Exodus 16:35

16:35 Now the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was inhabited; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Numbers 14:33-34

14:33 and your children will wander ¹  in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, ²  until your dead bodies lie finished ³  in the wilderness. 14:34 According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for ⁴  your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 2:7

2:7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, ⁶  have blessed your every effort. ⁷  I have ⁸  been attentive to ⁹  your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have ¹⁰  been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’”

Deuteronomy 8:2

8:2 Remember the whole way by which he ¹¹  has brought you these forty years through the desert ¹²  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Amos 5:25

5:25 You did not bring me ¹³  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ¹⁴  of Israel.

Acts 13:18

13:18 For ¹⁵  a period of about forty years he put up with ¹⁶  them in the wilderness. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land.

² tn Heb “you shall bear your whoredoms.” The imagery of prostitution is used throughout the Bible to reflect spiritual unfaithfulness, leaving the covenant relationship and following after false gods. Here it is used generally for their rebellion in the wilderness, but not for following other gods.

³ tn The infinitive is from תָּמַם (tamam), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express completeness in a good sense – whole, blameless, or the like. Here and in v. 35 it seems to mean “until your deaths have been completed.” See also Gen 47:15; Deut 2:15.

⁴ tn Heb “you shall bear.”

⁵ tn The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּאָה (tÿnu’ah) occurs in Job 33:10 (perhaps). The related verb occurs in Num 30:6 HT (30:5 ET) and 32:7 with the sense of “disallow, discourage.” The sense of the expression adopted in this translation comes from the meticulous study of R. Loewe, “Divine Frustration Exegetically Frustrated,” Words and Meanings, 137-58.

⁶ tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).

⁷ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

⁸ tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.

⁹ tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God has.” This has been replaced in the translation by the first person pronoun (“I”) in keeping with English style.

¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹² tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.

¹³ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

¹⁴ tn Heb “house.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “And for.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

¹⁶ tn For this verb, see BDAG 1017 s.v. τροποφορέω (cf. also Deut 1:31; Exod 16:35; Num 14:34).

¹⁷ tn Or “desert.”