The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
Parallel translations
- WEB the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father,
- BSB the oath He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
- NKJV The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
- NASB The oath which He swore to our father Abraham,
- NLT the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.
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 covenant in view is the oath God swore to Abraham. It matters because Christ's coming fulfills the foundational promise of blessing to Abraham and all nations through him.
Overview
Zechariah identifies the covenant specifically as God's sworn promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:16-18). That oath promised blessing to Abraham's offspring and, through that offspring, to all the families of the earth. The New Testament shows this promise reaching its fulfillment in Christ, the true seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 22:16–18And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
- Deut 7:8But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
- Ps 105:9Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
- Jer 11:5That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.
- Deut 7:12Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:
- Gen 26:3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
- Heb 6:16–17For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
- Heb 6:13For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
- Gen 24:7The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 1:73 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.