Hannah חנה
Hannah's silent prayer made Eli take her for a drunk. Her name is also a plain verb, he encamped, in Exodus and Psalms.
- Found in the Torah
- 4,716,501
- Chance alone: 4,672,757
- Skips 2 to 152,424
- Found in the Tanakh
- 63,060,383
- Chance alone: 64,754,629
- Skips 2 to 598,520
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Hannah stands at Shiloh moving her lips with no sound, and the priest, who has apparently never seen this, tells her to put away her wine. 1 Samuel 1:13 is the first picture in the Tanakh of someone praying silently, and Rav Hamnuna, in Berakhot 31a, draws the rules of quiet prayer from that one verse: the lips move, the voice is not heard. Her song in 2:1 to 10 follows, and the Tanakh gives it in full. The word חנה has a second life as a verb, he encamped, in Exodus 18:5 and Psalm 34:8, and as a place David camped in Isaiah 29:1. Those verbs are mixed in with her nine bare cases in Samuel. Add a מ at the front and you have מחנה, a camp, which is most of what a careless plain-text search would find.
- As a whole word
- 15
- First, with any prefix
- Genesis 32:3
The measurement
Three letters, and one of them is the scarce ח. That holds her to 4,716,501 sequences in the Torah, well under the 20 million of a word like אמת, and all of those figures are about letter frequency.
| At every skip | Torah | Tanakh |
|---|---|---|
| Found | 4,716,501 | 63,060,383 |
| Chance alone | 4,672,757 | 64,754,629 |
| P (≥ found) | 4.5 × 10⁻⁹¹ | 1.00 |
| Shortest skip | 2 | 2 |
| Longest skip | 152,382 | 598,442 |
Counted forward and backward on the written text, with final letters treated as ordinary ones. At the laboratory's opening setting, skips 2 to 5,000, the Torah gives 307,523 against 301,477 by chance. How these figures are made.
The sequences, letter by letter
Each letter is shown in the verse it happens to stand in, nothing more. Tap one to read it in the Tanakh, with the rest of the sequence marked.
In the Torah
Shortest skip 2, forward from Genesis 31:32
… אֶת־אֱ־לֹהֶיךָ֮ לֹ֣א יִֽחְיֶה֒ נֶ֣גֶד אַחֵ֧ינוּ הַֽכֶּר־לְךָ֛ מָ֥ה עִמָּדִ֖י וְקַֽח־לָ֑ךְ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֣ע …
With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live; before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee.’—For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.—
Shortest skip 2, forward from Genesis 44:26
… לֹ֥א נוּכַ֖ל לָרֶ֑דֶת אִם־יֵשׁ֩ אָחִ֨ינוּ הַקָּטֹ֤ן אִתָּ֨נוּ֙ וְיָרַ֔דְנוּ כִּי־לֹ֣א נוּכַ֗ל …
And we said: We cannot go down; if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us.
Short skip 50, forward from Exodus 14:9
… כָּל־סוּס֙ רֶ֣כֶב פַּרְעֹ֔ה וּפָרָשָׁ֖יו וְחֵיל֑וֹ עַל־פִּי֙ הַֽחִירֹ֔ת לִפְנֵ֖י בַּ֥עַל …
And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
וּפַרְעֹ֖ה הִקְרִ֑יב וַיִּשְׂאוּ֩ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל אֶת־עֵינֵיהֶ֜ם וְהִנֵּ֥ה מִצְרַ֣יִם נֹסֵ֣עַ אַחֲרֵיהֶ֗ם וַיִּֽירְאוּ֙ מְאֹ֔ד וַיִּצְעֲק֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶל־יְקוָֽק׃
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were sore afraid; and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Middle skip 500, forward from Leviticus 1:13
וְהַקֶּ֥רֶב וְהַכְּרָעַ֖יִם יִרְחַ֣ץ בַּמָּ֑יִם וְהִקְרִ֨יב הַכֹּהֵ֤ן אֶת־הַכֹּל֙ וְהִקְטִ֣יר הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חָה עֹלָ֣ה ה֗וּא אִשֵּׁ֛ה רֵ֥יחַ נִיחֹ֖חַ לַיקוָֽק׃
But the inwards and the legs shall he wash with water; and the priest shall offer the whole, and make it smoke upon the altar; it is a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
וְאִם־מִנְחָ֥ה עַל־הַֽמַּחֲבַ֖ת קָרְבָּנֶ֑ךָ סֹ֛לֶת בְּלוּלָ֥ה בַשֶּׁ֖מֶן מַצָּ֥ה תִהְיֶֽה׃
And if thy offering be a meal-offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.
וְהִקְטִ֨יר הַכֹּהֵ֜ן אֶת־אַזְכָּרָתָ֗הּ מִגִּרְשָׂהּ֙ וּמִשַּׁמְנָ֔הּ עַ֖ל כָּל־לְבֹנָתָ֑הּ אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיקוָֽק׃
And the priest shall make the memorial-part of it smoke, even of the groats thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Wide skip 5,000, forward from Numbers 4:28
זֹ֣את עֲבֹדַ֗ת מִשְׁפְּחֹ֛ת בְּנֵ֥י הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּ֖י בְּאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וּמִ֨שְׁמַרְתָּ֔ם בְּיַד֙ אִֽיתָמָ֔ר בֶּֽן־אַהֲרֹ֖ן הַכֹּהֵֽן׃
This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting; and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
בַּיּוֹם֙ הַשֵּׁנִ֔י הִקְרִ֖יב נְתַנְאֵ֣ל בֶּן־צוּעָ֑ר נְשִׂ֖יא יִשָּׂשכָֽר׃
On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer:
… אָדָ֑ם לָ֣מָּה נִגָּרַ֗ע לְבִלְתִּ֨י הַקְרִ֜ב אֶת־קָרְבַּ֤ן יְקוָק֙ בְּמֹ֣עֲד֔וֹ בְּת֖וֹךְ …
And those men said unto him: ‘We are unclean by the dead body of a man; wherefore are we to be kept back, so as not to bring the offering of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel?’
Outside the Torah
Shortest skip 2, forward from Judges 9:3
… אַחֲרֵ֣י אֲבִימֶ֔לֶךְ כִּ֥י אָמְר֖וּ אָחִ֥ינוּ הֽוּא׃
And his mother’s brethren spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words; and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said: ‘He is our brother.’
Middle skip 500, forward from Joshua 10:42
וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־הַמְּלָכִ֤ים הָאֵ֨לֶּה֙ וְאֶת־אַרְצָ֔ם לָכַ֥ד יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ פַּ֣עַם אֶחָ֑ת כִּ֗י יְקוָק֙ אֱ־לֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל נִלְחָ֖ם לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
… יְקוָ֥ק בְּיַֽד־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ וַיַּכּוּם֒ וַֽיִּרְדְּפ֞וּם עַד־צִיד֣וֹן רַבָּ֗ה וְעַד֙ מִשְׂרְפ֣וֹת מַ֔יִם …
And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining.
… יְהוֹשֻׁ֔עַ לֹֽא־הֵסִ֣יר דָּבָ֔ר מִכֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְקוָ֖ק אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃
As the LORD commanded Moses His servant, so did Moses command Joshua; and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.
By skip range, shuffled texts and book
| Skips, Torah | Found | Chance alone |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 10 | 588 | 552 |
| 11 to 100 | 5,424 | 5,516 |
| 101 to 1,000 | 55,670 | 54,983 |
| 1,001 to 5,000 | 245,841 | 240,426 |
| 5,001 to 152,424 | 4,408,978 | 4,371,281 |
Shuffled Torahs
The Torah's own count at skips 2 to 1,000 is 61,682. Each family below rebuilt the text 100 times (seed 5787). What each family keeps.
| Control family | Runs at or above 61,682 | Median run | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter shuffle | 0/100 | 61,069 | 60,489 to 61,576 |
| Words within each verse | 76/100 | 61,828 | 61,366 to 62,328 |
Where the sequences start
| Torah | Found | Chance alone |
|---|---|---|
| Genesis | 1,174,050 | 1,196,646 |
| Exodus | 985,999 | 973,807 |
| Leviticus | 728,541 | 686,620 |
| Numbers | 1,154,390 | 974,021 |
| Deuteronomy | 673,521 | 841,663 |
| Tanakh | Found | Chance alone |
|---|---|---|
| Torah | 16,306,853 | 16,491,024 |
| Prophets | 26,793,361 | 29,957,296 |
| Writings | 19,960,169 | 18,306,308 |
Run this search yourself
Change the skips, set חנה beside another word, and run the controls on your own question.
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