^26:5Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering⁹ Aramean¹⁰ was my ancestor,¹¹ and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number,¹² but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people.

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Footnotes

9 Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (’avad) generally means “to perish” or the like ( ; 1–2 ; cf. “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
10 A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41–42).
11 Heb “father.”
12 Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:

My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with a few people and resided there as an alien. There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.

NLTNew Living Translation

“You must then say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt. His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And you shall declare and you shall say before your God, ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt, and there he dwelt as an alien few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous.

KJV 1900King James Version

And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

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