Genesis 12:7

12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants ¹  I will give this land.” So Abram ²  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 13:15-17

13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants ³  forever. 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. ⁴  13:17 Get up and ⁵  walk throughout ⁶  the land, ⁷  for I will give it to you.”

Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁸  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁹  this land, from the river of Egypt ¹⁰  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Genesis 17:8

17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹¹  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ¹²  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 26:3

26:3 Stay ¹³  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ¹⁴  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ¹⁵  and I will fulfill ¹⁶  the solemn promise I made ¹⁷  to your father Abraham.

¹ tn The same Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

⁴ tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

⁵ tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.

⁶ tn The Hitpael form הִתְהַלֵּךְ (hithallekh) means “to walk about”; it also can carry the ideas of moving about, traversing, going back and forth, or living in an area. It here has the connotation of traversing the land to survey it, to look it over.

⁷ tn Heb “the land to its length and to its breadth.” This phrase has not been included in the translation because it is somewhat redundant (see the note on the word “throughout” in this verse).

⁸ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

⁹ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

¹⁰ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

¹¹ tn The verbal root is גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to reside temporarily,” i.e., as a resident alien). It is the land in which Abram resides, but does not yet possess as his very own.

¹² tn Or “as an eternal.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.

¹⁴ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

¹⁶ tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.

¹⁷ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”