Then you will speak while the Lord is listening. You will say,“ My father Jacob was a wanderer from the land of Aram. He went down into Egypt with a few people. He lived there and became the father of a great nation. It had huge numbers of people.
Abraham was past the time when he could have children. But many children came from that one man. They were as many as the stars in the sky. They were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one could count them.
The people of Israel had many children. The number of them greatly increased. There were so many of them that they filled the land.Then a new king came to power in Egypt. Joseph didn’t mean anything to him.“ Look,” he said to his people.“ The Israelites are far too many for us.