Editing Sheshach

'''Sheshach''' ({{langx|he|ששך}}), whose king is mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]] in [[Jeremiah 25:26]], is supposed to be equivalent to Babel ([[Babylon]]), according to a secret mode of [[writing]] practiced among the [[Jews]] of unknown [[Ancient history|antiquity]], which consisted in substituting the last [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Hebrew alphabet]] for the first, the next to last one for the second, and so on. Thus the letters sh, sh, ch become b, b, l (forming the word ''Babel'').<ref>{{cite web|author=Paul Y. Hoskisson|title=Jeremiah's Game|work=Insights|volume=30|issue=1|accessdate=30 March 2013|url=http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/insights/?vol=30&num=1&id=895|archive-date=1 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701184123/http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/insights/?vol=30&num=1&id=895|url-status=dead}}</ref> This code is called the [[Atbash|Atbash Cipher]] and was utilized to decrypt. 

The city "Sheshach" does not appear on any map nor in any other documents, save the [[book of Jeremiah]]. The Atbash Cipher was applied and out of "Sheshach" came the word "Babel". This is supposed to be confirmed by a reference to [[Jeremiah 51:41]], where Sheshach and Babylon are in parallel clauses. There seems to be no reason to doubt that Babylon is here intended by this name.<ref>See [[Streane]]'s ''Jeremiah''</ref>

A similar instance of this Hebrew cryptographic method occurs in [[Jeremiah 51:1]], where ''Leb Kamai'' is code for [[Chaldea]].

==References==
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{{eastons}}

[[Category:Book of Jeremiah]]
[[Category:Babylonia]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]
[[Category:Classical ciphers]]

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