⁸ It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.^(A)

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;^(A)

⁴ but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us^{(A) 5} even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ^[a]—by grace you have been saved—

¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”^(A)

¹⁵ yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.^(A)

¹⁴ When in the future your child asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall answer, ‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.^(A)

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,^{(A) 14} saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^[a] having patiently endured, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ Humans, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute among them.^{(B) 17} In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath,^(C)