Ramban on Shemos 1:1

English: AND THESE ARE THE NAMES OF …. The meaning [of the connective vav — v’eileh , (‘and’ these are) — when it would have sufficed to say, “These are the names of …,”] is that Scripture desires to reckon the subject of the exile from the time they went down to Egypt. It was then that they were the first of the exiles to go into exile , 16 Amos 6:7. as I have explained. 17 See Note 7 above. It is for this reason that He returns to the beginning of the subject [stated in the Book of Genesis], which is the verse, And all his seed he [Jacob] brought with him into Egypt . 18 Genesis 46:7. There it is written afterward, And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt , etc. 19 Ibid. , Verse 8. This is the very same verse that He repeats here. Even though they are two separate books, the narrative is connected with subjects which follow one another successively. Here, once He mentioned the children of Jacob, He adopted a concise approach to his children’s children and all of his seed [and did not mention them by name as He had done in the Book of Genesis]. Rather, He alluded to them only generally, just as He had said there, All the souls of the house of Jacob, that came