The day for year principle

The Bible twice presents information using this principle:

Because the early Israelites spied out the land for 40 days and then refused to conquer it, they were to wander for 40 years in the wilderness

Numbers 14 verse 34

34 After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’

God told the prophet Ezekiel to lie on his side for numbers of days to indicate how many years the Jews would bear the results of their iniquity (or sinfulness)

Ezekiel 4 verse 6

6 “Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you.

There are some prophecies where days are used to indicate numbers of years. The 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 is one example.

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