Acts 7:7

7 And I will condemn the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will leave that land and serve me in this place.

Acts 7:7 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:7

And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage
At the end of the four hundred years, and which was the Egyptian nation:

I will judge, said God;
that is, condemn and punish them, as he did, by inflicting the ten plagues upon them:

and after that they shall come forth;
out of the land of Egypt, and their hard bondage there; and which was brought about by the judgments executed upon the Egyptians:

and serve me in this place;
in the land of Canaan; though these words are not to be found in ( Genesis 15:13 ) what comes nearest them is in ( Exodus 3:12 ) . "Ye shall serve God upon this mountain"; meaning Mount Horeb, where Moses then was, and from whence the law was afterwards given.

Acts 7:7 In-Context

5 God didn't give him an inheritance here, not even a square foot of land. However, God did promise to give the land as his possession to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham had no child.

6 God put it this way: His descendants will be strangers in a land that belongs to others, who will enslave them and abuse them for four hundred years.

7 And I will condemn the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will leave that land and serve me in this place.

8 God gave him the covenant confirmed through circumcision. Accordingly, eight days after Isaac's birth, Abraham circumcised him. Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the twelve patriarchs.

9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. God was with him, however,

Footnotes

• [a] Gen 15:14