How Many Souls Went Into Egypt With Jacob?

How Many Souls Went Into Egypt With Jacob?

One interesting Bible difficulty is how many souls actually went into Egypt with Jacob? The three main passages are:

Genesis 46:26-27 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six; And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Exodus 1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

Acts 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

How many people moved to Egypt with Jacob when Joseph sent for his father and the rest of his family to come and live with him? Was it 66 people, 70 people, or 75? Can these passages be reconciled?

According to some commentators favouring the Critical Text, the solution can be found in the Septuagint which lists nine more sons of Joseph living with him in Egypt. Hm, 66 descendants of Jacob moving into Egypt, plus 9 more sons makes 75. Problem solved, so they say. But that solution makes the Masoretic Hebrew Text behind our King James Bible faulty. Is there a Biblical solution found within our King James Bible that does not question or correct the Bible and yet still reasonably reconciles the passages in question? There is.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the primary passage and break it down.

Genesis 46:6-7 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.

Genesis 46:8-15 And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.

And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.

And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.

And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.

These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.

From the above passage, we see the breakdown of Jacob’s children with Leah - six sons (and their children), and one daughter, Dinah, going with Jacob into Egypt - totalling 33 souls:

Jacob (1 soul)
Reuben - Hanoch, Phallu, Hezron, and Carmi (5 souls)
Simeon - Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul (7 souls)
Levi - Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (4 souls)
Judah - Shelah, Pharez, and Zerah
- Grandchildren through Pharez: Hezron, and Hamul (6 souls)
Issachar - Tola, Phuvah, Job, and Shimron (5 souls)
Zebulon - Sered, Elon, Jahleel (4 souls)
Dinah (1 soul)

Add that all up and that equals 33 people. We know Leah is not included because she was already dead. See Genesis 49:31. So far so good.

Genesis 46:16-18 And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.

And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.

These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

The sons and granddaughter of Jacob by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, which came into Egypt with him (16 souls):

Gad - Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli (8 souls)
Asher - Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah
Grandchildren through Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel (8 souls)

16 children and grandchildren through Zilpah. There are reasons to believe Zilpah was also no longer alive. More on that later.

Genesis 46:19-22 The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.

And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.

These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

The sons and grandsons of Jacob by Rachel that came into Egypt with him (14 souls):

Joseph - Manasseh, and Ephraim (3 souls) - already in Egypt by this time

Benjamin - Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard (11 souls)

Rachel was already dead by this time, according to Genesis 35:19. So here we see the number agreeing, 14 souls, children and grandchildren through Rachel.

Genesis 46:23-25 And the sons of Dan; Hushim.

And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.

These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.

The sons of Jacob by Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, that came into Egypt with him (7 souls):

Dan - Hushim (2 souls)
Naphtali - Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem (5 souls)

There are reasons to believe Bilhah is no longer alive, but her children and grandchildren equal 14 souls.

Add all those subtotals up:
33 + 16 + 14 + 7 = 70 souls, exactly like this main passage says.

How do we get the other numbers from these verses? Consider again the starting passages:

Genesis 46:26-27 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six; And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Exodus 1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

All the souls that came from Jacob and went into Egypt at the same time as Jacob were 66. Joseph was already in Egypt, and he had two children there. So you have 66 souls going into Egypt - plus Jacob, Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim. That equals the 70 total given in the very next verse.

But where does the 75 come from that Stephen mentioned?

Acts 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

When Joseph sent to bring his father up from Canaan to take him into Egypt, 75 souls came altogether with him. Joseph and his family were already in Egypt. Not counting Jacob, 75 people travelled down into Egypt. Subtract the 66 direct descendants already mentioned and you have nine people to account for. That means these nine are not children daughters, or grandchildren of Jacob. Who are they?

These are the wives of his sons. Dinah never married after the events of Genesis 34. Judah’s wife passed away already, according to Genesis 38.

The difference between the 66 descendants and the 75 going into Egypt that Stephen refers to in Acts 7:14 are the surviving wives of his sons and grandsons. We know that out of these 9, Rachel, Leah, Tamar, and Judah's wife were not included. Rachel, Leah, and Judah's wife had passed away (see Genesis 38:12), and Tamar did not remain with or marry Judah (see Genesis 38:26). In light of their advanced age and the fact that Jacob’s actual wives had passed away, it is reasonable to conclude that his daughters’ handmaids (Zilpah and Bilhah) had also passed away prior to this time as well.

Out of eleven sons, 9 still had living spouses (remember Judah’s wife had passed away). We do not know which of the other ten sons was missing a wife by the time they went into Egypt, but it is easy to see that Jacob’s 66 descendants, plus 9 living spouses equals the 75 souls that actually made the journey to live with Joseph in Egypt.

Bible difficulty solved by taking all relevant passages at face value, without consulting questionable commentaries, or correcting the King James Bible with corrupt manuscripts and modern versions. Nor do we need to question Stephen’s inspired sermon in Acts 7. No matter how you look at it, Stephen was not in error with his quotation of Old Testament Bible facts, nor was the Bible at fault in recording exactly what was said. Both line up and reconcile completely with all relevant passages, despite what all critical commentaries and study Bibles have to say.

The King James Bible stands the test of the critic’s pen and still holds sway. Praise the Lord for a Bible we can hold in our hand and boldly declare that it IS in fact the verbally inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God today!

March 18th, 2026
Jerry Bouey