Exodus 1:7

And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
children	וּבְנֵ֣י u.ve.Nei	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
fruitful	פָּר֧וּ pa.Ru	H6509	to bear fruit (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
abundantly	וַֽיִּשְׁרְצ֛וּ vai.yish.re.Tzu	H8317	to wriggle · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
multiplied	וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ vai.yir.Bu	H7235	to increase (in whatever respect) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
exceeding	בִּמְאֹ֣ד bim.'Od	H3966	properly · preposition + cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
mighty	וַיַּֽעַצְמ֖וּ vai.ya.'atz.Mu	H6105	to bind fast · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
land	הָאָ֖רֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
filled	וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א va.ti.ma.Le'	H4390	to fill or (intransitively) be full of · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the…
Deuteronomy 26:5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned the…
Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Genesis 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come…
Genesis 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Genesis 28:3-4 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 1:1-7

In these verses we have, 1. A recital of the names of the twelve patriarchs, as they are called, Act 7:8. Their names are often repeated in scripture, that they may not sound uncouth to us, as other hard names, but that, by their occurring so frequently, they may become familiar to us; and to show how precious God's spiritual Israel are to him, and how much he delights in them. The account which was kept of the number of Jacob's family, when they went down into Egypt; they were in all seventy souls (Exo 1:5). according to the computation we had, Gen 46:27. This was just the number of the nations by which the earth was peopled, according to the account given, Gen. 10. For when the Most High s…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 1:7

children of Israel were fruitful--They were living in a land where, according to the testimony of an ancient author, mothers produced three and four sometimes at a birth; and a modern writer declares "the females in Egypt, as well among the human race as among animals, surpass all others in fruitfulness." To this natural circumstance must be added the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham.

Adam Clarke on Exodus 1:7

The children of Israel were fruitful - פרו paru, a general term, signifying that they were like healthy trees, bringing forth an abundance of fruit. And increased - ישרץ yishretsu, they increased like fishes, as the original word implies. See Gen 1:20 (note), and the note there. Abundantly - ירבו yirbu, they multiplied; this is a separate term, and should not have been used as an adverb by our translators. And waxed exceeding mighty - ויעצמו במאד מאד vaiyaatsmu bimod meod, and they became strong beyond measure - superlatively, superlatively - so that the land (Goshen) was filled with them. This astonishing increase was, under the providence of God, chiefly owing to two causes: 1. The Hebrew…

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John Gill on Exodus 1:7

The Church Fathers

We have heard in the lesson which was read, dearly beloved, that "when Joseph was dead, the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful and prolific, and they sprang up like grass." What does this mean, brethren? As long as Joseph lived the children of Israel are not recorded to have increased or multiplied very much, but after he died they are said to have sprung up like the grass. Surely they should have increased and multiplied more when they were under the patronage and protection of Joseph. These words were prefigured in that Joseph, dearly beloved; but in our Joseph, that is, in Christ the Lord, they were fulfilled in truth. Before our Joseph died, that is, before he was crucified, few people believed in him, but after he died and rose again throughout the world the Israelites, that is, the Christian people, increased and multiplied. Thus even the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." After the precious grain of wheat died and was buried through the passion, from that one grain a harvest of the church sprang up throughout the world. Not as formerly was "God renowned in Judah" alone, nor is "his great name" worshiped only "in Israel"; but "from the rising of the sun unto the going down" his name is praised.
— Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 94.1

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Exodus — The great deliverance wrought for the children of Isreal when they were brought out of the land of Egypt with “a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm” (Ex 12:51; Deut. 26:8; Ps 114; 136), about…
Hebrew — A name applied to the Israelites in Scripture only by one who is a foreigner (Gen. 39:14, 17; 41:12, etc.), or by the Israelites when they speak of themselves to foreigners (40:15; Ex. 1:19), or when…
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Egypt · History of Israel in: Israel increases and are oppressed — History of Israel in: Israel increases and are oppressed

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Exodus 1:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 1:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 1:7

Adam Clarke on Exodus 1:7

John Gill on Exodus 1:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 1:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 1:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 1:7

Adam Clarke on Exodus 1:7

John Gill on Exodus 1:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 1:1-7

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 1:6-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 1:6-7

Rashi on Exodus 1:7