“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
Parallel translations
- WEB “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
- KJV As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
- NKJV “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
- NASB “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
- NLT “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God declared His covenant would make Abram the father of many nations. The promise widens from one nation to many peoples.
Overview
God reveals the expansive scope of His covenant: Abram will father a multitude of nations, not merely the people of Israel. Paul interprets this as fulfilled in the worldwide family of faith. The promise points beyond physical descent to the spiritual fatherhood Abram has over all who believe, Jew and Gentile alike, in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Gen 35:11And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.
- Rom 4:11–18And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
- Gen 12:2I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
- Gal 3:28–29There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- Gen 48:19But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”
- Gen 16:10Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”
- Gen 25:1–18Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah,
- Gen 36:1–43This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).
- Gen 13:16I 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.
- Gen 32:12But 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.’”
- Gen 22:17I 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.
- Num 1:1–54On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said:
- Num 26:1–65After the plague had ended, the LORD said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron the priest,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 17:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.