τεσσαρακονταετής (tessarakontaetēs)
tessarakontaetēs
forty years
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The word tessarakontaetēs is a straightforward adjective meaning "forty years old." It combines the roots for forty and year to specify an exact age, appearing only twice in the New Testament within the book of Acts.
In Acts 7:23, it describes Moses when he reached maturity before fleeing Egypt. The second instance in Acts 13:18 refers to the period of forty years during which God bore with the Israelites in the wilderness. In both cases, the term anchors a narrative moment to a specific stage of life or history.
Translators consistently render this as "forty years old" or simply "forty years," depending on the sentence structure. Its rarity highlights how significant these particular forty-year milestones were for the biblical authors' storytelling.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word tessarakontaetēs marks a specific turning point in human experience, anchoring us to the number forty. In Acts 7:23, it describes Moses at age forty, a moment when his personal ambitions aligned with God’s call for Israel. This age represents a threshold of maturity and responsibility, where past preparation meets present opportunity.
Yet the same root appears in Acts 13:18 to describe God’s patience with Israel in the wilderness. Here, forty years signifies not individual maturity but collective endurance. It reminds us that God bears with His people through long seasons of wandering, offering grace even when they struggle to trust Him.
Whether referring to personal readiness or divine forbearance, this word points to time as a canvas for God’s work. It invites us to see our own seasons—not just the milestones, but the waiting periods—as part of a larger story where God is actively present.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- of forty years1×
- forty years1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- τεσσερακονταετῆ1×
- τεσσερακονταετὴς1×
Key Verses
-
Acts 7:23
But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
This occurrence marks the precise age when Moses felt compelled to intervene for his people, highlighting the intersection of personal maturity and divine calling.
-
Acts 13:18
For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
Here the term shifts from individual age to collective duration, emphasizing God’s long-suffering patience with Israel during their wilderness journey.