Deuteronomy 1:10

1:10 The Lord your God has increased your population ¹  to the point that you are now as numerous as the very stars of the sky. ² 

Psalms 147:4

147:4 He counts the number of the stars;

he names all of them.

Jeremiah 33:22

33:22 I will make the children who follow one another in the line of my servant David very numerous. I will also make the Levites who minister before me very numerous. I will make them all as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands which are on the seashore.’” ³ 

Romans 9:7-8

9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ⁴  9:8 This means ⁵  it is not the children of the flesh ⁶  who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

¹ tn Heb “multiplied you.”

² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

³ tn Heb “Just as the stars in the sky cannot be numbered or the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will greatly increase [or multiply] the seed of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” The word “seed of” does not carry over to the “the Levites” as a noun governing two genitives because “the Levites” has the accusative marker in front of it. The sentence has been broken down in conformity with contemporary English style.

⁴ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

⁵ tn Grk “That is,” or “That is to say.”

⁶ tn Because it forms the counterpoint to “the children of promise” the expression “children of the flesh” has been retained in the translation.