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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

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Chapter 46

1 And Israel departed, he and all that he had, and came to the well of the oath; and he offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in a night vision, saying, Jacob, Jacob; and he said, What is it? 3 And he says to him, I am the God of your fathers; do not fear to go down into Egypt, for I will make you there a great nation. 4 And I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will bring you up at the end; and Joseph shall put his hands on your eyes. 5 And Jacob rose up from the well of the oath; and the sons of Israel took up their father, and the baggage, and their wives on the wagons, which Joseph sent to take him. 6 And they took up their goods, and all their property, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan; they came into the land of Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him. 7 The sons, and the sons of his sons with him; his daughters, and the daughters of his sons; and he brought all his seed into Egypt. 8 And these are the names of the sons of Israel that went into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. The firstborn of Jacob, Reuben. 9 And the sons of Reuben; Enoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 and the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Saul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah: and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron, and Jemuel. 13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Puah, and Jashub, and Shimron. 14 And the sons of Zebulun, Sered, and Allon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, which she bore to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, and Dinah his daughter; all the souls, sons and daughters, thirty-three. 16 And the sons of Gad; Zephon, and Haggi, and Shuni, and Ezbon, and Aedis, and Arodi, and Areli. 17 And the sons of Asher; Imnah, Ishvah, and Jeul, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, which Laban gave to his daughter Leah, who bore these to Jacob, sixteen souls. 19 And the sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob; Joseph, and Benjamin. 20 And there were sons born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him, even Manasseh and Ephraim. And there were sons born to Manasseh, which the Syrian concubine bore to him, even Machir. And Machir fathered Gilead. And the sons of Ephraim, the brother of Manasseh; Shuthelah, and Taam. And the sons of Shuthelah; Eden. 21 and the sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Heber, and Ashbel. And the sons of Bela were Gera, and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim. And Gera fathered Arad. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, which she bore to Jacob; all the souls eighteen. 23 And the sons of Dan; Hushim. 24 And the sons of Naphtali; Asiel, and Guni, and Izhar, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, who bore these to Jacob; all the souls, seven. 26 And all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his own descendants, besides the wives of the sons of Jacob, even all the souls were sixty-six. 27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were seventy-five souls.⁠ 28 And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to meet him at Heroonpolis, into the land of Rameses. 29 And Joseph having made ready his chariots, went up to meet Israel his father, at Heroonpolis; and having appeared to him, fell on his neck, and wept with abundant weeping. 30 And Israel said to Joseph, After this I will gladly die, since I have seen your face, for you are yet living. 31 And Joseph said to his brothers, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds; for they have been feeders of cattle, and they have brought with them their cattle, and their oxen, and all their property. 33 If then Pharaoh calls you, and says to you, What is your occupation? 34 You shall say, We your servants are herdsmen from our youth until now, both we and our fathers: that you may dwell in the land of Goshen of Arabia, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.

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How Many of Jacob's Family Went to Egypt?

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Genesis 46 says 70 members of Jacob’s family went to Egypt, counting Joseph’s two sons. The Greek Septuagint says 75, adding five more descendants. This total matches some Dead Sea Scrolls and suggests the Greek text may reflect the original version.

Passages

Genesis 46:27

Hebrew Bible
25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, seven in all. 26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) 27 Counting the two sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt, all the people of the household of Jacob who were in Egypt numbered seventy. 28 Jacob sent Judah before him to Joseph to accompany him to Goshen. So they came to the land of Goshen. 29 Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him, he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 46:27

Septuagint
25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, who bore these to Jacob; all the souls, seven. 26 And all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his own descendants, besides the wives of the sons of Jacob, even all the souls were sixty-six. 27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were seventy-five souls. 28 And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to meet him at Heroonpolis, into the land of Rameses. 29 And Joseph having made ready his chariots, went up to meet Israel his father, at Heroonpolis; and having appeared to him, fell on his neck, and wept with abundant weeping.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

References

"... After Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and Jacob’s family heads to Egypt, the text lists Jacob’s family members, ending with a total ... In this case, two Qumran fragments agree with the numbers of the LXX. 4QExodb (4Q13, fragment 2) reads “seventy-five souls.” ... The variation in numbers in the two traditions is connected with the different conception of the listing of Joseph’s descendants in the Genesis chapter. The Masoretic text has only the two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, while the LXX includes five additional descendants in the lines of these two sons, which matches information in the data of the much more extensive list of Joseph’s descendants in Numbers 26:29–37. The inclusion of these five descendants is not the work of a translator; LXX is undoubtedly based on a Hebrew source. Itamar Kislev of Haifa University has argued convincingly that the list of the LXX was original, and that the Masoretic text was shortened. He suggests that the Masoretic scribe wished to harmonize the presentation in Genesis and Exodus with Deuteronomy 10:22, which refers to seventy descendants accompanying Jacob to Egypt: “Seventy persons in all, your ancestors went down to Egypt.” ..."
Emanuel Tov, How Many Descendants of Jacob Came to Egypt? Genesis 46:27/Exodus 1:5 (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2018), 1–3.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 46:27 and LXX Genesis 46:27

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