When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
Parallel translations
- WEB “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- KJV When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- NKJV “When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.
- NASB When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.
- NLT “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.
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
God recalls his tender love for Israel as a son whom he called out of Egypt. It reveals the Lord's fatherly heart toward his people from the beginning.
Overview
This verse looks back to the Exodus, when God claimed Israel as his son and redeemed them from slavery. Matthew 2:15 applies this language to Jesus, the true and faithful Son called out of Egypt, showing that Israel's history finds its fulfillment in Christ. The Father's electing love sets the tone for the chapter's astonishing mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Fulfillment
- Matt 2:15where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Cross-references · 10
- Matt 2:15where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
- Exod 4:22Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
- Hos 13:4Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.
- Jer 2:2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
- Hos 2:15There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
- Ezek 16:6Then I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ There I said to you, ‘Live!’
- Deut 7:7The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
- Hos 12:13But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.
- Mal 1:2“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,
- Hos 12:9But I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.
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
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 11:1 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.