⁸ but ^(A)because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep ^(B)the oath which He swore to your fathers, ^(C)the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of ^[a]bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You ^(A)swore by Your own self, and said to them, ^(B)‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”

⁴ But God, ^(A)who is rich in mercy, because of His ^(B)great love with which He loved us, ^5 (C)even when we were dead in trespasses, ^(D)made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

¹⁵ The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their ^[a]descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.

God’s Infallible Purpose in Christ

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, ^(A)He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(B)“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the ^(C)promise. ¹⁶ For men indeed swear by the greater, and ^(D)an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. ¹⁷ Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to ^(E)the heirs of promise ^(F)the ^[a]immutability of His counsel, ^[b]confirmed it by an oath,