The major textual witnesses differ
The Masoretic Text names Egypt; the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch include Canaan in the 430-year residence.
Sources [1] [0]
Masoretic wording
430 years
The residence of the Israelites in Egypt.
Septuagint & Samaritan wording
Canaan + Egypt
The same 430-year span includes the patriarchal residence in Canaan.
The wording of Exodus 12:40
The textual difference is real. Which wording is earliest remains disputed.
The main Masoretic wording of Exodus 12:40 places Israel's 430-year residence in Egypt. The Greek Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch explicitly include Canaan in the same span. Josephus and Paul's argument in Galatians also measure the story from the patriarchal promise rather than simply from Jacob's arrival in Egypt.
That makes a 215-year Egyptian sojourn an ancient and coherent reading, not a modern rescue attempt. It does not, by itself, prove that a scribe deliberately removed words from the Hebrew text: scholars still dispute which form of the verse is earliest.
01
How the 215-year reading is derived
DerivedAbraham was 75 when he entered Canaan; Isaac was born 25 years later; Jacob was born when Isaac was 60; and Jacob entered Egypt at 130. Added together, 25 + 60 + 130 gives 215 years from Abraham's arrival in Canaan to Jacob's arrival in Egypt.
If the 430 years end at the Exodus and begin with Abraham's residence, the remaining 215 years fall in Egypt.
Genesis 12:4; 21:5; 25:26; 47:9
02
Paul and Josephus start earlier than Egypt
DocumentedGalatians 3:17 describes 430 years between the promise and the law. Josephus likewise says the Israelites left Egypt 430 years after Abraham entered Canaan, while specifying 215 years after Jacob entered Egypt.
Neither witness settles the original wording of Exodus 12:40, but both show that the patriarch-to-Sinai interpretation circulated in antiquity.
Galatians 3:17; Josephus, Antiquities 2.318
03
What the genealogy can—and cannot—show
DisputedThe lifespans of Kohath, Amram and Moses create a tight chronological ceiling if Exodus 6 is a complete father-to-son genealogy. Biblical genealogies can telescope generations, however, so the arithmetic is supporting evidence rather than a standalone proof.
Exodus 6:16–20; Numbers 26:58–59
SOURCE CHECK
Evidence ledger
This is the line between what the sources say and what the reconstruction proposes.
The patriarchal intervals total 215 years
The ages stated in Genesis yield 215 years from Abraham's entry into Canaan to Jacob's entry into Egypt.
Sources [2]
Josephus explicitly gives both intervals
Antiquities 2.318 states 430 years from Abraham's entry into Canaan and 215 years from Jacob's entry into Egypt.
Sources [3]
The longer wording is the original text
Some see omission in the Masoretic tradition; others see harmonising expansion in the Greek and Samaritan traditions.
Sources [0]
Sources and further reading
- [1]
Exodus 12:40–41: Masoretic, Septuagint and Samaritan witnesses
The primary textual variants at issue.
- [2]
Genesis 12:4; 21:5; 25:26; 47:9
The ages used to derive the patriarchal interval.
- [3]
Jewish Antiquities 2.318 — Flavius Josephus
An explicit ancient statement of 430 years from Abraham and 215 from Jacob.
- [4]
How Many Years Were the Israelites in Egypt? — David A. Glatt-Gilad
A concise scholarly discussion of the variant and the possibility of harmonising expansion.
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