Acts 7:7

7 'But I will judge the nation which they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship 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 yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child.

6 And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and ill-treat them four hundred years.

7 'But I will judge the nation which they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.'

8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him,