Genesis 17:8

17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ²  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 17:10

17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: ³  Every male among you must be circumcised. ⁴ 

Genesis 24:8

24:8 But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, ⁵  you will be free ⁶  from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!”

Genesis 35:12

35:12 The land I gave ⁷  to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants ⁸  I will also give this land.”

Genesis 48:4

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ⁹  and will multiply you. ¹⁰  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ¹¹  as an everlasting possession.’ ¹² 

[17:8]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:10]  ³ tn Heb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”

[17:10]  ⁴ sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557-96.

[24:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “ to go after you.”

[24:8]  ⁶ sn You will be free. If the prospective bride was not willing to accompany the servant back to Canaan, the servant would be released from his oath to Abraham.

[35:12]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb translated “gave” refers to the Abrahamic promise of the land. However, the actual possession of that land lay in the future. The decree of the Lord made it certain; but it has the sense “promised to give.”

[35:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “and to your offspring after you.”

[48:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

[48:4]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).