Biblical Meaning of Number 11
In the Bible, eleven is the number of the gap before completion: eleven apostles after Judas, eleven stars in Joseph's dream, and the eleventh hour, when the last workers were hired.
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What does the number 11 mean in the Bible?
Eleven stands one past ten's order and one short of twelve's. After Judas the apostles are "the eleven" (Matthew 28:16) until Matthias "was numbered with the eleven apostles" (Acts 1:26); Jacob crosses the Jabbok with "his eleven sons" before Benjamin is born (Genesis 32:22).
It is also the hour of late grace. In the parable, the workers hired "about the eleventh hour" are paid a full day's wage (Matthew 20:6-9), and "the eleventh hour" has meant the last possible moment ever since.
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Where eleven appears in the Bible
| Verse | What it says |
|---|---|
| Genesis 32:22 | Jacob passes over the ford Jabbok with "his eleven sons." |
| Genesis 37:9 | "The sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." |
| Exodus 26:7 | The goats' hair covering of the tabernacle: "eleven curtains shalt thou make." |
| Deuteronomy 1:2-3 | Horeb to Kadeshbarnea is "eleven days' journey"; Israel speaks there in the fortieth year. |
| Matthew 20:6-9 | The workers hired "about the eleventh hour" receive every man a penny. |
| Matthew 28:16 | "The eleven disciples went away into Galilee." |
| Acts 1:26 | Matthias "was numbered with the eleven apostles." |
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The prophetic meaning of 11
Bullinger (1894) called eleven the number of "disorder, disorganisation, imperfection, and disintegration": ten's order broken, twelve not yet reached. Prophetic readers hear the other side too, the eleventh hour of Matthew 20, grace that comes late but not too late.
Eleven is not an evil number, and it is not a "master number" in Scripture: master numbers belong to modern numerology. The eleventh-hour workers are paid in full.
Eleven in Hebrew and Greek letters
Hebrew and Greek wrote eleven as ten plus one: yod-aleph (יא) and iota-alpha (ια).
The hidden lore of eleven
Joseph saw eleven stars bow to him (Genesis 37:9); with Joseph they make twelve, the number of the signs, though Genesis itself reads them as his brothers, with his father as the sun and his mother as the moon (Genesis 37:10).
Deuteronomy opens with a quiet sting: the road from Horeb to Kadeshbarnea is "eleven days' journey", and Israel took forty years (Deuteronomy 1:2-3).
A prayer on the number 11
God, meet me in the unfinished place. Keep me watchful without fear, hopeful without presumption, and ready to receive mercy without comparing my timing to anyone else.
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Sources and editorial method
Research and editorial references used for this page include:
- BibleGateway: Genesis 32:22 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- BibleGateway: Genesis 37:9 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- BibleGateway: Exodus 26:7 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- BibleGateway: Deuteronomy 1:2-3 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (London, 1894), Internet Archive - The source of the "prophetic" meanings: one unity, two difference, three divine perfection, four creation, five grace, six man, seven spiritual perfection, eight resurrection, nine finality or judgment, ten ordinal perfection, eleven disorder, twelve governmental perfection.
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. The "prophetic" meanings are E. W. Bullinger's (Number in Scripture, 1894), named as his reading rather than as definitions the Bible gives; the Hebrew and Greek numerals are the standard letter values, and the later Jewish and Christian lore is given with its source.
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Common questions
What does the number 11 mean in the Bible?
The gap before completion: the eleven apostles before Matthias (Acts 1:26), Jacob's eleven sons before Benjamin (Genesis 32:22), and the eleventh hour (Matthew 20:6-9).
What is the prophetic meaning of the number 11?
Bullinger read eleven as disorder and disintegration, one past ten and one short of twelve; prophetic readers also take it as the eleventh hour, late grace (Matthew 20).
What does the eleventh hour mean in the Bible?
In Jesus' parable, workers hired "about the eleventh hour", the last hour of the working day, receive the same wage as those hired at dawn (Matthew 20:6-9).
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