Genesis 13:16
14 After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west,
15 for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
17 Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
- KJV
- And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
- WEB
- I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted.
- ASV
- And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then may thy seed also be numbered.
- DARBY
- And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed also will be numbered.
- BLB
- And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man is able to number the dust of the earth, [then] also your seed could be numbered.
- ÅB
- Og jeg vil la etterkommerne dine bli som støvet på jorden; kan noen telle støvet på jorden, så skal også etterkommerne dine kunne telles.
- OTB
- Jeg vil gjøre dine etterkommere så tallrike som støvet på jorden, slik at om noen kunne telle støvet, da kunne også dine etterkommere telles.
- B1930
- Og jeg vil la din ætt bli som støvet på jorden; kan nogen telle støvet på jorden, så skal også din ætt kunne telles.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Genesis 28:14
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Read in contextNumbers 23:10
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”
Read in contextGenesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Read in contextGenesis 32:12
But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
Read in contextExodus 32:13
Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”
Read in context1 Kings 3:8
Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.
Read in contextRomans 4:16–18
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
Read in contextGenesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Read in context