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 15:7-8

15:7 The Lord said ⁸  to him, “I am the Lord ⁹  who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ¹⁰  to give you this land to possess.” 15:8 But ¹¹  Abram ¹²  said, “O sovereign Lord, ¹³  by what ¹⁴  can I know that I am to possess it?”

Genesis 17:8

17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹⁵  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ¹⁶  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 26:3

26:3 Stay ¹⁷  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ¹⁸  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ¹⁹  and I will fulfill ²⁰  the solemn promise I made ²¹  to your father Abraham.

Deuteronomy 9:5

9:5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, ²²  that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he ²³  made on oath to your ancestors, ²⁴  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Psalms 105:9-11

105:9 the promise ²⁵  he made to Abraham,

the promise he made by oath to Isaac!

105:10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as a lasting promise, ²⁶ 

105:11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion of your inheritance.”

Ezekiel 36:24

36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land.

[12:7]  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.

[12:7]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[13:15]  ³ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

[13:16]  ⁴ tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

[13:17]  ⁵ tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.

[13:17]  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.

[13:17]  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).

[15:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “And he said.”

[15:7]  ⁹ sn I am the Lord. The Lord initiates the covenant-making ceremony with a declaration of who he is and what he has done for Abram. The same form appears at the beginning of the covenant made at Sinai (see Exod 20:1).

[15:7]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase of the Chaldeans is a later editorial clarification for the readers, designating the location of Ur. From all evidence there would have been no Chaldeans in existence at this early date; they are known in the time of the neo-Babylonian empire in the first millennium b.c.

[15:8]  ¹¹ tn Here the vav carries adversative force and is translated “but.”

[15:8]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:8]  ¹³ tn See note on the phrase “sovereign Lord” in 15:2.

[15:8]  ¹⁴ tn Or “how.”

[17:8]  ¹⁵ 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.

[17:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[26:3]  ¹⁷ 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.

[26:3]  ¹⁸ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

[26:3]  ¹⁹ 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.

[26:3]  ²⁰ 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.

[26:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”

[9:5]  ²² tn Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. NAB, NIV “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the Lord’s favor. As he states in both vv. 4-5, the main reason he allowed Israel to take this land was the sinfulness of the Canaanites who lived there (cf. Gen 15:16).

[9:5]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

[9:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “fathers.”

[105:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “which.”

[105:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “eternal covenant.”