When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it.
Parallel translations
- WEB when you were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners were in it.
- BSB When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in the land,
- NKJV When you were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
- NASB When they were only a few in number, Very few, and strangers in it,
- NLT He said this when you were few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
This promise came when they were few in number and strangers in the land. God's covenant rested on grace, not Israel's size or strength.
Overview
The psalm recalls that God chose the patriarchs when they were a small, vulnerable band of sojourners. The promise depended entirely on God's faithfulness, not human power or status. This pattern of God exalting the lowly runs through Scripture and finds its fullest expression in the humble means by which He saves in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 7:7The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
- Gen 34:30And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
- Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Acts 7:5And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The genealogies and the everlasting covenant with David trace the single thread of promise running through the generations straight to the Christ in whom the line reaches its goal.
How 1 Chronicles 16:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.