רֹ֫בַע (ro.va)
ro.va
fourth
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Word Overview
The Hebrew noun roba means a quarter or a fourth part of a whole. In the Old Testament, it appears only twice, serving as a precise numerical descriptor rather than an abstract concept. Its usage is strictly quantitative, referring to a specific fraction of a larger entity.
These two occurrences ground the word in tangible reality. In Numbers 18:26, it describes the tithe taken from the Levites' portion, illustrating how community resources were divided. Later, in II Kings 7:16, it quantifies the barley flour remaining after a miraculous provision, highlighting the exact measure of abundance.
The term reflects a culture comfortable with fractional divisions of land, food, and wealth. By specifying "fourth" rather than using a vague term for remainder, the text emphasizes order and precise accounting in both legal and narrative contexts.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word roba simply means a fourth part or quarter. It appears only twice in the Old Testament, always as a precise measure rather than an abstract idea. This precision reminds us that God cares about details and order in how we manage resources.
In Numbers 23:10, Balaon uses it to describe the vastness of Israel, showing that even a fraction of God’s people is too great to count. In II Kings 6:25, it measures a desperate portion of food during a siege, highlighting how scarcity can reduce life to exact, painful calculations.
When we look at our own lives, this word invites us to be faithful with what we have. Whether we are managing abundance or scarcity, God sees the specific parts of our journey. We can trust that He values both the whole and the quarter, guiding us with care in every season.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- and/ [the] fourth part of1×
- [the] fourth part of1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- רֹ֣בַע1×
- וְ/רֹ֛בַע1×
Key Verses
-
Numbers 23:10
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
This verse uses the term to emphasize the uncountable size of Israel, showing that even a small fraction (a fourth) represents a multitude too vast for human counting.
-
II Kings 6:25
There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
Here the word quantifies a desperate portion of food during a siege, illustrating how scarcity reduces life to precise, painful measurements of survival.