Genesis 13:16

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. ¹ 

Genesis 15:5

15:5 The Lord ²  took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ³  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁴  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁵  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Genesis 17:4-8

17:4 “As for me, ⁶  this ⁷  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 17:5 No longer will your name be ⁸  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ⁹  because I will make you ¹⁰  the father of a multitude of nations. 17:6 I will make you ¹¹  extremely ¹²  fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ¹³  17:7 I will confirm ¹⁴  my covenant as a perpetual ¹⁵  covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ¹⁶  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹⁷  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ¹⁸  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 18:18

18:18 After all, Abraham ¹⁹  will surely become ²⁰  a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ²¹  using his name.

Genesis 22:17

22:17 I will indeed bless you, ²²  and I will greatly multiply ²³  your descendants ²⁴  so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession ²⁵  of the strongholds ²⁶  of their enemies.

Hebrews 11:2

11:2 For by it the people of old ²⁷  received God’s commendation. ²⁸ 

[13:16]  ¹ tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

[15:5]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:18]  ³ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[17:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “I.”

[17:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “is” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[17:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “will your name be called.”

[17:5]  ⁹ sn Your name will be Abraham. The renaming of Abram was a sign of confirmation to the patriarch. Every time the name was used it would be a reminder of God’s promise. “Abram” means “exalted father,” probably referring to Abram’s father Terah. The name looks to the past; Abram came from noble lineage. The name “Abraham” is a dialectical variant of the name Abram. But its significance is in the wordplay with אַב־הֲמוֹן (’av-hamon, “the father of a multitude,” which sounds like אַבְרָהָם, ’avraham, “Abraham”). The new name would be a reminder of God’s intention to make Abraham the father of a multitude. For a general discussion of renaming, see O. Eissfeldt, “Renaming in the Old Testament,” Words and Meanings, 70-83.

[17:5]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.

[17:6]  ¹¹ tn This verb starts a series of perfect verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive to express God’s intentions.

[17:6]  ¹² tn Heb “exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I will make you into nations, and kings will come out from you.”

[17:7]  ¹⁴ tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).

[17:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”

[17:8]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[18:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And Abraham.” The disjunctive clause is probably causal, giving a reason why God should not hide his intentions from Abraham. One could translate, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation?”

[18:18]  ²⁰ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the finite verb that follows.

[18:18]  ²¹ tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings upon”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 18:18 (like 12:2) predicts that Abraham will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

[22:17]  ²² tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.

[22:17]  ²³ tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).

[22:17]  ²⁴ 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.

[22:17]  ²⁵ tn Or “inherit.”

[22:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).

[11:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “the elders,” “the ancients.”

[11:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “were attested,” “received commendation”; and Heb 11:4-6 shows this to be from God.