The Call of Abram

12 The Lord said to Abram:

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.^{(G) 5} He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem,^(H) at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring^[c](I) I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to the Lord there, and he called on the name of the Lord.^{(J) 9} Then Abram journeyed by stages to the Negev.

The Abrahamic Covenant

15 After these events, the word of the Lord came^(A) to Abram in a vision:

your reward will be very great.

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ^{[a] 3} Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in^[b] my house will be my heir.”

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body^[c] will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”^(D)

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^(E)

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.^{(A) 2} Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.^{(B) 3} Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac.^{(C) 4} When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.^{(D) 5} Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.^(E)

⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”^{[a](F) 7} She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him^[b] in his old age.”

⁸ By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going.^{(A) 9} By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.^{(B) 10} For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.^(C)

¹¹ By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she^[a] considered that the one who had promised was faithful.^{(D) 12} Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.^(E)

³⁸ I speak what I have seen^(A) in the presence of the Father; ^[a](B) so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”

³⁹ “Our father is Abraham,” they replied.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.^{(C) 40} But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth^(D) that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. ⁴¹ You’re doing what your father does.”^(E)

“We weren’t born^(F) of sexual immorality,”^(G) they said. “We have one Father—God.”^(H)

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,^(I) because I came from God^(J) and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to^[b] my word.^{(K) 44} You are of your father the devil,^(L) and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer^(M) from the beginning^(N) and does not stand in the truth,^(O) because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature,^[c] because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Who among you can convict me of sin?^(P) If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”

Jesus and Abraham

⁴⁸ The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan^(Q) and have a demon?” ^(R)

⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; ^(S) there is one who seeks it and judges. ⁵¹ Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word,^(T) he will never see death.”

⁵² Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?”

⁵⁴ “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵ You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him,^(U) I would be a liar like you. But I do know him,^(V) and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it^(W) and was glad.”

⁵⁷ The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?” ^[d]

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”^(X)

⁷ You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.^{(A) 8} Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham,^(B) saying, All the nations^[a] will be blessed through you.^{[b](C) 9} Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham,^(D) who had faith.^[c]

¹⁶ Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed,^[a](A) who is Christ. ¹⁷ My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later,^(B) does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God^[b] and thus cancel the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

Sons and Heirs

²⁷ For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.^{(A) 28} There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free,^(B) male and female;^(C) since you are all one^(D) in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs^(E) according to the promise.^(F)