In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Parallel translations
- WEB All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.”
- KJV And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
- BSB And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
- NASB And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
- NLT And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”
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
All nations will be blessed through Abraham's offspring because he obeyed. This is the gospel promise that salvation reaches the whole world through his seed.
Overview
The climax of the oath universalizes the blessing: every nation will be blessed through Abraham's offspring. Paul identifies this singular 'offspring' as Christ (Galatians 3:16), through whom Gentiles are justified by faith. Abraham's obedience is the occasion, but Christ is the means by which the nations are blessed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Acts 3:25You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.’
- Gen 12:3I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
- Gal 3:16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants ”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring ”, which is Christ.
- Gen 26:4–5I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed,
- Gal 3:8–9The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”
- Gen 18:18since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
- Jer 7:23but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’
- Ps 72:17His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Eph 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;
- Gal 3:28–29There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- Gal 3:18For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.
- Rom 1:3concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh,
- Heb 11:1–40Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.
- Gen 22:3Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.
- Gen 22:10Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
- 1 Sam 2:30“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed.
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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 22:18 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.