There are very few things not already covered in this case and I fully expect this has been found before, but I searched and couldn't find any posts dealing with it.
I want to see if any of the content of the ransom note can be connected to other texts (inter-textuality).
This approach was suggested by John Ramsey himself in one of the many pieces of misinformation he has promoted. When questioned by detectives (June 1998) about the $118,000 being the same sum as his bonus, he denied it and instead cited a Biblical parallel.
Ramsey: No, I think that was just
a bit of a coincidence. That was my net bonus after tax. And it wasn't exactly 118; it was 118 and something I mean, the closest that I've come to have some believability is this theory that Father Rol came up with. There were psalms, which were circled in the Bible, which apparently were fairly vengeful psalms. 118 Psalms was a vengeful psalm in the King James Bible. It talked about victory (INAUDIBLE). I think I've read it a hundred times, I guess, (INAUDIBLE). I guess I would accept that kind of a tie more than I would the bonus amount.
He is referring to an observation offered to police by the family clergyman Father Rol Hoverstock, namely that he thought the ransom figure might allude to Psalm 118 which, he said, in the King James has the phrase: "bind the sacrifice with cords "
Team Ramsey seized on this and promoted it as a likely source for the ransom figure. It then grew into a rumor that police found Patsy Ramseys Bible open to Psalm 118.
The connection with Psalm 118, though, is spurious on every level. That the ransom sum was $118,000 is not just a bit of a coincidence as Ramsey claimed. And Psalm 118 is not especially vengeful or about victory.
Nor did the police find Patsys King James open to that passage, as rumored.
Rather, (as photographs attest) the police found John Ramseys New International Version Study Bible open to Psalms 35-36. The suggestion of Psalm 118 was offered by Father Hoverstock in response to police questions about those psalms.
So, I have examined those psalms in exactly that edition. (I have a NIV Study edition.) There are several things of interest in Psalm 35.
1. It IS vengeful and about victory. May those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay and similar themes.
2. Thematically and textually it is linked to the Book of Job and specifically to Job 21, which begins with the words (in the NIV): Listen carefully I note that Listen carefully is a NIVism found as the translation in several passages.
3. The first stanza of Psalm 35 (which is set out in verse in the NIV) has the following words capitalized at the beginning of lines: Contend Take Brandish Say. That is, the letters CTBS. Backwards this gives SBTC. Thus SBTC (co-joined with the word victory could conceivable signify Psalm 35.
That is the ransom note begins and ends with Biblical allusions from the NIV passages found open on John Ramseys desk. Listen carefully from Job 21 and Victory SBTC from Psalms 35.
Again, I stress that it was the Ramseys themselves who wanted to connect the ransom note to Psalms. But by a spurious connection from the wrong psalm in the wrong Bible. When we look at the right psalm in the right edition of the Bible we find some interesting connections.
Most posts on forums etc. are under the mistaken view that the police found Patsy's Bible open to Psalm 118, and so there is wild speculation about psalm 118. Wrong. It was JRs Bible, not a King James but an NIV Study, and it was open to psalm 35. (So I'm entitled to some wild speculation about psalm 35!) I was running my eye up the side column and nearly fell off my chair when I read the letters SBTC in the opening stanza. A long shot, I know, but not nearly as long as John Ramsey's nonsense about psalm 118 being the source of the ransom sum!
As I say, I would be surprised if this had not been found before.
Plenum7
I want to see if any of the content of the ransom note can be connected to other texts (inter-textuality).
This approach was suggested by John Ramsey himself in one of the many pieces of misinformation he has promoted. When questioned by detectives (June 1998) about the $118,000 being the same sum as his bonus, he denied it and instead cited a Biblical parallel.
Ramsey: No, I think that was just
a bit of a coincidence. That was my net bonus after tax. And it wasn't exactly 118; it was 118 and something I mean, the closest that I've come to have some believability is this theory that Father Rol came up with. There were psalms, which were circled in the Bible, which apparently were fairly vengeful psalms. 118 Psalms was a vengeful psalm in the King James Bible. It talked about victory (INAUDIBLE). I think I've read it a hundred times, I guess, (INAUDIBLE). I guess I would accept that kind of a tie more than I would the bonus amount.
He is referring to an observation offered to police by the family clergyman Father Rol Hoverstock, namely that he thought the ransom figure might allude to Psalm 118 which, he said, in the King James has the phrase: "bind the sacrifice with cords "
Team Ramsey seized on this and promoted it as a likely source for the ransom figure. It then grew into a rumor that police found Patsy Ramseys Bible open to Psalm 118.
The connection with Psalm 118, though, is spurious on every level. That the ransom sum was $118,000 is not just a bit of a coincidence as Ramsey claimed. And Psalm 118 is not especially vengeful or about victory.
Nor did the police find Patsys King James open to that passage, as rumored.
Rather, (as photographs attest) the police found John Ramseys New International Version Study Bible open to Psalms 35-36. The suggestion of Psalm 118 was offered by Father Hoverstock in response to police questions about those psalms.
So, I have examined those psalms in exactly that edition. (I have a NIV Study edition.) There are several things of interest in Psalm 35.
1. It IS vengeful and about victory. May those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay and similar themes.
2. Thematically and textually it is linked to the Book of Job and specifically to Job 21, which begins with the words (in the NIV): Listen carefully I note that Listen carefully is a NIVism found as the translation in several passages.
3. The first stanza of Psalm 35 (which is set out in verse in the NIV) has the following words capitalized at the beginning of lines: Contend Take Brandish Say. That is, the letters CTBS. Backwards this gives SBTC. Thus SBTC (co-joined with the word victory could conceivable signify Psalm 35.
That is the ransom note begins and ends with Biblical allusions from the NIV passages found open on John Ramseys desk. Listen carefully from Job 21 and Victory SBTC from Psalms 35.
Again, I stress that it was the Ramseys themselves who wanted to connect the ransom note to Psalms. But by a spurious connection from the wrong psalm in the wrong Bible. When we look at the right psalm in the right edition of the Bible we find some interesting connections.
Most posts on forums etc. are under the mistaken view that the police found Patsy's Bible open to Psalm 118, and so there is wild speculation about psalm 118. Wrong. It was JRs Bible, not a King James but an NIV Study, and it was open to psalm 35. (So I'm entitled to some wild speculation about psalm 35!) I was running my eye up the side column and nearly fell off my chair when I read the letters SBTC in the opening stanza. A long shot, I know, but not nearly as long as John Ramsey's nonsense about psalm 118 being the source of the ransom sum!
As I say, I would be surprised if this had not been found before.
Plenum7