Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the final tally of Jacob’s household as they complete their migration to Egypt, immediately following the count of his direct descendants in Genesis 46:26.
The words — נֶפֶשׁ (Ne.fesh) = person[s] and שְׁנָיִם (she.Na.yim) = two. The Hebrew text states that with the two sons born to Joseph in Egypt, the total number of Jacob’s family members who went to Egypt was seventy.
The thread — This census figure appears in Deuteronomy 10:22 and Exodus 1:5 as seventy, while Acts 7:14 records seventy-five in a parallel tradition.
Why it lands — The verse frames the covenant lineage's entry into a foreign land by providing a concrete demographic boundary, requiring the reader to track the exact scope of the household before the narrative shifts to settlement in Goshen.
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 the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 10:22 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.
- Acts 7:14 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.
- Exodus 1:5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
- Exodus 24:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.