Acts 7:14

Syriac Peshitta (NT Only)

ܘܫܰܕ݁ܰܪ ܗ݈ܘܳܐ ܝܰܘܣܶܦ݂ ܘܰܐܝܬ݁ܝܶܗ ܠܰܐܒ݂ܽܘܗ݈ܝ ܝܰܥܩܽܘܒ݂ ܘܰܠܟ݂ܽܠܶܗ ܛܽܘܗܡܶܗ ܘܗܳܘܶܝܢ ܗ݈ܘܰܘ ܒ݁ܡܶܢܝܳܢܳܐ ܫܰܒ݂ܥܺܝܢ ܘܚܰܡܶܫ ܢܰܦ݂ܫܳܢ ܀

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

sent: Genesis 45:9-11, Psalms 105:23

threescore: Genesis 46:12, Genesis 46:26, Genesis 46:27, Deuteronomy 10:22, 1 Chronicles 2:5, 1 Chronicles 2:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 26:27 - seeing Genesis 45:13 - bring Exodus 1:6 - General Isaiah 52:4 - My people Acts 27:37 - souls

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then sent Joseph,.... Gifts and presents to his father, and wagons, to fetch down him and his family into Egypt, Genesis 45:21.

and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls; which seems to disagree with the account of Moses, who says, that "all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten", Genesis 46:27. But there is no contradiction; Moses and Stephen are speaking of different things; Moses speaks of the seed of Jacob, which came out of his loins, who came into Egypt, and so excludes his sons' wives; Stephen speaks of Jacob and all his kindred, among whom his sons' wives must be reckoned, whom Joseph called to him: according to Moses's account, the persons that came with Jacob into Egypt, who came out of his loins, and so exclusive of his sons' wives, were threescore and six; to which if we add Jacob himself, and Joseph who was before in Egypt, and who might be truly said to come into it, and his two sons that were born there, who came thither in his loins, as others in the account may be said to do, who were not yet born, when Jacob went down, the total number is threescore and ten, Genesis 46:26 out of which take the six following persons, Jacob, who was called by Joseph into Egypt, besides the threescore and fifteen souls, and Joseph and his two sons then in Egypt, who could not be said to be called by him, and Hezron and Hamul, the sons of Pharez not yet born, and this will reduce Moses's number to sixty four; to which sixty four, if you add the eleven wives of Jacob's sons, who were certainly part of the kindred called and invited into Egypt, Genesis 45:10 it will make up completely threescore and fifteen persons: or the persons called by Joseph maybe reckoned thus; his eleven brethren and sister Dinah, fifty two brother's children, to which add his brethren's eleven wives, and the amount is threescore and fifteen: so that the Jew w has no reason to charge Stephen with an error, as he does; nor was there any need to alter and corrupt the Septuagint version of Genesis 45:27 to make it agree with Stephen's account; or to add five names in it, in Acts 7:20 as Machir, Galaad, Sutalaam, Taam, and Edom, to make up the number seventy five: and it may be observed, that the number is not altered in the version of Deuteronomy 10:22 which agrees with the Hebrew for seventy persons.

w R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 63. p. 450.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All his kindred - His father and family, Genesis 45:17-28; Genesis 46:1-26.

Threescore and fifteen souls - Seventy-five persons. There has been much perplexity felt in the explanation of this passage. In Genesis 46:26, Exodus 1:5, and Deuteronomy 10:22, it is expressly said that the number which went down to Egypt consisted of 70 persons. The question is, in what way these accounts can be reconciled? It is evident that Stephen has followed the account which is given by the Septuagint. In Genesis 46:27, that version reads, “But the sons of Joseph who were with him in Egypt were nine souls; all the souls of the house of Jacob which came with Jacob into Egypt were seventy-five souls.” This number is made out by adding these nine souls to the 66 mentioned in Genesis 46:26. The difference between the Septuagint and Moses is, that the former mentions five descendants of Joseph who are not recorded by the latter. The “names” of the sons of Ephraim and Manasseh are recorded in 1 Chronicles 7:14-21. Their names were Ashriel, Machir, Zelophehad, Peresh, sons of Manasseh; and Shuthelah, son of Ephraim. Why the Septuagint inserted these, it may not be easy to see. But such was evidently the fact; and the fact accords accurately with the historic record, though Moses did not insert their names. The solution of difficulties in regard to chronology is always difficult; and what might be entirely apparent to a Jew in the time of Stephen, may be wholly inexplicable to us.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 7:14. Threescore and fifteen souls. — There are several difficulties here, which it is hoped the reader will find satisfactorily removed in the note on Genesis 46:20. It is well known that in Genesis 46:27, and in Deuteronomy 10:22, their number is said to be threescore and ten; but Stephen quotes from the Septuagint, which adds five persons to the account which are not in the Hebrew text, Machir, Gilead, Sutelaam, Taham, and Edem; but see the note referred to above.