¹⁶ and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, ¹⁷ that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; ¹⁸ and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth ^[a]be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

¹³ For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he sware by himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^[a]Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. ¹⁵ And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, ^[b]interposed with an oath; ¹⁸ that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: