How many times is forty mentioned in the Bible?
The word forty appears 157 times in the King James Version, in 145 verses. Counting every form (forty, fortieth), it appears 161 times in 149 verses across 29 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses forty 159 times (162 with every form).
Forty in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of forty counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| forty | 157 | 159 |
| fortieth | 4 | 3 |
| Total | 161 | 162 |
Which books mention forty most
Forty appears in 29 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Numbers has the most (20), then Deuteronomy (16) and Genesis (14).
Also in: 2 Samuel (4), 1 Samuel (2), Amos (2), Matthew (2), Hebrews (2), Leviticus (1), Job (1), Psalms (1), Jeremiah (1), Jonah (1), Mark (1), Luke (1), John (1), 2 Corinthians (1).
First and last mention of forty
And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 7:4, 2 times (tied with Genesis 7:12, Exodus 24:18, Exodus 34:28, Numbers 14:34, Deuteronomy 9:9 and 6 more):
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Where the two translations differ
0 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 1 verse matches only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
1 Samuel 13:1: counted in the World English Bible only
Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.
Verses with forty on our topic pages
4 verses that use forty in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.
On: Fasting, Temptation
He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
On: Fasting
He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain.
On: Mental Health
for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.
On: Fasting
Common questions
How many times is forty in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 137 of the 161 uses are in the Old Testament and 24 in the New Testament. Forty appears in 29 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Numbers has the most (20), then Deuteronomy (16) and Genesis (14).
Where is forty first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 5:13: "And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:" The last is Revelation 21:17.
More word counts: twelve, wine, drunk, dragon, unicorn, woman, wisdom, trust, or all 107 words.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-02.