¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(A) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(B)

¹⁷ I will surely bless you^(A) and make your descendants^(B) as numerous as the stars in the sky^(C) and as the sand on the seashore.^(D) Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,^(E)

¹² But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand^(A) of the sea, which cannot be counted.^(B)’”

¹⁰ “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.^(A) In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’^(B)

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)

²² I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless^(A) as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”

¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a](A) He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life^(B) to the dead and calls^(C) into being things that were not.^(D)

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,^(E) just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^{[b](F) 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead^(G)—since he was about a hundred years old^(H)—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.^(I)

⁴ I will make your descendants^(A) as numerous as the stars in the sky^(B) and will give them all these lands,^(C) and through your offspring^[a] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[b](D)