¹³ And the Lord stood beside him^[a] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring,^{(A) 14} and your offspring shall be like 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 all the families of the earth shall be blessed^[b] in you and in your offspring.^(B)

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,^{(A) 14} saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^[a] having patiently endured, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ Humans, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute among them.^{(B) 17} In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath,^{(C) 18} so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.^(D)

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 beloved for the sake of their ancestors, ²⁹ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,^{(C) 31} so also they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may now^[a] receive mercy.

²⁵ You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’^{(A) 26} When God raised up his servant,^[a] he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”^(B)

²⁵ Thus says the Lord: Only if I had not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth^{(A) 26} would I reject the offspring of Jacob and of my servant David and not choose any of his descendants as rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy upon them.^(B)