I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions.”
Parallel translations
- WEB because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
- KJV Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
- BSB because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
- NKJV because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
- NASB because Abraham obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
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
The promises are renewed because Abraham obeyed God's voice and kept his commands.
Overview
God highlights Abraham's faithful obedience as the context in which the covenant blessings flow to Isaac. While the promise rests on grace, Abraham's obedient faith is honored and held up as a pattern. The verse links genuine faith with a life of glad obedience to God's revealed will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 7:24“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.
- Gen 22:18All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.”
- Gen 22:16and said, “I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
- Ps 112:1–2Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in his commandments.
- Jas 2:21Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
- Heb 11:8By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.
- Ps 128:1–6A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh, who walks in his ways.
- Gal 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- 1 Cor 15:58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
- Gen 12:4So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
- Gen 18:19For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”
- Gen 17:23Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.
- Matt 5:19Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 26:5 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.