All the offspring of Jacob in the Hebrew is literally “every person coming from the loins of Jacob.” The offspring were the male descendants of Jacob; females were not included in the seventy. This is because the Israelites kept record of their ancestors only through the father, who was the head of the family. It may be helpful for translators to include this information in a footnote. In some languages it will be useful to translate offspring as “sons and grandsons,” as all of these are included in the seventy. Their names are given in Gen 46.8-27.

The footnote in Good News Translation calls attention to “one ancient translation” that has “seventy-five” instead of “seventy.” k The Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Projectk* (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) recommends that this ancient Greek translation, the Septuagint, be followed rather than the Hebrew. The reasons for this are not yet widely accepted by biblical scholars, so it is better to follow the Hebrew wording of “seventy” until there are more who support this change. However, a footnote similar to the one in Good News Translation should be included to show that there is a textual problem here and that “seventy-five” may have been the number intended.

Joseph was already in Egypt. This does not necessarily exclude him from the seventy, but it explains why he is not listed with the names of his eleven brothers in verses 2-4.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .