Genesis Chapter 15 verse 16 Holy Bible
And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.
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And in the fourth generation they will come back here; for at present the sin of the Amorite is not full.
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And [in the] fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
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But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
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But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
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In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."
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and the fourth generation doth turn back hither, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.'
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - But in the fourth generation, - τετάρτη δὲ γενεᾷ (LXX.); but, more correctly, the fourth generation, calculating 100 years to a generation. "Caleb was the fourth from Judah, and Moses from Levi, and so doubtless many others" (Bush). Drs. Oort and Kuenen, reckoning four generations as a far shorter space of time than four centuries, detect a contradiction between this verse and Ver. 13, and an evidence of the free use which the ancient and uncritical Israelitish author made of his materials ('Bible for Young People,' vol. 1. p. 158). On the import of דּור vide Genesis 6:9 - they shall come hither again (literally, shall return hither): for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Literally, for not completed the iniquity of the Amorites (vide Genesis 14:7; here put for the entire population! until then (the same word as "hither, which is its usual signification).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) The fourth generation.--Heb., dor. (See Note on Genesis 6:9.) As the four generations are identical with the four centuries of Genesis 15:13, we have here an undesigned testimony to the long duration of human life. So Abram was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and Isaac was 60 at the birth of his children, and Jacob 64 years of age at his marriage. But the word dor had probably come down from a remote antiquity, and, like the Latin word seculum, signified a century.The iniquity of the Amorites.--As the chief and leading tribe, they are used here for all the Canaanite nations. We learn from this declaration that the Canaanites were not extirpated by any wilful decree to make room for Israel, but as an act of justice, like that which, because of their moral depravity, overwhelmed the Sethites with a flood. So, subsequently, Israel and Judah had each to bear a punishment in accordance with their sinfulness; and so, throughout the history of the world, whenever nations settle down in vice and corruption, the decay of their institutions follows upon that of their morals, and they either waste away or give place to some more manly race of conquerors. The conquest of Canaan by Israel was parallel to that of the enervated Roman empire of the West by the Germans; only we see the preparation for it. and God's purpose explained; and we also see that if the Amorites had not made the scale of justice weigh down heavily, they would not have been deprived of their country.