In high school and college I loved math. I guess that is why I have always been intrigued with “numbers” in the Bible. Let me be reading scripture in the bible and some number click in my brain and I’ll be off on a tangent doing research on that particular number throughout the Bible for hours. The Bible uses numbers in patterns. Studying individual numbers in Scripture is called Bible Numerology. In the listings below I have in no way covered all the verses/times in the Bible you will find the number. I have just hit some major highlights.
The Number – One
The number “One” is found numerous times in the Bible (too many to list here). The number one is only divisible by itself and is independent of any other numbers. The number “One” in the Bible represents stability and unity (several things are joined together to form one). In Genesis 1:9 is the first time we find “one” used in the Bible. One represents absolute singleness in Deuteronomy 6:4. In John 10:30, we see how the number 1 also represents the unity between God the Father and His Son Jesus. In Genesis 11:6, God talks about one language. In Genesis 2:24, God talks about one flesh.
The Number – Two
The number “Two” is the number of division or union (marriage of man and woman). It is the verification of facts by witnesses. In the Bible we find two testaments: Old and New. Matthew 12:32 talks about two ages (this age and the age to come).
Revelation 21:8 talks about the second death. Two great lights of creation are found in Genesis 1:16. The ark was guarded by two cherubim in Exodus 25:22. Jesus sends the disciples out two by two in Luke 10:1 ESV.
The Number – Three
In the Bible the number three if found 467 times. The number three is the number of completeness, unity, the number of divine perfection. The Trinity consist of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God’s annual Feast Days of Worship are three great periods: The Spring Festival covering Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Summer Festival covering Pentecost, and the Fall Festival covering the Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Bible is full of events that happened on the “third day”. In Matthew 12:40 Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a whale. The universe is made up of three qualities: Time, Space, and Matter. Within “Time” is past, present, and future. Within “Space” is height, depth, and width. Within “Matter” is solid, liquid and gas. Man is made up of body, soul, and spirit.
Before the flood the three righteous patriarchs were Abel, Enoch, and Noah. After the flood the three righteous patriarchs were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). Just think, 3 to the 3rd power is 27, the number of books in the New Testament.
God’s divine attributes are three-fold: (1) Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent, (2) Holy Righteous, and Just, and (3) Love, Light and Spirit.
Before his arrest, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed a total of three times. The time when Jesus was placed on the cross was the third hour (9 am) and died on the ninth hour (3 pm). While Jesus was suffering His death on the cross, there were three hours of darkness covering the land. Jesus was dead for three full days and nights before His resurrection.
The Testimony Concerning the Son of God in 1 John 5:6-8 talks about the three that agree. The Temple and the Tabernacle consisted of three parts: The Court, the Holy Place, and the Sanctuary.
Jesus is referred to as three different Shepherds: (1) The Chief Shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4 ESV, ”And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”, (2) The Good Shepherd in John 10:14-15.
In Matthew 17: 1-1 ESV we find only three people who Jesus took up on Mount Hermon for His transfiguration: Peter, James, and John. God gave Jacob (Israel) three gifts: His law, the land of their inheritance, and their calling. There are only three angels mentioned in all the Bible: Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer.
God the Father spoke only three times from heaven: (1) Matthew 3:17, (2) Matthew 17:5, and (3) John 12:28.
The Book of Revelation is full of prophecies of “three”. The very beginning of Revelation God is described as Being in three tenses; Revelation 1:4. In Revelation 8:13, the angel shouts out three Woes, There are three unclean spirits in Revelation 16:13-16. In Revelation 21:10-13, John tells us about the three gates.
The Number – Four
In the Bible the number four relates to the earth. In Genesis 1:14-19 we find on the fourth day of creation God created not only the four seasons(spring, summer, fall, and winter), but also the four directions (north, south, east, and west). The Bible only mentions the name “Eve” four times: Genesis 3:20, Genesis 4:1, 2 Corinthians 11:3, and 1 Timothy 2:13.
The same verse is repeated four times in the Bible “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” in Psalm 107:8, Psalm 107:15, Psalm 107:20, and Psalm 107:31. Seems like we need to pay close attention to this!
Rainbows are mentioned in the Bible four times: Genesis 9, Ezekiel 1:28, Revelation 4, and Revelation 10:1. In Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel speaks of four living creatures. He goes into great depths to discuss the many fours of the four living creatures. In Isaiah 11:12, the Bible talks about the four corners of the earth.
In the New Testament there are four gospels on the accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry: Matthew (main focus on Jesus being the son of David and King of the Jews), Mark (describes the suffering servant and Jesus’ ministry), Luke (Jesus as the perfect man), and John (proclaiming Jesus as the One and Only Son of God).
The Number – Five
The number five is the number of God’s “grace” and is mentioned 318 times in the Bible. In Leviticus 1-5 there are five Levitical offerings and in Matthew 14:17 Jesus multiplied five loaves of barley to feed five-thousand.
In 1 Samuel 17:40, David took up five stones to fight Goliath.
The Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, contains two sets of five commandments. The first five cover our relationship and treatment with God and the last five concern our relationship with others.
The Book of Psalms is divided into five major sections:
- Psalm 1 – 41: Discusses the Passover, the beginning of Israel and Christ which is the center of God’s plan of salvation.
- Psalm 41 – 72: Songs about Israel’s unification in the land and the New Testament Church being created.
- Psalm 73 – 89: Destruction of Jerusalem and God’s Temple.
- Psalm 90 – 106: Rejoicing over the 1,000 year reign of Jesus on earth and Israel being gathered together.
- Psalm 107 – 150: Pictures a time when Judah (Israel) shall again be delivered.
The Number – Six
The number six is the number of man, human weakness, the evils of Satan and the manifestation of sin. God created man on the 6th day, Genesis 1:24-31. God gives man six days to labor and to rest on the seventh, Genesis 2:1-3. The number six is associated with Satan when he tempted Jesus. Three consecutive 6’s (666) is the number and mark of the Beast in Revelation 13:18.
Jesus was asked six times to prove who He was and the claims He was making: Matthew 12:38, Matthew 16:1, Matthew 24:3, Luke 11:16, John 1:18, and John 6:30.
The Number – Seven
The number seven refers to God. It’s the number for spiritual perfection or completeness. The week is made up of seven days and the seventh day is God’s Sabbath. In the Bible it mentions:
- Seven days in a week
- Seven colors in the spectrum
- Seven seals
- Seven trumpets
- Seven parables in Matthew
- Seven promises to the churches
- Seven “eternals” in the book of Hebrews:
Of the 10 Commandments, seven begins with the word “not” (do you get the picture here?). On the cross, Jesus made seven statements: Luke 23:34, Luke 23:43, Matthew 27:46, John 19:26, John 19:28, and John 19:30.
In the Old Testament there are seven men who were specifically mentioned as a “man of God”: Moses, David, Samuel, Shemaiah, Elijah, Elisha, and Igdaliah.
Originally the Bible was divided into seven major topics: The Law, The Prophets, The Writings, The Gospels, The General Epistles, The Epistles of Paul and The Book of Revelation.
The Sabbath Year is the seventh year. In Leviticus 25: 1-7 God tells Moses that for six years they could sow the field, prune the vineyard and gather their fruit but on the seventh year they are to let the land rest.
Seven times seven is forty-nine, which is the total number of originally inspired books demonstrating the absolute perfection of the Word of God.
In Matthew 13 Jesus gives us seven parables. In Revelation we find: seven churches, seven angels, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven plagues, and seven thunders. On the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet, the first resurrection of the dead takes place completing salvation for the Church.
The Number – Eight
The number eight is the number of new beginnings (resurrection and regeneration). Eight people survived the great flood, Genesis 7:13. Jewish boys, on the eighth day of life, were circumcised. The number eight exemplifies a new beginning in the Bible.
The Number – Nine
The number nine is found 49 times in Scripture and symbolizes divine completeness and conveys the meaning of finality.
On the ninth hour (3:00 PM) of the day Christ died on the cross making the way of salvation to everyone.
There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is considered by Jews to be the holiest of God’s annual Feast days of worship and begins at sunset on the ninth day of the seventh Hebrew month.
The first recorded Gentile to convert to Christianity (Acts 10) was Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. He was told, in a vision, at the ninth hour of the day to contact the apostle Peter.
The Number – Ten
The number ten in the Bible is found 242 times. Just like the numbers three, seven, and twelve, the number ten is considered a complete and perfect number. The number ten is made up of the number four (physical creation) and number six (man). It signifies law, testimony, responsibility and the completeness of order.
In Exodus 12:3 on the tenth day the men of Israel would select the Passover lamb. Ten times in the Bible the phrase “God said” can be found and God gave the Ten Commandments to man. A tenth of our earnings, the tithe, is to be given back to God as a testimony of our faith in God, Leviticus 27:30.
The Day of Atonement, the Jewish Holy Day, is on the tenth day of the seventh month. The Day of Atonement is a day of fasting picturing the removal of Satan (Revelation 20:1-2) before the millennial reign of Jesus Christ
The first beast of Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 has ten horns and ten diadems on its horns.
Before the great flood the Bible talks about ten generations of man living on the earth: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalelell, Jared, Enoch, Methusaleh, Lamech, and Noah. In 1 Kings 11:31-35 it talks about the ten tribes that make up the northern kingdom.
The Number – Eleven
The number eleven in the Bible usually represents judgment, chaos, and/or disorder. It is the opposite of number ten. Men rebelled against God in Genesis 11 when they built the tower of Babel.
The Number – Twelve
The number twelve represents perfection and completeness. It represents God’s authority and power. It represents a perfect governmental foundation. In the Bible the number twelve is found 187 times and Revelations contains 22 occurrences of the number twelve. With the number twelve we find:
- Twelve breastplate stones (Deuteronomy 32: 7-8)
- Twelve Stars and Twelve Tribes (Revelation 12)
- Twelve months in the year
- Twelve officers were appointed over Israel by Solomon.
- Twelve chapters in the Book of Daniel discussing the Tribulation and Israel’s salvation
- Twelve disciples of Christ
- Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons
- Twelve tribes of Israel will be represented in Revelations 21:12 along with twelve gates and twelve angels.
In Revelation 7: 1-8 the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve-thousand from each tribe, will receive salvation here on earth and are given God’s seal on their foreheads for protection from the four angels who had been given authority to harm the earth and sea. These one hundred and forty-four thousand will preach the gospel of God to the lost on earth during the Tribulation.
The Number – Thirteen
The number thirteen represents rebellion and lawlessness. Genesis 14:4 talks about rebellion in the thirteenth year. In all rebellion against God we find Satan at the helm. In the Book of Revelation a dragon, the symbol for Satan, is found thirteen times.
In Mark 7:20-23 Jesus tells up about thirteen things that defile a person: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.
In Romans 1:28-32 the apostle Paul gives twenty-three characteristics of sinful people and it’s no coincidence that the thirteenth one is they are haters of God.
The Number – Forty
The number forty is associated with testing, trials and probation. It’s mentioned 146 times in the Bible.
- Moses lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert prior to his selection by God to lead the people out of Egypt
- Moses sent spies out for forty days to investigate God’s promised land (Numbers 13:25)
- Forty days and nights of rain during the flood (Genesis 7:4)
- Jesus was in the wilderness forty days before Satan tempted Him (Matthew 4:2)
- Moses was on the mountain for four forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18)
- Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:33)
The Number – Fifty
The Day of Atonement occurs every fifty years, (called The Jubilee year). It’s a time when Jews celebrate deliverance or freedom from a burden. In ancient Israel God commanded that every fiftieth year, on the Day of Atonement, a Jubilee was to be declared by the sound of a trumpet (Leviticus 25).
The Number – Seventy
In the Bible perfect spiritual order carried out with all power is symbolized by the number seventy. It is made up of two perfect numbers: Seven (perfection) and Ten (completeness of God’s Law).
In Numbers 11:16 there were seventy elders appointed to aid Moses. In Exodus 24: 9-11 the seventy Elders along with Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu went up on Mount Sinai to have a special meal with God.
In Jeremiah 29:10 it talks about the seventy years Israel spent in captivity in Babylon. Daniel 9:24 talks about the seventy weeks to finish the transgressions.
