Bible Strands
Genesis 15:13
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Abram following a vision marked by deep sleep and overwhelming darkness. The words — The text employs ger (sojourner) to define the descendants' alien status and zar'a (offspring) to specify the group enduring it. The thread — This declaration echoes in Acts 7:6, traces its fulfillment to the Egyptian bondage in Exodus 1:11, and corresponds to the 430-year period recorded in Exodus 12:40. Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that divine forewarning precedes both prolonged national oppression and subsequent deliverance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Cross-references
- Acts 7:6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
- Exodus 1:11 So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
- Exodus 12:40 Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.
- Acts 7:17 As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased greatly in number.
- Exodus 1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
- Galatians 3:17 What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.
- Leviticus 19:34 You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
- Genesis 17:8 And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”
- Exodus 23:9 Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Psalms 105:11 “I will give you the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.”