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The Samaritan version of Exodus and the Greek Septuagint both count Israel’s 430 years as time in Canaan and Egypt together, while the traditional Masoretic Hebrew version places all 430 years in Egypt.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Samaritan Exodus 12:40
Samaritan Penteteuch
Samaritan
39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. 40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel and fathers of them, who dwelt in Canaan and in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
LXX Exodus 12:40
Septuagint
39 And they baked the dough that they carried out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for it was not leavened. For the Egyptians had driven them out, and they could not tarry, nor did they even prepare provisions for themselves for the journey. 40 Now the sojourn of the sons of Israel, during which they lived in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty-five years. 41 And it happened after the four hundred and thirty-five years, all the hosts of the Lord went forth from the land of Egypt by night.
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Notes and References
... The figure of 400 years for the oppression of the Israelites is taken from Genesis 15:13. According to Exodus 12:40 (the Masoretic Text) their sojourning in Egypt lasted 430 years, for which 400 might be taken as a round number. But rabbinical exegesis reckoned the 400 years as running from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus. Compare Paul in Galatians 3:17, where the giving of the law (in the third month after the Exodus) is dated 430 years after the promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 7; 13:15, etc.). This accords with the Samaritan and Septuagint expansion of Exodus 12:40, which includes in the 430 years the Israelites’ sojourning in Canaan as well as in Egypt. The period spent in Egypt would then be considerably shorter; compare Genesis 15:16, “in the fourth generation they shall come back here.” ...
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