¹³ Remember^(A) your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self:^(B) ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars^(C) in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land^(D) I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself,^(A)

¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself,^(A) declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,^(B)

⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram^(A) and said, “To your offspring^[a] I will give this land.^(B)”^(C) So he built an altar there to the Lord,^(D) who had appeared to him.

¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^(A) and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^(B) from the Wadi^[a] of Egypt^(C) to the great river, the Euphrates^(D)—

⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^(A)—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^[a] be.”^(B)

¹¹ And God said to him, “I am God Almighty^[a];^(A) be fruitful and increase in number.^(B) A nation^(C) and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.^{(D) 12} The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.^(E)”^(F)

⁷ He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^(A) of Ur of the Chaldeans^(B) to give you this land to take possession of it.”^(C)