Genesis 13:15-17

13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants ¹  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. ²  13:17 Get up and ³  walk throughout ⁴  the land, ⁵  for I will give it to you.”

Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁶  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁷  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁸  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Genesis 26:3

26:3 Stay ⁹  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ¹⁰  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ¹¹  and I will fulfill ¹²  the solemn promise I made ¹³  to your father Abraham.

Genesis 28:13

28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. ¹⁴  I will give you and your descendants the ground ¹⁵  you are lying on.

[13:15]  ¹ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

[13:16]  ² tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

[13:17]  ³ tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.

[13:17]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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).

[15:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁷ 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”).

[15:18]  ⁸ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[26:3]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

[26:3]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”

[28:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.

[28:13]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.