But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
But when, [ kathoos (G2531 ) de (G1161 ), rather, 'But as'] the time of the promise (that is, for its fulfillment) drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, х oomosen (G3660)] - or, according to the best attested reading (adopted by Lachmann and Tischendorf,) 'which God had agreed to Abraham' х hoomologeesen (G3670)]
The people grew and multiplied in Egypt. For more than 200 years they amounted to no more than 75 souls. How prodigious, then must have been their multiplication in the following centuries, when 600,000 men fit for war besides women and children, came up out of Egypt! Indeed, it has been pronounced an impossibility, and on this among other grounds the historical character of the Pentateuch has been attacked, not only by professed infidels, but by some high in ecclesiastical rank, who are weak enough to think that they can retain the Christian Faith while rejecting, as unhistorical, those fundamental books of the Old Testament to the veracity of which the great Author and Subject of the Christian Faith attaches His most solemn seal. But the statistics and laws of population, when applied to the whole circumstances of the Hebrew people in Egypt, have been shown to be at least so far in accordance with this prodigious increase as to prove that there is nothing incredible in it; and beyond this we are not concerned to go.