Bible Strands
Psalms 105:12
When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in the land,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Israel, recording God’s covenant promise of Canaan immediately before describing the nation’s subsequent wandering. The verse marks the historical moment when the patriarchs possessed the inheritance only as temporary residents.
The words — מְתֵי מִסְפָּר (me-tei mis-par) literally means “men of number,” denoting extreme scarcity, while גָּרִים (ga-rim) translates to “sojourners” or “strangers.” These terms anchor the verse’s claim that the promised people existed in minimal, non-permanent status.
The thread — The motif of divine choice amid small numbers appears in Deuteronomy 7:7, which notes God’s selection despite Israel’s numerical weakness. The theme of inheriting land as a foreigner recurs in Hebrews 11:9, where Abraham dwells in the promised land as a stranger.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant inheritance does not depend on human strength or demographic majority. Readers must accept that possessing God’s promises often requires enduring foreignness and waiting on divine timing.
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
When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.
Cross-references
- Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
- Deuteronomy 7:7 The 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.
- Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
- Genesis 23:4 “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
- Deuteronomy 26:5 and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.
- 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.”
- Isaiah 51:2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.
- Ezekiel 33:24 “Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’
- Acts 7:5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.
- Hebrews 11:12 And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.