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Genesis 17:8 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

8 And I will give H5414 unto thee, and to thy seed H2233 after thee, H310 the land H776 wherein thou art a stranger, H4033 all the land H776 of Canaan, H3667 for an everlasting H5769 possession; H272 and I will be their God. H430

Cross Reference

Genesis 12:7 STRONG

And the LORD H3068 appeared H7200 unto Abram, H87 and said, H559 Unto thy seed H2233 will I give H5414 this H2063 land: H776 and there builded H1129 he an altar H4196 unto the LORD, H3068 who appeared H7200 unto him.

Psalms 105:11 STRONG

Saying, H559 Unto thee will I give H5414 the land H776 of Canaan, H3667 the lot H2256 of your inheritance: H5159

Leviticus 26:12 STRONG

And I will walk H1980 among H8432 you, and will be H1961 your God, H430 and ye shall be H1961 my people. H5971

Genesis 13:15 STRONG

For all the land H776 which thou seest, H7200 to thee will I give it, H5414 and to thy seed H2233 for H5704 ever. H5769

Psalms 105:9 STRONG

Which covenant he made H3772 with Abraham, H85 and his oath H7621 unto Isaac; H3446

Deuteronomy 29:13 STRONG

That he may establish H6965 thee to day H3117 for a people H5971 unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, H430 as he hath said H1696 unto thee, and as he hath sworn H7650 unto thy fathers, H1 to Abraham, H85 to Isaac, H3327 and to Jacob. H3290

Exodus 6:7 STRONG

And I will take H3947 you to me for a people, H5971 and I will be to you a God: H430 and ye shall know H3045 that I am the LORD H3068 your God, H430 which bringeth H3318 you out from under the burdens H5450 of the Egyptians. H4714

Genesis 28:4 STRONG

And give H5414 thee the blessing H1293 of Abraham, H85 to thee, and to thy seed H2233 with thee; that thou mayest inherit H3423 the land H776 wherein thou art a stranger, H4033 which God H430 gave H5414 unto Abraham. H85

Genesis 13:17 STRONG

Arise, H6965 walk H1980 through the land H776 in the length H753 of it and in the breadth H7341 of it; for I will give H5414 it unto thee.

Deuteronomy 14:2 STRONG

For thou art an holy H6918 people H5971 unto the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 and the LORD H3068 hath chosen H977 thee to be a peculiar H5459 people H5971 unto himself, above all the nations H5971 that are upon H6440 the earth. H127

2 Samuel 23:5 STRONG

Although my house H1004 be not so with God; H410 yet he hath made H7760 with me an everlasting H5769 covenant, H1285 ordered H6186 in all things, and sure: H8104 for this is all my salvation, H3468 and all my desire, H2656 although he make it not to grow. H6779

Deuteronomy 26:18 STRONG

And the LORD H3068 hath avouched H559 thee this day H3117 to be his peculiar H5459 people, H5971 as he hath promised H1696 thee, and that thou shouldest keep H8104 all his commandments; H4687

Deuteronomy 4:37 STRONG

And because he loved H157 thy fathers, H1 therefore he chose H977 their seed H2233 after H310 them, and brought thee out H3318 in his sight H6440 with his mighty H1419 power H3581 out of Egypt; H4714

Numbers 25:13 STRONG

And he shall have it, and his seed H2233 after H310 him, even the covenant H1285 of an everlasting H5769 priesthood; H3550 because H834 he was zealous H7065 for his God, H430 and made an atonement H3722 for the children H1121 of Israel. H3478

Exodus 40:15 STRONG

And thou shalt anoint H4886 them, as thou didst anoint H4886 their father, H1 that they may minister unto me in the priest's office: H3547 for their anointing H4888 shall surely be an everlasting H5769 priesthood H3550 throughout their generations. H1755

Genesis 48:4 STRONG

And said H559 unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, H6509 and multiply H7235 thee, and I will make H5414 of thee a multitude H6951 of people; H5971 and will give H5414 this land H776 to thy seed H2233 after thee H310 for an everlasting H5769 possession. H272

Genesis 23:4 STRONG

I am a stranger H1616 and a sojourner H8453 with you: give H5414 me a possession H272 of a buryingplace H6913 with you, that I may bury H6912 my dead H4191 out of my sight. H6440

Genesis 15:7-21 STRONG

And he said H559 unto him, I am the LORD H3068 that brought thee out H3318 of Ur H218 of the Chaldees, H3778 to give H5414 thee this land H776 to inherit H3423 it. And he said, H559 Lord H136 GOD, H3069 whereby H4100 shall I know H3045 that I shall inherit it? H3423 And he said H559 unto him, Take H3947 me an heifer H5697 of three years old, H8027 and a she goat H5795 of three years old, H8027 and a ram H352 of three years old, H8027 and a turtledove, H8449 and a young pigeon. H1469 And he took H3947 unto him all these, and divided H1334 them in the midst, H8432 and laid H5414 each H376 piece H1335 one against H7125 another: H7453 but the birds H6833 divided H1334 he not. And when the fowls H5861 came down H3381 upon the carcases, H6297 Abram H87 drove them away. H5380 And when the sun H8121 was going down, H935 a deep sleep H8639 fell H5307 upon Abram; H87 and, lo, an horror H367 of great H1419 darkness H2825 fell H5307 upon him. And he said H559 unto Abram, H87 Know H3045 of a surety H3045 that thy seed H2233 shall be a stranger H1616 in a land H776 that is not theirs, and shall serve H5647 them; and they shall afflict H6031 them four H702 hundred H3967 years; H8141 And also that nation, H1471 whom they shall serve, H5647 will I judge: H1777 and afterward H310 H3651 shall they come out H3318 with great H1419 substance. H7399 And thou shalt go H935 to thy fathers H1 in peace; H7965 thou shalt be buried H6912 in a good H2896 old age. H7872 But in the fourth H7243 generation H1755 they shall come hither H2008 again: H7725 for the iniquity H5771 of the Amorites H567 is not yet H2008 full. H8003 And it came to pass, that, when the sun H8121 went down, H935 and it was dark, H5939 behold a smoking H6227 furnace, H8574 and a burning H784 lamp H3940 that passed H5674 between H996 those pieces. H1506 In the same H1931 day H3117 the LORD H3068 made H3772 a covenant H1285 with Abram, H87 saying, H559 Unto thy seed H2233 have I given H5414 this land, H776 from the river H5104 of Egypt H4714 unto the great H1419 river, H5104 the river H5104 Euphrates: H6578 The Kenites, H7017 and the Kenizzites, H7074 and the Kadmonites, H6935 And the Hittites, H2850 and the Perizzites, H6522 and the Rephaims, H7497 And the Amorites, H567 and the Canaanites, H3669 and the Girgashites, H1622 and the Jebusites. H2983

Exodus 21:6 STRONG

Then his master H113 shall bring H5066 him unto the judges; H430 he shall also bring H5066 him to the door, H1817 or unto the door post; H4201 and his master H113 shall bore H7527 his ear H241 through with an aul; H4836 and he shall serve H5647 him for ever. H5769

Hebrews 9:15 STRONG

And G2532 for this G5124 cause G1223 he is G2076 the mediator G3316 of the new G2537 testament, G1242 that G3704 by means G1096 of death, G2288 for G1519 the redemption G629 of the transgressions G3847 that were under G1909 the first G4413 testament, G1242 they which are called G2564 might receive G2983 the promise G1860 of eternal G166 inheritance. G2817

Psalms 103:17 STRONG

But the mercy H2617 of the LORD H3068 is from everlasting H5769 to H5704 everlasting H5769 upon them that fear H3373 him, and his righteousness H6666 unto children's H1121 children; H1121

Deuteronomy 32:8 STRONG

When the most High H5945 divided H5157 to the nations H1471 their inheritance, H5157 when he separated H6504 the sons H1121 of Adam, H120 he set H5324 the bounds H1367 of the people H5971 according to the number H4557 of the children H1121 of Israel. H3478

Leviticus 16:34 STRONG

And this shall be an everlasting H5769 statute H2708 unto you, to make an atonement H3722 for the children H1121 of Israel H3478 for all their sins H2403 once H259 a year. H8141 And he did H6213 as the LORD H3068 commanded H6680 Moses. H4872

Exodus 31:16-17 STRONG

Wherefore the children H1121 of Israel H3478 shall keep H8104 the sabbath, H7676 to observe H6213 the sabbath H7676 throughout their generations, H1755 for a perpetual H5769 covenant. H1285 It is a sign H226 between me and the children H1121 of Israel H3478 for ever: H5769 for in six H8337 days H3117 the LORD H3068 made H6213 heaven H8064 and earth, H776 and on the seventh H7637 day H3117 he rested, H7673 and was refreshed. H5314

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 17

Commentary on Genesis 17 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-3

The covenant had been made with Abram for at least fourteen years, and yet Abram remained without any visible sign of its accomplishment, and was merely pointed in faith to the inviolable character of the promise of God. Jehovah now appeared to Him again, when he was ninety-nine years old, twenty-four years after his migration, and thirteen after the birth of Ishmael, to give effect to the covenant and prepare for its execution. Having come down to Abram in a visible form (Genesis 17:22), He said to him, “ I am El Shaddai (almighty God): walk before Me and be blameless .” At the establishment of the covenant, God had manifested Himself to him as Jehovah (Genesis 15:7); here Jehovah describes Himself as El Shaddai , God the Mighty One. שׁדּי : from שׁדד to be strong, with the substantive termination ai , like חגּי the festal, ישׁישׁי the old man, סיני the thorn-grown, etc. This name is not to be regarded as identical with Elohim , that is to say, with God as Creator and Preserver of the world, although in simple narrative Elohim is used for El Shaddai , which is only employed in the more elevated and solemn style of writing. It belonged to the sphere of salvation, forming one element in the manifestation of Jehovah , and describing Jehovah , the covenant God, as possessing the power to realize His promises, even when the order of nature presented no prospect of their fulfilment, and the powers of nature were insufficient to secure it. The name which Jehovah thus gave to Himself was to be a pledge, that in spite of “his own body now dead,” and “the deadness of Sarah's womb” (Romans 4:19), God could and would give him the promised innumerable posterity. On the other hand, God required this of Abram, “ Walk before Me (cf. Genesis 5:22) and be blameless ” (Genesis 6:9). “Just as righteousness received in faith was necessary for the establishment of the covenant, so a blameless walk before God was required for the maintenance and confirmation of the covenant.” This introduction is followed by a more definite account of the new revelation; first of the promise involved in the new name of God (Genesis 17:2-8), and then of the obligation imposed upon Abram (Genesis 17:9-14). “ I will give My covenant, ” says the Almighty, “ between Me and thee, and multiply thee exceedingly .” בּרית נתן signifies, not to make a covenant, but to give, to put, i.e., to realize, to set in operation the things promised in the covenant - equivalent to setting up the covenant (cf. Genesis 17:7 and Genesis 9:12 with Genesis 9:9). This promise Abram appropriated to himself by falling upon his face in worship, upon which God still further expounded the nature of the covenant about to be executed.


Verses 4-8

On the part of God אני placed at the beginning absolutely: so far as I am concerned, for my part) it was to consist of this: (1) that God would make Abram the father ( אב instead of אני chosen with reference to the name Abram) of a multitude of nations, the ancestor of nations and kings; (2) that He would be God, show Himself to be God, in an eternal covenant relation, to him and to his posterity, according to their families, according to all their successive generations; and (3) that He would give them the land in which he had wandered as a foreigner, viz., all Canaan, for an everlasting possession. As a pledge of this promise God changed his name אברם , i.e., high father, into אברהם , i.e., father of the multitude, from אב and רהם , Arab . ruhâm = multitude. In this name God gave him a tangible pledge of the fulfilment of His covenant, inasmuch as a name which God gives cannot be a mere empty sound, but must be the expression of something real, or eventually acquire reality.


Verses 9-14

On the part of Abraham ( ואתּה thou , the antithesis to אני , as for me , Genesis 17:4) God required that he and his descendants in all generations should keep the covenant, and that as a sign he should circumcise himself and every male in his house. המּול Niph . of מוּל , and נמלתּם perf . Niph . for נמלּתם , from מלל = מוּל . As the sign of the covenant, circumcision is called in Genesis 17:13, “ the covenant in the flesh, ” so far as the nature of the covenant was manifested in the flesh. It was to be extended not only to the seed, the lineal descendants of Abraham, but to all the males in his house, even to every foreign slave not belonging to the seed of Abram, whether born in the house or acquired (i.e., bought) with money, and to the “ son of eight days, ” i.e., the male child eight days old; with the threat that the uncircumcised should be exterminated from his people, because by neglecting circumcision he had broken the covenant with God. The form of speech ההיא הנּפשׁ נכרתה , by which many of the laws are enforced (cf. Exodus 12:15, Exodus 12:19; Leviticus 7:20-21, Leviticus 7:25, etc.), denotes not rejection from the nation, or banishment, but death, whether by a direct judgment from God, an untimely death at the hand of God, or by the punishment of death inflicted by the congregation or the magistrates, and that whether יוּמת מות is added, as in Exodus 31:14, etc., or not. This is very evident from Leviticus 17:9-10, where the extermination to be effected by the authorities is distinguished from that to be executed by God Himself (see my biblische Archäologie ii. §153, 1). In this sense we sometimes find, in the place of the earlier expression “ from his people, ” i.e., his nation, such expressions as “from among his people” (Leviticus 17:4, Leviticus 17:10; Numbers 15:30), “from Israel” (Exodus 12:15; Numbers 19:13), “from the congregation of Israel” (Exodus 12:19); and instead of “that soul,” in Leviticus 17:4, Leviticus 17:9 (cf. Exodus 30:33, Exodus 30:38), we find “that man.”


Verses 15-21

The appointment of the sign of the covenant was followed by this further revelation as to the promised seed, that Abram would receive it through his wife Sarai. In confirmation of this her exalted destiny, she was no longer to be called Sarai ( שׂרי , probably from שׂרר with the termination ai , the princely), but שׂרה , the princess; for she was to become nations, the mother of kings of nations. Abraham then fell upon his face and laughed, saying in himself (i.e., thinking), “ Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old, or shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? ” “The promise was so immensely great, that he sank in adoration to the ground, and so immensely paradoxical, that he could not help laughing” (Del.). “Not that he either ridiculed the promise of God, or treated it as a fable, or rejected it altogether; but, as often happens when things occur which are least expected, partly lifted up with joy, partly carried out of himself with wonder, he burst out into laughter” (Calvin). In this joyous amazement he said to God (Genesis 17:18), “O that Ishmael might live before Thee!” To regard these words, with Calvin and others, as intimating that he should be satisfied with the prosperity of Ishmael, as though he durst not hope for anything higher, is hardly sufficient. The prayer implies anxiety, lest Ishmael should have no part in the blessings of the covenant. God answers, “Yes ( אבל imo), Sarah thy wife bears thee a son, and thou wilt call his name Isaac (according to the Greek form Ἰσαάκ , for the Hebrew יצחק , i.e., laughter, with reference to Abraham's laughing; Genesis 17:17, cf. Genesis 21:6), and I will establish My covenant with him,” i.e., make him the recipient of the covenant grace. And the prayer for Ishmael God would also grant: He would make him very fruitful, so that he should beget twelve princes and become a great nation. But the covenant, God repeated (Genesis 17:21), should be established with Isaac, whom Sarah was to bear to him at that very time in the following year. - Since Ishmael therefore was excluded from participating in the covenant grace, which was ensured to Isaac alone; and yet Abraham was to become a multitude of nations, and that through Sarah, who was to become “nations” through the son she was to bear (Genesis 17:16); the “multitude of nations” could not include either the Ishmaelites or the tribes descended from the sons of Keturah (Genesis 25:2.), but the descendants of Isaac alone; and as one of Isaac's two sons received no part of the covenant promise, the descendants of Jacob alone. But the whole of the twelve sons of Jacob founded only the one nation of Israel, with which Jehovah established the covenant made with Abraham (Ex 6 and 20-24), so that Abraham became through Israel the lineal father of one nation only. From this it necessarily follows, that the posterity of Abraham, which was to expand into a multitude of nations, extends beyond this one lineal posterity, and embraces the spiritual posterity also, i.e., all nations who are grafted ἐκ πίστεως Ἀβραάμ into the seed of Abraham (Romans 4:11-12, and Romans 4:16, Romans 4:17). Moreover, the fact that the seed of Abraham was not to be restricted to his lineal descendants, is evident from the fact, that circumcision as the covenant sign was not confined to them, but extended to all the inmates of his house, so that these strangers were received into the fellowship of the covenant, and reckoned as part of the promised seed. Now, if the whole land of Canaan was promised to this posterity, which was to increase into a multitude of nations (Genesis 17:8), it is perfectly evident, from what has just been said, that the sum and substance of the promise was not exhausted by the gift of the land, whose boundaries are described in Genesis 15:18-21, as a possession to the nation of Israel, but that the extension of the idea of the lineal posterity, “Israel after the flesh,” to the spiritual posterity, “Israel after the spirit,” requires the expansion of the idea and extent of the earthly Canaan to the full extent of the spiritual Canaan, whose boundaries reach as widely as the multitude of nations having Abraham as father; and, therefore, that in reality Abraham received the promise “that he should be the heir of the world” (Romans 4:13).

(Note: What stands out clearly in this promise-viz., the fact that the expressions “ seed of Abraham ” (people of Israel) and “ land of Canaan ” are not exhausted in the physical Israel and earthly Canaan, but are to be understood spiritually, Israel and Canaan acquiring the typical significance of the people of God and land of the Lord - is still further expanded by the prophets, and most distinctly expressed in the New Testament by Christ and the apostles. This scriptural and spiritual interpretation of the Old Testament is entirely overlooked by those who, like Auberlen , restrict all the promises of God and the prophetic proclamations of salvation to the physical Israel, and reduce the application of them to the “Israel after the spirit,” i.e., to believing Christendom, to a mere accommodation.)

And what is true of the seed of Abraham and the land of Canaan must also hold good of the covenant and the covenant sign. Eternal duration was promised only to the covenant established by God with the seed of Abraham, which was to grow into a multitude of nations, but not to the covenant institution which God established in connection with the lineal posterity of Abraham, the twelve tribes of Israel. Everything in this institution which was of a local and limited character, and only befitted the physical Israel and the earthly Canaan, existed only so long as was necessary for the seed of Abraham to expand into a multitude of nations. So again it was only in its essence that circumcision could be a sign of the eternal covenant. Circumcision, whether it passed from Abraham to other nations, or sprang up among other nations independently of Abraham and his descendants (see my Archäologie , §63, 1), was based upon the religious view, that the sin and moral impurity which the fall of Adam had introduced into the nature of man had concentrated itself in the sexual organs, because it is in sexual life that it generally manifests itself with peculiar force; and, consequently, that for the sanctification of life, a purification or sanctification of the organ of generation, by which life is propagated, is especially required. In this way circumcision in the flesh became a symbol of the circumcision, i.e., the purification, of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6, cf. Leviticus 26:41; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:25; Ezekiel 44:7), and a covenant sign to those who received it, inasmuch as they were received into the fellowship of the holy nation (Exodus 19:6), and required to sanctify their lives, in other words, to fulfil all that the covenant demanded. It was to be performed on every boy on the eighth day after its birth, not because the child, like its mother, remains so long in a state of impurity, but because, as the analogous rule with regard to the fitness of young animals for sacrifice would lead us to conclude, this was regarded as the first day of independent existence (Leviticus 22:27; Exodus 22:29; see my Archäologie , §63).


Verses 22-27

When God had finished His address and ascended again, Abraham immediately fulfilled the covenant duty enjoined upon him, by circumcision himself on that very day, along with all the male members of his house. Because Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised, the Arabs even now defer circumcision to a much later period than the Jews, generally till between the ages of 5 and 13, and frequently even till the 13th year.