# Epistle of Barnabas 9.8

- Author: Anonymous
- Work: [Epistle of Barnabas](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/) (*Epistula Barnabae*)
- Date: ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:372; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 340–407 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/9/8/

Summary: The number 318 spells Jesus (IH) and the cross (T) in Greek numerals.

## Greek text

λέγει γάρ· Καὶ περιέτεμεν Ἀβραὰμ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ ἄνδρας δεκαοκτὼ καὶ τριακοσίους. τίς οὖν ἡ δοθεῖσα αὐτῷ γνῶσις; μάθετε, ὅτι τοὺς δεκαοκτὼ πρώτους, καὶ διάστημα ποιήσας λέγει τριακοσίους. τὸ δεκαοκτὼ ι δέκα, η ὀκτώ· ἔχεις Ἰησοῦν. ὅτι δὲ ὁ σταυρὸς ἐν τῷ ταῦ ἤμελλεν ἔχειν τὴν χάριν, λέγει καὶ τοὺς τριακοσίους. δηλοῖ οὖν τὸν μὲν Ἰησοῦν ἐν τοῖς δυσὶν γράμμασιν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ τὸν σταυρόν.

## English translation (Claude)

For it says, “And Abraham circumcised from his household eighteen men and three hundred.” What, then, was the knowledge given to him? Learn that he mentions the eighteen first, and then, after a pause, the three hundred. The eighteen: I is ten, H is eight; you have Jesus. And because the cross in the letter T was to have grace, he mentions also the three hundred. So he shows Jesus in the two letters, and the cross in the one.

## Scripture references

- Gen 14:14: allusion, high confidence
- Gen 17:23: allusion, medium confidence

## Translation notes

- Greek letters also served as numbers: Ι = 10, Η = 8 (ΙΗ, the first letters of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, “Jesus”), and Τ = 300, a letter shaped like a cross. The count of 318 comes from Gen 14:14; Gen 17:23–27 tells of the circumcision.

## Citation (SBL)

Barn. 9.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/9/8/).