G5062 — τεσσαράκοντα (tessarakonta)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G5062
Original: τεσσαράκοντα (also spelled τεσσεράκοντα)
Transliteration: tessarakonta
Pronunciation: tes-sar-ak'-on-tah
Part of Speech: Cardinal number (indeclinable adjective)
Root: From τέσσαρες (tessares, G5064) "four" — literally "four tens"
Occurrences: 22 tokens in 21 verses (NT); 8 books
First Occurrence: Mat 4:2 — "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

The decade of [τέσσαρες]; forty (Strong's). Indeclinable cardinal numeral meaning "forty." Built from τέσσαρες ("four") + the decade suffix ‑κοντα, paralleling τριάκοντα (30), πεντήκοντα (50), ἑξήκοντα (60), etc. Commonly appears in compound numerical expressions: τεσσεράκοντα καὶ δύο ("forty-two"), τεσσεράκοντα τέσσαρες ("forty-four"), ἑκατὸν τεσσεράκοντα τέσσαρες ("one hundred forty-four"). In Rev 7:4; 14:1, 3; 21:17 it forms the multiplier behind 144,000 and 144 cubits.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 60 — Number
Subdomain: 60.2 — One, Two, Three, Etc. [Cardinals]
Other cardinals in subdomain: εἷς (G1520, one), δύο (G1417, two), τρεῖς (G5140, three), τέσσαρες (G5064, four), ἑπτά (G2033, seven), δέκα (G1176, ten), δώδεκα (G1427, twelve), τριάκοντα (G5144, thirty), ἑκατόν (G1540, hundred), χίλιοι (G5507, thousand), χιλιάς (G5505, "a thousand" as a collective)

UBS Semantic Domains: - [060] Number - [067] Time

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
forty	18	85.7%
Forty	1	4.8%
by the space of forty	1	4.8%
when forty	1	4.8%

Effectively 100% rendered "forty." Variants reflect verse-initial capitalization or English idiom for temporal duration.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Revelation	6	1.5
Acts	8	0.8
Hebrews	2	0.7
2 Corinthians	1	0.4
Matthew	1	0.1
Mark	1	0.1
Luke	1	0.1
John	1	0.1

Notes: Concentration is highest in Revelation (density) and Acts (raw count). The four Gospel occurrences are almost entirely retrospective references to wilderness/Sinai motifs (temptation, Jesus' post-resurrection period in Acts 1:3). Absent from Pauline epistles except 2 Cor 11:24. Absent from general epistles. Each Acts occurrence reprises an OT motif (Moses, wilderness wandering, Saul's reign, Israel's conspiracy count).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Forty Days — Trial, Testing, Preparation¶

Mat 4:2 / Luk 4:2 — Jesus "fasted forty days and forty nights" in the wilderness, tempted.
Mar 1:13 — "in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan."
Act 1:3 — Risen Christ "seen of them forty days" before ascension, speaking of the kingdom.

2. Forty Years — Generational Duration / Wilderness Period¶

Act 7:30 — Moses in Midian: "when forty years were expired."
Act 7:36 — Israel led "in the wilderness forty years."
Act 7:42 — "have ye offered… sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?" (citing Amos 5:25).
Act 13:21 — Saul reigned "by the space of forty years."
Heb 3:9 — "proved me, and saw my works forty years" (citing Ps 95:9–10).
Heb 3:17 — "with whom was he grieved forty years?"

3. Forty as a Round / Counting Figure¶

Act 4:22 — "the man was above forty years old."
Act 23:13, 21 — "more than forty" conspirators bound under oath.
2Co 11:24 — "forty [stripes] save one" — Jewish judicial maximum (Deut 25:3 with rabbinic reduction to 39).
Joh 2:20 — "Forty and six years was this temple in building" (Herodian construction figure).

4. Forty-Two Months — Prophetic Time-Idiom¶

Rev 11:2 — Gentiles tread the holy city "forty and two months" (μῆνας τεσσεράκοντα [καὶ] δύο).
Rev 13:5 — the beast given authority "to continue forty and two months."

5. Component of Composite Numbers (144, 144,000)¶

Rev 7:4 — "an hundred and forty and four thousand" sealed of all the tribes.
Rev 14:1 — 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Sion.
Rev 14:3 — the redeemed "an hundred forty and four thousand."
Rev 21:17 — wall of New Jerusalem "an hundred and forty and four cubits."

Biblical-Theological Distribution of "Forty"¶

Though this entry lemmatizes the NT Greek cardinal, the numeric motif tessarakonta inherits carries OT weight chiefly through LXX ἀρβαῖμ → τεσσαράκοντα. Canonical touch-points the NT verses re-invoke:

Flood — Gen 7:4, 12, 17; 8:6 — rain/waters "forty days and forty nights."
Moses on Sinai (first tablets) — Exo 24:18; 34:28; Deut 9:9 — "forty days and forty nights" receiving the law.
Moses on Sinai (second tablets, intercession) — Deut 9:18, 25; 10:10 — another "forty days and forty nights."
Spies in Canaan — Num 13:25; 14:34 — "forty days… each day for a year."
Wilderness wandering — Num 14:33–34; 32:13; Deut 2:7; 8:2; 29:5; Jos 5:6; Neh 9:21; Ps 95:10; Amos 2:10; 5:25. Acts 7:36, 42; 13:18; Heb 3:9, 17 cite this span.
Elijah's journey to Horeb — 1Ki 19:8 — "went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights" to the mount of God.
Jonah's Nineveh preaching — Jon 3:4 — "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."
Ezekiel lying on his side — Eze 4:6 — "forty days, each day for a year" bearing Judah's iniquity.
Davidic/Solomonic reigns — 2Sa 5:4; 1Ki 2:11; 11:42; 2Ch 9:30 — David and Solomon each reigned forty years.
Temptation of Christ — Mat 4:2; Mar 1:13; Luk 4:2 — forty days' fast in the wilderness.
Post-resurrection appearances — Act 1:3 — forty days between resurrection and ascension.

Recurring associations across these passages: wilderness, testing, fasting, generation-length chastening, preparatory concealment before commissioning, probation leading to transition.

Prophetic Time-Idiom: "Forty-Two Months" and Its Equivalents¶

Revelation itself supplies three parallel measurements attached to the same prophetic span. Each is introduced as the duration of witness / oppression / flight during the period of Gentile/beast dominance:

Expression	Reference	Literal Value
μῆνας τεσσεράκοντα [καὶ] δύο ("forty-two months")	Rev 11:2; 13:5	42 months
ἡμέρας χιλίας διακοσίας ἑξήκοντα ("a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days")	Rev 11:3; 12:6	1,260 days
καιρὸν καὶ καιροὺς καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ ("a time, and times, and half a time")	Rev 12:14	3½ "times"

Arithmetic cross-equivalence as presented in the text:

42 months × 30 days = 1,260 days.
3½ × 360 = 1,260 days (i.e., 3½ "times" treated as 3½ years of 360 days).
1,260 days ÷ 30 = 42 months; 1,260 ÷ 360 = 3½.

Revelation distributes these expressions across paired visions that describe the same interval from different angles:

Rev 11:2 — outer court trodden "forty and two months."
Rev 11:3 — two witnesses prophesy "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."
Rev 12:6 — woman fed in the wilderness "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."
Rev 12:14 — same woman nourished "for a time, and times, and half a time."
Rev 13:5 — beast given "forty and two months" to continue.

The "time, times, and half a time" formula is drawn from Daniel:

Dan 7:25 — "they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."
Dan 12:7 — "for a time, times, and an half."

Daniel 12:11–12 also supplies the parallel day-totals 1,290 and 1,335, and Dan 8:14 gives 2,300 evenings-and-mornings — related but distinct numerical spans. The 1,260 / 42 / 3½ cluster is the one Revelation equates internally.

Common Collocations¶

Greek	Strong's	Co-vv	Typical Pattern
ἔτος (etos, year)	G2094	8	"forty years" — wilderness, reigns, age
ἔρημος (erēmos, wilderness)	G2048	5	"forty days/years in the wilderness"
ἡμέρα (hēmera, day)	G2250	5	"forty days" — fasting, post-resurrection
ἑκατόν (hekaton, hundred)	G1540	4	"an hundred [and] forty [and] four" — composite number
τέσσαρες (tessares, four)	G5064	4	"forty-four" or "one hundred forty-four"
ἄγγελος (angelos, angel/messenger)	G32	3	wilderness/theophany settings
πειράζω (peirazō, tempt/test)	G3985	3	"forty days… tempted"
χιλιάς (chilias, thousand)	G5505	3	"144 thousand" in Revelation
δύο (dyo, two)	G1417	2	"forty[-two] months"
Ἰσραήλ (Israēl)	G2474	2	wilderness-generation speeches (Acts 13)

Word Family / Cognates¶

τέσσαρες (tessares, G5064) — four; base of the decade
τέταρτος (tetartos, G5067) — fourth (ordinal)
τεσσαρεσκαιδέκατος (tessareskaidekatos, G5065) — fourteenth
τεσσαράκοντα ἔτος (tessarakontaetēs, G5063) — "forty-year-old" (Act 7:23; 13:18)

Synonyms¶

No synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G5062.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G5062.

Easily Confused / Overlapping English Renderings¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV	Key Difference
ἀρβαῖμ, H705 ('arba'im)	Hebrew forty — 95× OT	"forty"	OT cardinal forty; primary LXX source of G5062.
ἀρβα, H702 ('arba')	Hebrew four	"forty" (rare, compound)	Base cardinal; used in compound forties in genealogies.
ῥιββώ, H7239 (ribbo)	myriad/ten thousand	"forty" (rare)	Large-number idiom occasionally rendered as "forty" in KJV phrases.

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Score
אַרְבָּעִים ('arba'im)	H705	108	7.53	35.35
שָׁנֶה (shaneh, year)	H8141	40	3.70	13.74
מֵאָה (me'ah, hundred)	H3967	33	3.75	13.21
חָמֵשׁ (chamesh, five)	H2568	22	4.09	12.82
שֶׁבַע (sheba, seven)	H7651	20	3.60	10.96
אֶלֶף ('eleph, thousand)	H505	21	3.49	10.77
שְׁלוֹשִׁים (sheloshim, thirty)	H7970	11	3.80	9.45
שֵׁשׁ (shesh, six)	H8337	11	3.50	8.71
פָּקַד (paqad, visit/muster)	H6485	12	3.20	8.20
מָלַךְ (malak, reign)	H4427	12	3.15	8.08

The overwhelming LXX bridge is H705 אַרְבָּעִים — the Hebrew cardinal "forty." Other high scores reflect collocation with year (shaneh), reign (malak), and mustering (paqad) — the classic contexts of forty in the OT.