I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.
- KJV And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
- NKJV I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
- NASB I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
- NLT I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!
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 promised to make Abraham exceedingly fruitful, bringing forth nations and kings. Royal lines would descend from him.
Overview
God amplifies the promise to include nations and kings among Abraham's descendants. This anticipates the monarchy of Israel and ultimately the King of kings, Jesus Christ, born of Abraham's line. The mention of kings points forward to the royal Messiah through whom God's everlasting kingdom would come.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 17:4“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
- Matt 1:6–17and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife,
- 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.
- Gen 17:16And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”
- Ezra 4:20And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.
- Gen 17:20As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
- Gen 36:31–43These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:
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 17:6 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.