Fourfold

FOURFOLD [ISBE]

FOURFOLD - for-fold: Occurs but twice in English Versions: 2 Sam 12:6, "He shall restore the lamb fourfold"; and Lk 19:8 the King James Version, "If I have wrongfully exacted ought .... I restore fourfold." From this statement of Zaccheus we are to understand that fourfold the amount of that which was stolen was the restoration the law required of a thief. This was the extreme penalty the law imposed. In some cases double the amount was to be restored (Ex 22:4,7); in others, a fifth of its value was added to the thing restored (Lev 6:5); still again, an amount equal to that taken was to be restored (1 Sam 12:3).