to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
seed
זַרְעֲךָ֖zar.'a.Kha
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
dust
כַּעֲפַ֣רka.'a.Far
H6083
dust (as powdered or gray) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
earth
הָאָ֑רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
that
אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sher
H834
who · relative particle
man
אִ֗ישׁ'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
can
יוּכַ֣לyu.Khal
H3201
to be able · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
number
לִמְנוֹת֙lim.nOt
H4487
properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
dust
עֲפַ֣ר'a.Far
H6083
dust (as powdered or gray) · noun, common masculine singular construct
earth
הָאָ֔רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
seed
זַרְעֲךָ֖zar.'a.Kha
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
numbered
יִמָּנֶֽהyi.ma.Neh
H4487
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the sout…
Numbers 23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be…
Genesis 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon th…
Genesis 32:12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Exodus 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed a…
1 Kings 3:8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
Romans 4:16-18 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the…
Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 13:14–end
We have here an account of a gracious visit which God paid to Abram, to confirm the promise to him and his. Observe,
I. When it was that God renewed and ratified the promise: After that Lot was separated from him, that is, 1. After the quarrel was over; for those are best prepared for the visits of divine grace whose spirits are calm and sedate, and not ruffled with any passion. 2. After Abram's humble self-denying condescensions to Lot for the preserving of peace. It was then that God came to him with this token of his favour. Note, God will abundantly make up in spiritual peace what we lose for the preservation of neighbourly peace. When Abram had willingly offered Lot one-half of his righ…
Lift up now thine eyes . . . all the land which thou seest--So extensive a survey of the country, in all directions, can be obtained from no other point in the neighborhood; and those plains and hills, then lying desolate before the eyes of the solitary patriarch, were to be peopled with a mighty nation "like the dust of the earth in number," as they were in Solomon's time (Kg1 4:20).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 13:15
To thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever - This land was given to Abram, that it might lineally and legally descend to his posterity; and though Abram himself cannot be said to have possessed it, Act 7:5, yet it was the gift of God to him in behalf of his seed; and this was always the design of God, not that Abram himself should possess it, but that his posterity should, till the manifestation of Christ in the flesh. And this is chiefly what is to be understood by the words for ever, אד עולם ad olam, to the end of the present dispensation, and the commencement of the new. עולם olam means either Eternity, which implies the termination of all time or duration, such as is measured by th…
Then, in case Abraham should have regard only to his own condition, his advanced years and Sarah's sterility, and thus lose confidence in the promise instead of trusting in the power of the One making the promise, he said, "I will make your descendants as numerous as all the grains of sand in the world. If anyone can number the grains of sand in the world, your descendants too will be numbered." No doubt the promise went beyond human nature. Not only did he promise to make him a father despite so many impediments but also to extend the gift to such a multitude as to be compared with all the grains of sand in the world, and the multitude to be beyond number, wishing as he did to demonstrate the extent of the remarkable increase by the comparison.
Truly that multitude which was promised to Abraham is not innumerable to God, although it is to the human mind. But to God not even the dust of the earth is so. Further, the promise here made may be understood not only of the nation of Israel but of the whole seed of Abraham, which may be fitly compared with the dust for its multitude. Regarding this seed, there is also the promise of many children, not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. However, the reason why I said that this is not clear from the text is that even the multitude of the one people sprung from Abraham, according to the flesh, through his grandson Jacob, has increased so greatly as to fill almost every region of the world. It is because even the number of this progeny is beyond human power to count that it may, by a hyperbole, be compared with the number of dust particles. What is beyond doubt is that the only land meant is that which is called Canaan. However, some may find a difficulty in the expression "I will give to you and your posterity forever," if the "forever" is taken to mean "eternally." There is no trouble if only they will take this "forever" to mean "to the end of time," which, as we hold on faith, is to be the beginning of eternity. For although the Israelites are expelled from Jerusalem, they still remain in other cities in the land of Canaan and shall remain even to the end. And even when that whole land is inhabited by Christians, they also are the very seed of Abraham.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Meekness — A calm temper of mind, not easily provoked (James 3:13). Peculiar promises are made to the meek (Matt. 5:5; Isa. 66:2). The cultivation of this spirit is enjoined (Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; Zeph. 2:3),…
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Canaan · .Promised to Abraham and his seed — .Promised to Abraham and his seed
Canaanites, The · Abraham: Was promised the country of, of inheritance — Abraham: Was promised the country of, of inheritance
Jews, The · Promises respecting made to: Abraham — Promises respecting made to: Abraham
Land · Original title to, from God — Original title to, from God
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,.... An hyperbolical expression denoting the great multitude of Abram's posterity, as they were in the days of Solomon, and as they will be in the latter day; and especially as this may respect all the spiritual seed of Abram, Jews and Gentiles, and as they will be in the spiritual reign of Christ, see Hosea 1:10,
so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed be numbered; but as it is impossible to do the one, so the other is not practicable, see Numbers 23:10.
John Calvin on Genesis 13:16-17
And I will make thy seed as the dust. Omitting those subtleties, by means of which others argue about nothing, I simply explain the words to signify, that the seed of Abram is compared to the dust, because of its immense multitude; and truly the sense of the term is to be sought for only in Moses' own words. It was, however, necessary to be here added, that God would raise up for him a seed, of which he was hitherto destitute. And we see that God always keeps him under the restraint of his own word; and will have him dependent upon his own lips. Abram is commanded to look at the dust; but when he turns his eyes upon his own family, what similitude is there between his solitariness and the co…
After Lot's departure, Jehovah repeated to Abram (by a mental, inward assurance, as we may infer from the fact that אמר "said" is not accompanied by ויּרא "he appeared") His promise that He would give the land to him and to his seed in its whole extent, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, and would make his seed innumerable like the dust of the earth. From this we may see that the separation of Lot was in accordance with the will of God, as Lot had no share in the promise of God; though God afterwards saved him from destruction for Abram's sake. The possession of the land is promised עולם עד "for ever." The promise of God is unchangeable. As the seed of Abraham was to exist…
