Forty
Textsâš¡ IN BRIEF (SUMMARY)
The Hebrew word arba`im, meaning forty, appears frequently in the Old Testament to signify complete periods of testing, judgment, or transition, such as the forty years of Israel's wilderness wanderings or the forty days of the Flood.
What is the meaning of Forty in the Bible?
The Hebrew word arba`im, meaning forty, appears frequently in the Old Testament to signify complete periods of testing, judgment, or transition, such as the forty years of Israel's wilderness wanderings or the forty days of the Flood.
TEXTUAL SIGNIFICANCE
Recognizing forty as a conventional literary marker for a complete cycle helps readers interpret narrative timelines accurately rather than as literal chronological constraints in every instance.
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Built upon the 1915 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) and Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897). Entries have been editorially modernized, checked for academic truthfulness, and formatted for fast contextual reference.