God’s covenant with Abraham

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai.^[a] Walk with me and be trustworthy. ² I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.” ³ Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, ⁴ “But me, my covenant is with you; you will be the ancestor of many nations. ⁵ And because I have made you the ancestor of many nations, your name will no longer be Abram^[b] but Abraham.^{[c] 6} I will make you very fertile. I will produce nations from you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will set up my covenant with you and your descendants after you in every generation as an enduring covenant. I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you. ⁸ I will give you and your descendants the land in which you are immigrants, the whole land of Canaan, as an enduring possession. And I will be their God.”

⁵¹ I assure you that whoever keeps my word will never die.”

Abraham and Jesus

⁵² The Jewish opposition said to Jesus, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham and the prophets died, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never die.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and the prophets died, so who do you make yourself out to be?”

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is meaningless. My Father, who you say is your God, is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵ You don’t know him, but I do. If I said I didn’t know him, I would be like you, a liar. But I do know him, and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see my day. He saw it and was happy.”

⁵⁷ “You aren’t even 50 years old!” the Jewish opposition replied. “How can you say that you have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸ “I assure you,” Jesus replied, “before Abraham was, I Am.” ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple.