Every modern English Bible says Israel was in Egypt for 430 years. The Greek Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, Josephus, and Paul in Galatians 3:17 preserve a different reading: 215 years in Canaan plus 215 years in Egypt — 430 years in total, but measured from the promise to Abraham, not from the arrival in Egypt.
The difference comes down to a single phrase. Where the Masoretic Text of Exodus 12:40 reads that Israel dwelt in Egypt 430 years, the Septuagint and Samaritan witnesses read that they dwelt in Egypt and in the land of Canaan 430 years. Drop 'and the land of Canaan,' and the whole sojourn is forced inside Egypt. Keep it, and the timeline comes back into focus.
Exodus 12:40 · Galatians 3:17
Paul read it differently than your Bible does
Galatians 3:17 places the 430-year clock between the promise to Abraham and the giving of the law at Sinai — not between the entry into Egypt and the Exodus. Read Exodus 12:40 with that anchor and the chronology resolves cleanly: 215 years in Canaan with the patriarchs, then 215 years in Egypt.
Paul is not correcting Scripture here; he is quoting the chronology he inherited — the same one carried by the Greek and Samaritan texts of his day.
Galatians 3:17 · Exodus 12:40
350 years, max — the math the Masoretes left in
Even on the Masoretic Text's own numbers, 430 years in Egypt does not fit. Kohath entered Egypt with Jacob. Add his full lifespan (133), then his son Amram's (137), then Moses' age at the Exodus (80), and the absolute ceiling is 350 years — and that requires every father to die the very day his son was born.
The same genealogy that is used to defend 430 years in Egypt quietly rules it out. It is the strongest internal witness that the 430 figure was always measured from Abraham.
Exodus 6:18–20 · Numbers 26:59
Four witnesses agreed before the Codex was copied
Four independent witnesses carry the 215-plus-215 reading: the Greek Septuagint (c. 250 BC), the Samaritan Pentateuch, Flavius Josephus in the first century, and Paul citing the chronology in Galatians 3:17. All four agree the 430 years run from the promise to Abraham through the law at Sinai.
The Leningrad Codex — the oldest complete Masoretic manuscript, copied in AD 1008 — is the outlier, not the rule. On this verse the older and more numerous witnesses line up on the other side.
Exodus 12:40 · Galatians 3:17
Sources: the Septuagint (LXX), the Samaritan Pentateuch, Flavius Josephus, and Paul (Galatians 3:17); genealogy from Exodus 6:18–20 and Numbers 26:59.
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