אַרְבָּעִים
ar.ba.im
forty
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Arbaim (Forty): A Frequent Biblical Number The Hebrew word *arbaim* appears 136 times throughout the Bible with a straightforward meaning: "forty." Its high frequency of occurrence suggests this number held particular importance in biblical narrative and law. Rather than being merely incidental, the consistent use of this specific numeral across diverse contexts indicates it carried deliberate significance in the texts where it appears. The substantial number of occurrences—136 instances—demonstrates that forty functioned as a meaningful quantity in biblical literature, whether describing time periods, measurements, or quantities of people. This prevalence indicates the word and the number it represents were foundational to how biblical authors communicated important concepts. The repeated deployment of *arbaim* suggests scribes and writers selected this particular number deliberately rather than using it randomly or interchangeably with other numerals. Without access to specific usage contexts, the lexical data alone confirms that *arbaim* served as a standard Hebrew term for quantifying and discussing matters the biblical writers deemed significant enough to record. Its linguistic simplicity combined with its high frequency underscores its importance as a basic but essential element of biblical Hebrew vocabulary.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
136 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
2 Chronicles 24:1Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba.
Ezra 2:8The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five.
Ezra 2:10The children of Bani, six hundred forty-two.
Ezra 2:24The children of Azmaveth, forty-two.
Ezra 2:25The children of Kiriath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.
Ezra 2:34The children of Jericho, three hundred forty-five.
Ezra 2:38The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven.
Ezra 2:66Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five;
Nehemiah 5:15But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.
Nehemiah 7:13The children of Zattu: eight hundred forty-five.
Nehemiah 7:15The children of Binnui: six hundred forty-eight.
Nehemiah 7:28The men of Beth Azmaveth: forty-two.
Nehemiah 7:29The men of Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth: seven hundred forty-three.
Nehemiah 7:36The children of Jericho: three hundred forty-five.
Nehemiah 7:41The children of Pashhur: one thousand two hundred forty-seven.
Nehemiah 7:44The singers: the children of Asaph: one hundred forty-eight.
Nehemiah 7:62The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda: six hundred forty-two.
Nehemiah 7:68Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five;
Nehemiah 9:21“Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.
Nehemiah 11:13and his brothers, chiefs of fathers’ households, two hundred forty-two; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,
Job 42:16After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.
Exodus 24:18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Psalms 95:10Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”
Numbers 2:15His division, and those who were counted of them, were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
Jeremiah 52:30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five people: all the people were four thousand six hundred.
Ezekiel 4:6“Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you.
Ezekiel 29:11No foot of man will pass through it, nor will any animal foot pass through it. It won’t be inhabited for forty years.
Ezekiel 29:12I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities among the cities that are laid waste will be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.”
Ezekiel 29:13“ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered.
Ezekiel 41:2The width of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.
Ezekiel 46:22In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty cubits long and thirty wide. These four in the corners were the same size.
Amos 2:10Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
Amos 5:25“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
Jonah 3:4Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
Genesis 5:13Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of other sons and daughters
Genesis 7:4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
Genesis 7:4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
Genesis 7:12It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:12It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:17The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.
Genesis 8:6At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,
Genesis 18:28What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
Genesis 18:29He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
Genesis 18:29He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
Genesis 25:20Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.
Genesis 26:34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Genesis 32:15thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.
Genesis 47:28Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.