Genesis 15:14

14 nevertheless I shall deem the folk to whom they shall serve; and after these things they shall go out with great chattel. (nevertheless I shall judge the nation for whom they shall be slaves; and after these things they shall go out with many possessions.)

Genesis 15:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 15:14

And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge
It is not said "the land" in which they were strangers, though God did judge, condemn, and punish the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, and drove them out of it, to make way for Israel; but the "nation" they should "serve", meaning the Egyptians, to whom they became servants, and were very hardly and severely used by them; those the Lord threatens to enter into judgment with, and take vengeance upon them, as he did by inflicting the ten plagues on them, which brought them at last to be willing to let Israel go:

and afterward shall they come out with great substance;
as they did after the four hundred years were ended, and after the Egyptian nation was judged and punished; then they came out of Egypt, with much gold, silver, jewels, and raiment, which they borrowed of the Egyptians, who were spoiled by them, though very justly; this being but a payment of them for the hard and long service with which they had served them; see the exact fulfilment of prophecy, ( Exodus 11:2 Exodus 11:3 ) ( Exodus 12:35 Exodus 12:36 ) ( Psalms 105:37 ) .

Genesis 15:14 In-Context

12 And when the sun was gone down, dread felled on Abram, and a great hideousness and dark assailed him. (And as the sun went down, fear fell upon Abram, and a great dark hideousness assailed him.)
13 And it was said to him, Know thou (a) before-knowing, that thy seed shall be [a] pilgrim four hundred years in a land not his own, and they shall make them subject to servage, and they shall torment them; (And the Lord said to him, Know thou a fore-knowing, that thy descendants shall be foreigners in a land not their own, and they shall make them subject to servitude, or to slavery, and they shall torment them for four hundred years;)
14 nevertheless I shall deem the folk to whom they shall serve; and after these things they shall go out with great chattel. (nevertheless I shall judge the nation for whom they shall be slaves; and after these things they shall go out with many possessions.)
15 Forsooth thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and shalt be buried in (a) good [eld] age.
16 Soothly in the fourth generation they shall turn again hither, for the wickedness of [the] Amorites be not yet [full-]filled, till to (this) present time (until now).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.