Exodus 1:5
in Exodus 1The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob 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.
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This verse in Exodus 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis was just the number of the nations by which the earth was peopled, according to the account given, Gen. x. For when the Most High separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel, as Moses observes, Deut. xxxii. Notice is here taken of this that their increase in Egypt might appear the more wonderful.
This site's exposition
all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob
on Exodus 1:5-6
Seventy is the number Genesis 46:27 gives for the household that went down, and Stephen says threescore and fifteen at Acts 7:14, following the Septuagint, which counts further descendants of Joseph. The Hebrew text and the Greek text differ here and both readings have long been held. Genesis closes with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt, and this verse reports the rest of that generation gone with him, which is how a family with standing at court becomes a people with none.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
The expression "their souls" must be interpreted as meaning the men whom he is known to have slain in that calamity. The words of Exodus attest that the soul stands for the whole person, as we have said: "So all the souls that came out …
Joseph means "increase"; the interpretation of this name is testimony to the Hebrew people who came out of the land of Egypt in increased numbers.
Scripture often substitutes "souls" for men, as in Exodus: "There went down to Egypt seventy-five souls." The whole man is to be understood from his better part.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls,.... "Souls" are put for persons; of the number seventy, and how reckoned; see Gill on Gen 46:
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Seventy - See Gen 46:27. The object of the writer in this introductory statement is to give a complete list of the heads of separate families at the time of their settlement in Egypt. See the note at Num 26:5.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽיְהִ֗י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| נֶ֛פֶשׁ | nefesh | person | H5315 → | 754 times |
| יֹצְאֵ֥י | yotzeei | [who] came out of | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| יֶֽרֶךְ־ | yerekh- | [the] thigh of | H3409 → | 34 times |
| יַעֲקֹ֖ב | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| שִׁבְעִ֣ים | shivim | seventy | H7657 → | 91 times |
| נָ֑פֶשׁ | nafesh | person[s] | H5315 → | 754 times |
| וְיוֹסֵ֖ף | veyosef | and Joseph | H3130 → | 213 times |
| הָיָ֥ה | hayah | he was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בְמִצְרָֽיִם׃ | vemitzrayim | in Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
וַֽיְהִ֗יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
נֶ֛פֶשׁperson
nefeshH5315 →754 times
יֹצְאֵ֥י[who] came out of
yotzeeiH3318 →1067 times
יֶֽרֶךְ־[the] thigh of
yerekh-H3409 →34 times
יַעֲקֹ֖בJacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
שִׁבְעִ֣יםseventy
shivimH7657 →91 times
נָ֑פֶשׁperson[s]
nafeshH5315 →754 times
וְיוֹסֵ֖ףand Joseph
veyosefH3130 →213 times
הָיָ֥הhe was
hayahH1961 →3559 times
בְמִצְרָֽיִם׃in Egypt
vemitzrayimH4714 →641 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 10:22Your 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.
it leads to
- Genesis 46:27
And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.
- Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
- Deuteronomy 1:10
The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
- Genesis 46:27
Through
Exodus 1:20So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:10
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Ecclesiastes 8:12
Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
- Proverbs 11:18
The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.
- Isaiah 3:10
Through
Judges 8:30Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
it leads to
- Judges 9:5
He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
- Judges 9:2
“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh…
- Judges 9:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Exodus
Who and where
3 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonPatriarchsJacobThe heel-grasping supplanter reshaped at Peniel into 'Israel, he who strives with God' — father of the twelve tribes.
- PersonPatriarchsJosephThe rejected-then-exalted son — Genesis's great Christ-type; preserver of his family and of Egypt; the bridge into Exodus.
- PlaceThe NileEgyptThe land where Joseph rose, where Israel grew into a nation in bondage, where the Passover lamb was slain and the sea opened, and…
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 77.50; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 80:6; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 33.23; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.