The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(A)he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(B)“Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^{[a] (C)}having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(D)an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to ^(E)the heirs of the promise ^(F)the unchangeable character of his purpose, ^(G)he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which ^(H)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope ^(I)set before us.

⁸ Jesus Christ is ^(A)the same yesterday and today and forever.

^17 (A)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from ^(B)the Father of lights, ^(C)with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.^[a]

^9 (A)If we confess our sins, he is ^(B)faithful and just to forgive us our sins and ^(C)to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.