¹³ And behold, ^(A)the Lord stood above it^[a] and said, ^(B)“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^(C)The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like ^(D)the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and ^(E)your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

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.

²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

²⁸ As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are ^(E)beloved for the sake of their forefathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and ^(F)the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ For just as ^(G)you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now^[a] receive mercy.

^25 (A)You are the sons of the prophets and of ^(B)the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ^(C)‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ^26 (D)God, ^(E)having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, ^(F)to bless you ^(G)by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

²⁵ Thus says the Lord: ^(A)If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^(B)For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”