Bible Strands
Exodus 32:13
Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses speaks to Yahweh after the golden calf incident, pleading for the nation’s survival. He appeals to God’s past commitments to halt the threatened destruction.
The words — זְכֹר (ze.Khor) translates literally to “remember,” and נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ (nish.Ba'.ta) translates to “you swore.” These verbs structure the verse as a direct appeal for God to act on His own prior declarations.
The thread — The self-oath is recorded in Genesis 22:16 and cited in Hebrews 6:13, while the descendant and land promises are first given in Genesis 12:7. Moses references these covenantal markers to justify his intercession.
Why it lands — It requires grounding appeals for mercy in divine promises rather than human merit. The text demands reliance on God’s fidelity to His own word.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 6:13 When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
- Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
- Genesis 22:16 saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,
- Genesis 15:5 And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
- Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- Genesis 15:7 The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
- Genesis 35:11 And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.
- Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
- Leviticus 26:42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
- Deuteronomy 7:8 But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.