Genesis 15 · a question people ask
God says 400 years (15:13). Exodus says 430 (12:40). Which is it?
Genesis 15:13 says they will be afflicted "four hundred years"; Exodus 12:40 says Israel lived in Egypt "four hundred thirty years"; Stephen repeats "four hundred years" (Acts 7:6). Protestants explain the difference two ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A round number
Four hundred is the round figure for the time in Egypt; Exodus gives the exact count of 430 years, "to the day" (12:41).
Genesis 15:13 · Exodus 12:40-41
A longer span as foreigners
Paul counts 430 years from the promise to the giving of the law (Galatians 3:17), so some count from Abraham's time. Abraham's family already lived in Canaan as foreigners (Genesis 17:8), "as in a land not his own" (Hebrews 11:9), so the "land that is not theirs" of 15:13 can include Canaan as well as Egypt.
Galatians 3:17 · Hebrews 11:9 · Genesis 17:8 · Genesis 15:13
The verses
“He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.”
“Now the time that the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day, all of the LORD’s armies went out from the land of Egypt.”
“God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.”