Exodus 1:7

7 And the {Israelites}^[a] were fruitful and multiplied and were many and were very, very numerous, and the land was filled with them.

Exodus 1:7 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 1:7

And the children of Israel were fruitful
In their offspring; became like fruitful trees, as the word signifies:

and increased abundantly;
like creeping things, or rather like fishes, which increase very much, see ( Genesis 1:20 )

and multiplied;
became very numerous, whereby the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were fulfilled:

and waxed exceeding mighty;
were hale, and strong, of good constitutions, able bodied men, and so more dreaded by the Egyptians: a heap of words is here used to express the vast increase of the people of Israel in Egypt:

and the land was filled with them;
not the whole land of Egypt, but the land of Goshen: at first they were seated in a village in that country, but now they were spread throughout the towns and cities in it.

Exodus 1:7 In-Context

5 And {all those who descended from Jacob} were seventy individuals, and Joseph was in Egypt.

6 And Joseph died and all of his brothers and all of that generation.

7 And the {Israelites} were fruitful and multiplied and were many and were very, very numerous, and the land was filled with them.

8 And a new king rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the {Israelites} [are] greater and more numerous than us.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "sons/children of Israel"