Biblical Meaning of Number 4
In the Bible, four is the number of the created world: four rivers out of Eden, four winds, "the four corners of the earth" (Revelation 7:1), and the lights of heaven made on the fourth day "for signs, and for seasons".
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What does the number 4 mean in the Bible?
Four is the count of the world God made. A river goes out of Eden and "became into four heads" (Genesis 2:10); the elect are gathered "from the four winds" (Mark 13:27); four angels stand "on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds" (Revelation 7:1).
For anyone who reads the sky, the fourth day matters most: on it God made the sun, the moon and the stars, "and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14).
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Where four appears in the Bible
| Verse | What it says |
|---|---|
| Genesis 1:14-19 | On the fourth day the lights of heaven are made "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." |
| Genesis 2:10 | The river of Eden "was parted, and became into four heads." |
| Ezekiel 1:10 | The four living creatures have the faces of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. |
| Daniel 7:3 | "Four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another." |
| Mark 13:27 | The angels gather the elect "from the four winds." |
| Revelation 4:6-7 | Around the throne stand four beasts: a lion, a calf, a man and a flying eagle. |
| Revelation 7:1 | "Four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth." |
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The prophetic meaning of 4
Bullinger (1894) called four the number of creation, of the material world and its completeness. Prophetic readers use it for the whole earth and everything in it, and for the four kingdoms of Daniel's visions (Daniel 2 and 7), the four empires the prophet saw rise and fall.
Four in Scripture describes the world God made; it is never a direction to invoke or a spell to cast.
Four in Hebrew and Greek letters
In Hebrew the numeral four is dalet (ד), whose name means door; in Greek it is delta (δ). The holiest name of God, YHWH, is four letters, called in Greek the Tetragrammaton; the Mishnah says the high priest spoke it aloud on the Day of Atonement (Yoma 6:2).
The hidden lore of four
The four living creatures became the emblems of the four Gospels. Irenaeus paired them with the evangelists around the year 180, and the pairing used ever since is Jerome's: Matthew the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox and John the eagle.
Esoteric writers later matched the same four faces to the four fixed signs of the zodiac: the man to Aquarius, the lion to Leo, the ox to Taurus and the eagle to Scorpio. The Bible makes no such pairing, but it is why the four creatures stand in the corners of so many tarot cards.
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Sources and editorial method
Research and editorial references used for this page include:
- BibleGateway: Genesis 1:14-19 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- BibleGateway: Genesis 2:10 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- BibleGateway: Ezekiel 1:10 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- BibleGateway: Daniel 7:3 (KJV) - The passage quoted on this page, in the King James Version.
- E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (London, 1894), Internet Archive - The source of the "prophetic" meanings: one unity, two difference, three divine perfection, four creation, five grace, six man, seven spiritual perfection, eight resurrection, nine finality or judgment, ten ordinal perfection, eleven disorder, twelve governmental perfection.
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. The "prophetic" meanings are E. W. Bullinger's (Number in Scripture, 1894), named as his reading rather than as definitions the Bible gives; the Hebrew and Greek numerals are the standard letter values, and the later Jewish and Christian lore is given with its source.
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Common questions
What does the number 4 mean in the Bible?
The created world: the four rivers of Eden (Genesis 2:10), the four winds and the four corners of the earth (Revelation 7:1), and the fourth day, when the sun, moon and stars were made (Genesis 1:14-19).
What is the prophetic meaning of the number 4?
The whole earth and its kingdoms. Bullinger called four the number of creation, and prophetic readers link it to the four empires of Daniel 2 and 7.
What was created on the fourth day?
The sun, the moon and the stars, "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14).
What are the four living creatures in the Bible?
The creatures of Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4, with the faces of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. The church made them the symbols of the four Gospels.
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