All the people who descended from Jacob were seventy people, but Joseph was already in Egypt.
Parallel translations
- WEB All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.
- KJV And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
- BSB The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
- NKJV All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already).
- NLT In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there.
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
Seventy descendants of Jacob came into Egypt, while Joseph was already there. This small number sets the stage for God's promise to make Israel a great multitude.
Overview
The figure of seventy echoes Genesis 46 and represents a complete but tiny household. That God would grow seventy people into a nation able to fill the land fulfills His word to Abraham that his offspring would be as the stars. Joseph's prior presence in Egypt, by God's providence, had preserved the family through famine, foreshadowing how God brings life out of apparent loss.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 10:22Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- Gen 46:26–27All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct offspring, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six.
- Judg 8:30Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body, for he had many wives.
- Exod 1:20God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 1:5 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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