אַרְבָּעִים
forty
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Both
- Attested as both masculine and feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H705 appears in the Book of 1 Chronicles — 5 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
1 Chronicles
- 1 Chronicles 5:18 אַרְבָּעִ֨ים adj Cardinal number bp The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war, were forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty, that were able to go forth to war.
- 1 Chronicles 12:36 אַרְבָּעִ֥ים adj Cardinal number bp Of Asher, such as were able to go out in the host, who could set the battle in array, forty thousand.
- 1 Chronicles 19:18 וְ/אַרְבָּעִ֥ים conj + Adjective Cardinal number bp The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians [the men of] seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host.
- 1 Chronicles 26:31 הָֽ/אַרְבָּעִ֜ים ptcl def.art + Adjective Cardinal number bp Of the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even of the Hebronites, according to their generations by fathers' [houses]. In the fortieth year of the reign of David they were sought for, and there were found among them mighty men of valor at Jazer of Gilead.
- 1 Chronicles 29:27 אַרְבָּעִ֖ים adj Cardinal number bp The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three [years] reigned he in Jerusalem.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
ארבעים — transliterated ʼarbâʻîym — is a Hebrew word carrying the sense “forty.” Its English rendering has broadened — “forty” classically, “were” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 123 verses in 21 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 5:13. Sharing its root, it stands alongside ארבע, ארבע and ארבעתים. See the sense tree, 123-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H705 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 123
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 123 distinct verses.
- 21 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 21 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #329
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 329 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 123 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 123 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 50 verses · 41%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 42 verses · 34%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 31 verses · 25%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Forty 95×, Were forty 12×, Was forty 8×
- American Standard Version†: Forty 89×, Were forty 10×, Was forty 8×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Forty 71×, Fortieth 3×, Forty-five 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Were 28×, Forty 23×, And 18×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H705 across 136† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H705 across 136† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 21 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H705 across 98† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 15 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 37 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H705 across 86† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 57 further occurrences.
9 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 9 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. sine num. al.:
- a. usually appos. bef. n., especially שָׁנָה, יוֹם (sing.): אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה Ju 3:11; 1 S 4:18; Am 2:10; 5:25 + 29 times; א׳ יוֹם Gn 7:17; 1 K 19:8; Jon 3:4 + 6 times, א׳ יוֹם וְא׳ לַיְלָה Gn 7:4, 12; Ex 24:18 + 7 times; also א׳ בַּת †1 K 7:38, א׳ גָּמָל †2 K 8:9, א׳ אַמָּה †Ez 41:2 and (אַמָּה om.) 46:22, but א׳ בָּאַמָּה †1 K 6:17 (v. אַמָּה); א׳ אֶלֶף Nu 1:33; 2:19; 26:18; Jos 4:13; Ju 5:8; 2 S 10:18; 1 K 5:6; 1 Ch 12:37 (van d. H. v 36), 19:18 (v. also infr.); rarely sq. n.pl., א׳ בָּנִים Ju 12:14, א׳ אֲדָנִים Ex 26:19, 21; 36:24, 26 (P).—(As round no. Gn 7:17; Ju 3:11; 5:31; 8:28; 1 S 4:18 +). e.g. Judges 3:11
- b. after n. pl., פָּרוֹת א׳ Gn 32:16 (E), שְׁקָלִים א׳ Ne 5:15. e.g. Genesis 32:16
- c. n. om. Gn 18:29, הָא׳ v 29; א׳ יַכֶּנּוּ Dt 25:3 forty (blows) may he smite him. e.g. Genesis 18:29
- 2. c. num. al.:
- a. before unit, + n. s., 40 + 1 שָׁנָה 1 K 14:21; 15:10; 2 K 14:23; 40 + 2 שָׁנָה 2 Ch 22:2, אִישׁ 2 K 10:14, עִיר Nu 35:6, אֶלֶף Ju 12:6; 40 + 5 שָׁנָה Jos 14:10 (JE), etc. (12 times); + n. pl. יְלָדִים 2 K 2:24; after n. pl. הָעַמּוּדִים + 40 + 5 1 K 7:3; n. om. 40 + 5 Gn 18:28, cf. Ezr 2:24 = Ne 7:28. e.g. 1 Kings 14:21
- b. after unit, 9 + 40 שָׁנָה Lv 25:8 (H); 1 + 40 אֶלֶף Nu 1:41; 2:28, etc. (9 times Nu, P). e.g. Leviticus 25:8
- c. c. hundreds, 40 שָׁנָה + 800 שָׁנָה Gn 5:13 (P); 100 + 40 שָׁנָה Jb 42:16; + units, 7 שָׁנִים + 40 + 100 שָׁנָה Gn 47:28 (P); but (Ezr Ne, mostly pred., without n.), 900 + 40 + 5 Ezr 2:8, cf. v 25 Ne 7:62, and (א׳ without וְ) 600, 40 + 2 Ezr 2:10, v. also ‖ Ne 7:15; Ezr 2:34 = Ne 7:36; Ezr 2:66 = Ne 7:68 (ver. om. Baer Gi), Ne 7:13, 29, 44; 1000, 200, 40 + 7 Ezr 2:38 = Ne 7:41; n.pl. 200 + 40 + 5 Ne 7:67, n.pl. 200, 40 + 2 11:13; also n. s. נֶפֶשׁ 700, 40 + 5 Je 52:30. e.g. Genesis 5:13
- 3. as ordinal, בְּא׳ שָׁנָה Dt 1:3 in the fortieth year; also בִּשְׁנַת הָא׳ Nu 33:38; 1 Ch 26:31; בִּשְׁנַת א׳ וְאַחַת 2 Ch 16:13 in the forty-first year. e.g. Deuteronomy 1:3
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.pl. indecl. a forty;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from ארבע (ʼarbaʻ) (H702) — four.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
אַרְבָּעָה I
- , אַרְבַּע f. (b. h.) four (frequently represented by ד׳). Ḥag. 14ᵇ א׳ נכנסו וכ׳ four men entered into theosophical speculation; a. fr.—Constr. אַרְבַּעַת followed by singul. Y. Ber. I, 2ᶜ אַרְבַּעַת מיל = אַרְבָּעָה מילין; Y. Yoma III, beg. 40ᵇ; (cmp. Gen. R. s. 50).—Pl. אַרְבָּעִים (מ׳) forty. Sabb. VII, 2 א׳ חסר אחת thirty nine.—Macc. I, 1, a. fr. לוקה א׳ receives forty (thirty nine) lashes; v. ib. III, 10.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 21 distinct written forms H705 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Amos 5:25 | 45 |
| אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Amos 2:10 | 28 |
| וְ/אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Exodus 26:21 | 11 |
| אַרְבָּעִ֖ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Ezekiel 29:12 | 8 |
| וְ/אַרְבָּעִ֖ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Deuteronomy 9:11 | 7 |
| אַרְבָּעִ֨ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | 1 Chronicles 5:18 | 6 |
| וְ/אַרְבָּעִ֛ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Numbers 1:21 | 6 |
| וְ/אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Deuteronomy 9:9 | 6 |
| וְ/אַרְבָּעִים֙ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Exodus 26:19 | 5 |
| אַרְבָּעִ֤ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Ezekiel 29:13 | 2 |
| אַרְבָּ֘עִ֤ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 95:10 | 1 |
| אַרְבָּעִ֑ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Genesis 18:29 | 1 |
| אַרְבָּעִ֔ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Nehemiah 5:15 | 1 |
| אַרְבָּעִים֙ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Genesis 32:15 | 1 |
| בְּ/אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Deuteronomy 1:3 | 1 |
| בְּ/אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Judges 5:8 | 1 |
| הָ/אַרְבָּעִֽים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Genesis 18:29 | 1 |
| הָֽ/אַרְבָּעִ֗ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Numbers 33:38 | 1 |
| הָֽ/אַרְבָּעִ֜ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | 1 Chronicles 26:31 | 1 |
| וְ/אַרְבָּעִ֤ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | 1 Kings 15:10 | 1 |
| כְּ/אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute | Joshua 4:13 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H705, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 108 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 123 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 5:13
- Exodus 16:35
- Leviticus 25:8
- Numbers 1:21
- Deuteronomy 1:3
- Joshua 4:13
- Judges 3:11
- 1 Samuel 4:18
- 2 Samuel 2:10
- 1 Kings 2:11
- 2 Kings 2:24
- 1 Chronicles 5:18
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
