The Bible contains numerous statements in which the number 40 plays a role. Only a few connections are actually known to the majority. This size is anything but rare in the Gospel.
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Not an inconspicuous number
The number 40 or a connection with this number is predominantly associated with two very well-known biblical events. For 40 years the people of Israel wandered through the desert after the exodus from Egypt and Jesus Christ also fasted in a desert for 40 days. This 40-day period of Lent before Easter is probably the most popular context, although this is based more on a tradition of the Church than on a suitable example in the Gospel.
Such a fast occurs in the Bible in the book of Jonah, during which the residents of the city of Nineveh were called to turn from their wrong ways and return to God. Otherwise the city will be destroyed in 40 days. The residents also prescribed a period of fasting as a form of penance. This character cannot be found in this way today. Rather, Lent is aimed at the upcoming “climax” of Easter, which in its current form finds its origins in paganism (Info).
In the Bible, the number 40 appears in many ways in connection with a quantity or a period of time. Some information seems irrelevant, while others could indicate a deeper meaning. The following is a list of Bible verses from the Old and New Testaments, each of which contains the number 40.
The number “7” in the Bibel – here
The number “12” in the Bible – here
The number 40 in the Old Testament
The number 40 appears much more frequently in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. Here the books of Moses play the dominant role.
In the books of Moses
Genesis 7:12
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 25:20
And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
Genesis 26:34
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
Genesis 32:15-16
Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
Genesis 50:3
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
Exodus 16:35
And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
Exodus 24:18
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 26:19-21
And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards: And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Exodus 34:28
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
Exodus 36:24-26
And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Numbers 13:25
And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
Numbers 14:33-34
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Numbers 32:13
And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
Deuteronomy 2:7
For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.
Deuteronomy 8:2
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deuteronomy 8:4
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Deuteronomy 9:9
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
Deuteronomy 9:11
And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
Deuteronomy 9:18
And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
Deuteronomy 9:25
Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
Deuteronomy 10:10
And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.
Deuteronomy 25:3
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Deuteronomy 29:5
And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.
Book of Joshua
Joshua 5:6
For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Joshua 14:7
Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.
Book of Judges
Judges 3:11
And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
Judges 5:31
So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
Judges 8:28
Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
Judges 12:14
And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.
Judges 13:1
Aber die Kinder Israels taten wieder, was böse war in den Augen des Herrn; da gab sie der Herr in die Hand der Philister, 40 Jahre lang.
Books of Samuel
1 Samuel 4,18
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
1 Samuel 17:16
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
2 Samuel 2:10
Ishbosheth Saul’s son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
2 Samuel 5:4
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
2 Samuel 15:7
And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron.
Books of Kings
1 Kings 2:11
And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
1 Kings 6:17
And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.
1 Kings 7:38
Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
1 Kings 11:42
And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
1 Kings 19:8
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
2 Kings 8:9
So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?
2 Kings 12:1
In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
The Chronicles
1 Chronicles 29:27
And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 9:30
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
2 Chronicles 24:1
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.
Book of Nehemiah
Nehemiah 5:15
But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
Nehemiah 9:21
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
Book of Ezekiel
Ezekiel 4:6
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
Ezekiel 29:11-13
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
Ezekiel 41:2
And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits.
Book of Amos
Amos 2:10
Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
Amos 5:25
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Book of Jonah
Jonah 3:4
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
The number 40 in the New Testament
Book of Matthew
Matthew 4:2
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mark 1:13
And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
Book of Luke
Luke 4:2
Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Acts of the Apostles
Acts 1:3
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Acts 4:22
For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.
Acts 7:23
And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Acts 7:30
And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Acts 7:36
He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Acts 7:42
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Acts 13:18
And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
Acts 13:21
And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
Acts 23:21
But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.
Letter to Corinthians
2 Corinthians 11:24
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Letter to Hebrews
Hebrews 3:9
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Hebrews 3:17
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Connections with the number 40
The following is a list of connections with the number 40 based on the biblical verses and also those that are not immediately recognizable “at first glance”.
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During the Flood, it rained continuously on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
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The waiting time after the flood began to retreat until the first mountain peaks could be seen again was 40 days
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Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt into exile. After another 40 years he returned to Egypt. This was followed by another 40 years of wandering in the desert with the people of Israel
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Moses was on Mount Sinai for a total of 40 days and 40 nights
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King Saul, King David and King Solomon each reigned for 40 years
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Jesus Christ is the 40th descendant after Abraham
Bible verses from King James Version
