טַחֲנָה טחנה | hand mill, chewing | H2913 |
| נֵבֶךְ נבך | fountain | H5033 |
| עָב עב | envelope, darkness, density; architrave | H5645, H5646 |
Names with the value 72
- אליאל Eliel H447
- בכים Bo-kim H1066
- בסי Besai H1153
- דיבון Dibon H1769
- חסד Chesed H2618
- יבין Jabin H2985
- יונדב Jonadab H3122
Words and glosses: Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary via the Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0). Values are for the consonants only; vowel points are ignored. Check any of them in the calculator, for example בליל, בלם, דביון.
About the number 72
- 72 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3.
- Its digit sum reduces to 9 (Mispar Katan Mispari).
- As a Hebrew numeral, 72 is written ע״ב. See Hebrew numerals.
English words with Ordinal value 72
ablative, accidental, accredited, accurate, acridly, acrobatic, aerobics, airspace, albumin, ambulance, amphora, amulet, anchorage, apatite, appose, aquatic, arboreal, archaism, archdeacon, armhole, arrant, ascribable, avenger, babyhood, backless, balcony, bandeaux, baronial, basally, bedroom, beekeeper, behoove, betoken, billfold, bombast, bongos, boredom, brevet, brown, buccaneer, buckeye, buckler, bullet, bully, bummer, busing, bypath, calculable, candidly, canonical, canyon, caraway, caroler, carrier, cashmere, catamaran, catchup, catgut, cathedral, charisma and 330 more.
English Ordinal (A = 1 … Z = 26) is a modern cipher with no link to Hebrew gematria; see the English gematria calculator.