Bible Strands
Genesis 13:16
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Abram following the separation from Lot and the return from the king of Sodom. The declaration follows the confirmation that all visible land belongs to Abram and his offspring forever.
The words — כַּ/עֲפַ֣ר הָ/אָ֑רֶץ (ka./'a.Far ha./'A.retz) translates literally as "like the dust of the earth," paired with יוּכַ֣ל (yu.Khal) meaning "he will be able." The syntax frames the promise as a conditional impossibility: if counting dust were possible, counting the offspring would be possible.
The thread — The dust metaphor recurs in Genesis 28:14, where descendants spread in all directions, and Numbers 23:10, where Balaam notes no one can count Jacob's dust. Genesis 22:17 parallels the promise by multiplying descendants like the stars and seashore sand.
Why it lands — The text asserts an uncountable progeny without attaching conditions to Abram's behavior. It demands recognition that the promised inheritance rests on divine action rather than human measurement.
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
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
Cross-references
- Genesis 28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
- Numbers 23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”
- Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Genesis 32:12 But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
- 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.’”
- 1 Kings 3:8 Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.
- Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
- 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 12:2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
- Genesis 17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.