When they were only a few in number, Very 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.
- KJV When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers 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.
- 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 7:7Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
- Gen 34:30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”
- Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Acts 7:5He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.