Acts 7:7

7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship Me in this place. ^[a]

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 He didn't give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.

6 God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for 400 years.

7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship Me in this place.

8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision. This being so, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the 12 patriarchs.

9 "The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him

Footnotes

• [a]. Gn 15:13-14