Numbers in the Bible

3: three

Often marks completeness or a decisive moment: three days, three denials, the third day.

1. Jonah 1:17

   Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.

2. Matthew 12:40

   For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

3. 1 Corinthians 15:3–4

   For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

7: seven

Commonly read as fullness or completion, from the seventh day of creation to the seven churches of Revelation.

1. Genesis 2:2–3

   And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.

2. Matthew 18:21–22

   Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!

3. Revelation 1:4

   John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits before His throne,

10: ten

The Ten Commandments and the ten plagues.

1. Exodus 34:28

   So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

12: twelve

The twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles: the people of God.

1. Genesis 49:28

   These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

2. Matthew 10:1–2

   And calling His twelve disciples to Him, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

3. Revelation 21:12–14

   The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

40: forty

A time of testing or waiting: the flood, the wilderness, Jesus in the desert.

1. Genesis 7:12

   And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

2. Numbers 14:33–34

   Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

3. Matthew 4:1–2

   Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

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