"Seventy times seven" is a quantitative expression consistently found twice in some old Protestant translations of the Bible such as William Tyndale's:
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Then sayd Lamech vnto hys wyves Ada ad Zilla: heare my voyce ye wyves of Lamech and herken vnto my wordes for I haue slayne a man and wounded my selfe and haue slayn a yongman and gotte my selfe strypes: For Cain shall be avenged sevenfolde: but Lamech seventie tymes sevenfolde.
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—Genesis 4:23–24
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Then came Peter to him and sayde: master howe ofte shall I forgeve my brother yf he synne agaynst me seven tymes? Iesus sayd vnto him: I saye not vnto the seven tymes: but seventy tymes seven tymes.
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—Matthew 18:21–22
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Prime numbers are used often in the Bible, and this expression is a prime number squared, times ten for emphasis.
Although not as explicit, the concept of "seventy times seven" in the context of multiplication is repeated in Daniel 9:
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Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
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