When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!
Parallel translations
- WEB Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- KJV Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
- BSB Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
- NKJV Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
- NASB Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
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
Israel's ancestors entered Egypt as seventy persons, but God multiplied them like the stars. He faithfully kept His promise to Abraham.
Overview
Moses contrasts the small number who went to Egypt with the vast nation God had now made them. This fulfilled the promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as the stars. God's faithfulness to multiply His people foreshadows the innumerable multitude redeemed in Christ from every nation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gen 46:27The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.
- Exod 1:5All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.
- Gen 15:5Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be.”
- Deut 1:10Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- Deut 28:62You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice.
- Neh 9:23You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
- Acts 7:14Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.
- Num 26:51These are those who were counted of the children of Israel, six hundred one thousand seven hundred thirty.
- Num 26:62Those who were counted of them were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward; for they were not counted among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
- Heb 11:12Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 10:22 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
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