NOTABLE SCRIPTURAL CORRECTIONS
HOLY BIBLE:  ANCIENT PATHS VERSION (APV)

EXODUS 12:40
Israel Sojourned in "Egypt"
vs "Canaan and Egypt" in APV

Exodus 12:40 in the King James Version, which is based on the Hebrew, Masoretic Text, reads, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.” This Hebrew, Masoretic Text rendering is similar to the Dead Sea Scrolls rendering, which reads, “…in the Land of Egypt.” However, the Greek Septuagint (LXXb), reads, “…in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan…,” and the Septuagint (LXXh) reads, “…in the land of Canaan and in Egypt.” Finally, the Samaritan Pentateuch reads, “…in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt.” Josephus, a First-Century Jewish historian, in his work, Antiquities of the Jews (XV: 2), corroborates the fact that the 430 years of sojourning were done in both the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan.

Genesis 15:13 reads, “He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.” Notice that the Israelites were prophesied to be sojourners first, slaves second, and afflicted third, meaning that they were not afflicted for the entire 430 years.

Since the date of the Exodus was 1447 B.C. (according to Edwin Thiele’s biblical chronology), by adding 430 years we arrive at 1877 B.C., the year Abraham arrived in Canaan. Josephus also records that from the time of Jacob’s entry into Egypt until the Exodus, there was a period of 215 years. Furthermore, 1 Chronicles 7:22-27 records ten generations from Joshua back to Joseph’s son, Ephraim, who was a boy of around five years when Jacob arrived in Egypt. Multiplying 20, the length of an average generation in those days, by 10, the number of generations, we arrive at 200 years, the approximate number of years the Israelites sojourned in Egypt (Acts 7:6; Gal. 3:17).

Thus, Exodus 12:40 is correctly translated, “Now the sojourn of the children of Israel and their fathers, who dwelt in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.” This is how it is rendered in this version.

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