'Forty Years' in the Bible

The foot of man shall not pass through it, Nor shall the foot of beast, pass through it, Neither shall it be inhabited forty years:

So will I make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of lands made desolate And her cities - in the midst of cities that have been laid waste, shall become a desolation forty years,- And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations, And scatter them throughout the lands.

For thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, - At the end of forty years, will I gather the Egyptians from among the peoples whither I had dispersed them;