Genesis 46:8–27, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Genesis 46:8–27
Jacob's Household Is Counted
Sixty-six traveling, seventy in Egypt
The family entering Egypt is named by maternal branches, not as an anonymous crowd. Direct descendants coming with Jacob total sixty-six in the received Hebrew, excluding the sons' wives. Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's two Egypt-born sons bring the house in Egypt to seventy.
Wives excluded from one subtotal are still on the journey. A material Greek tradition of seventy-five must be acknowledged. The list is a theological genealogy of continuity, not a complete passenger manifest or an effortless spreadsheet.
How this should shape us
State counting rules and exclusions so a subtotal is not mistaken for everyone who mattered. Honor people a formal list organizes around another line, and show evidence when sources disagree rather than inventing a harmonization.
Teach it back
Explain why Genesis 46:8–27 appears after God's great-nation promise and before the family's settlement. Include the four maternal groupings, Dinah and Serah, Er and Onan, Joseph's Egypt-born sons, the wife exclusion, the relationship between sixty-six and seventy, the difficult Leah subtotal, the seventy-five Greek and Acts tradition, and what the list does not permit readers to claim about women, ancestry, chronology, or effortless harmonization.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Displayed text, maternal family background, death notice, migration categories, settlement transition, later clan comparison, seventy tradition, and Acts seventy-five reception.
Genesis 46:5–27 with Genesis 29:31–30:24; 35:22–26; 38:1–30; 46:28–47:12; 50:22–26; Exodus 1:1–7; Numbers 26; Deuteronomy 10:22; and Acts 7:14 in the pinned standardized 1769 KJV
Supports: Exact Hebrew family, descent, person, exclusion, subtotal, and household language supporting the received-form categories.
WLC Genesis 46:8–27, especially the names heading in v. 8; maternal formulas and subtotals in vv. 15, 18, 22, and 25; direct-descendant and wife-exclusion wording in v. 26; and house-of-Jacob total in v. 27
Supports: Translation cross-checks, KJV idiom clarification, counting categories, and textual-variant notice.
NET Genesis 46:8–27 translator notes, especially names, direct descendants, Leah's thirty-three, wives, sixty-six, seventy, and comparison with the Greek and Acts traditions
Supports: Final-form movement from divine reassurance through family genealogy, reunion, Pharaoh audience, and settlement.
Genesis commentary, Genesis 46:1–47:12 discussion
Supports: Modern literary-critical counterpoint for household preservation, national origins, and the transition from Genesis family to Exodus people.
Genesis 37–50 Joseph study guide, especially the family transition to Egypt and the Joseph story's bridge to Exodus
Supports: Thought-unit boundary, list structure, family-group observations, and the major interpretive questions requiring further sourced review.
Genesis 46:1–27 study guide, pp. 1–4, especially the 46:8–27 genealogical boundary, maternal household questions, named women, wives, sixty-six, seventy, and Acts 7:14 prompts
Supports: Direct documentation of ancient numerical traditions, manuscript evidence, Acts reception, and competing textual-critical judgments.
How Many Descendants of Jacob Came to Egypt?, complete essay and notes, especially MT/SP/Peshitta seventy; LXX/Qumran/Philo/Acts seventy-five; five additional Joseph descendants; the Greek nine-versus-seven issue; and arguments over textual priority
Supports: Detailed list comparison, received-form arithmetic, chronology problems, and one modern redactional explanation with its inferential limits.
Jacob's Descendants Who Go to Egypt: MT Versus LXX, complete essay and notes, especially Leah's subtotal, Joseph's five extra Greek descendants, Numbers 26 comparison, Benjamin's distributed generations, chronology, and revision proposal
Supports: Peer-reviewed confirmation that the MT/LXX numbers, Dinah, chronology, and redactional history are live interpretive questions; no unseen argument is attributed.
Dinah among Jacob's Seventy, official Biblica metadata and complete abstract
Supports: Reception-history survey of Jacob, Jochebed-at-the-border, and Dinah proposals for the difficult seventy arithmetic.
The Seventy Israelites Who Went to Egypt, complete pp. 196–198 article
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed text, maternal family background, death notice, migration categories, settlement transition, later clan comparison, seventy tradition, and Acts seventy-five reception.
Exact location: Genesis 46:5–27 with Genesis 29:31–30:24; 35:22–26; 38:1–30; 46:28–47:12; 50:22–26; Exodus 1:1–7; Numbers 26; Deuteronomy 10:22; and Acts 7:14 in the pinned standardized 1769 KJV
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Exact Hebrew family, descent, person, exclusion, subtotal, and household language supporting the received-form categories.
Exact location: WLC Genesis 46:8–27, especially the names heading in v. 8; maternal formulas and subtotals in vv. 15, 18, 22, and 25; direct-descendant and wife-exclusion wording in v. 26; and house-of-Jacob total in v. 27
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Translation cross-checks, KJV idiom clarification, counting categories, and textual-variant notice.
Exact location: NET Genesis 46:8–27 translator notes, especially names, direct descendants, Leah's thirty-three, wives, sixty-six, seventy, and comparison with the Greek and Acts traditions
Open NET Genesis 46 ↗modern open whole book commentary
Genesis
T. Desmond Alexander
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Final-form movement from divine reassurance through family genealogy, reunion, Pharaoh audience, and settlement.
Exact location: Genesis commentary, Genesis 46:1–47:12 discussion
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Genesis 37–50: Joseph — Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026
Supports: Modern literary-critical counterpoint for household preservation, national origins, and the transition from Genesis family to Exodus people.
Exact location: Genesis 37–50 Joseph study guide, especially the family transition to Egypt and the Joseph story's bridge to Exodus
Open source ↗modern open inductive Hebrew and literary study guide
Study: The Joseph Story — Genesis 46:1–27: Jacob Arrives in Egypt
Phillip S. Marshall
BiblicalLanguages.net, 2020
Supports: Thought-unit boundary, list structure, family-group observations, and the major interpretive questions requiring further sourced review.
Exact location: Genesis 46:1–27 study guide, pp. 1–4, especially the 46:8–27 genealogical boundary, maternal household questions, named women, wives, sixty-six, seventy, and Acts 7:14 prompts
Open source ↗public scholarly textual criticism essay
How Many Descendants of Jacob Came to Egypt? — Genesis 46:27 / Exodus 1:5
Emanuel Tov
TheTorah.com, 2023; updated 2026
Supports: Direct documentation of ancient numerical traditions, manuscript evidence, Acts reception, and competing textual-critical judgments.
Exact location: How Many Descendants of Jacob Came to Egypt?, complete essay and notes, especially MT/SP/Peshitta seventy; LXX/Qumran/Philo/Acts seventy-five; five additional Joseph descendants; the Greek nine-versus-seven issue; and arguments over textual priority
Open source ↗public scholarly textual and redactional study
Jacob's Descendants Who Go to Egypt: MT Versus LXX
Itamar Kislev
TheTorah.com, 2015; updated 2026
Supports: Detailed list comparison, received-form arithmetic, chronology problems, and one modern redactional explanation with its inferential limits.
Exact location: Jacob's Descendants Who Go to Egypt: MT Versus LXX, complete essay and notes, especially Leah's subtotal, Joseph's five extra Greek descendants, Numbers 26 comparison, Benjamin's distributed generations, chronology, and revision proposal
Open source ↗peer reviewed genealogy and redaction study
Dinah among Jacob's Seventy: On Genesis 46,8-27
Philip Yoo
Biblica 101.4, pages 481–497, 2020
Supports: Peer-reviewed confirmation that the MT/LXX numbers, Dinah, chronology, and redactional history are live interpretive questions; no unseen argument is attributed.
Exact location: Dinah among Jacob's Seventy, official Biblica metadata and complete abstract
Open source ↗open traditional interpretation survey
The Seventy Israelites Who Went to Egypt
David Gollub
Jewish Bible Quarterly 48.3, pages 196–198, 2020
Supports: Reception-history survey of Jacob, Jochebed-at-the-border, and Dinah proposals for the difficult seventy arithmetic.
Exact location: The Seventy Israelites Who Went to Egypt, complete pp. 196–198 article
Open source ↗