Bible Strands
Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God has just told Abram his offspring will number like the stars (v.5); Abram's response is belief, and God's response is to credit it as righteousness. This sits between the star promise and the land reaffirmation (v.7).
The words — חָשַׁב (ḥāšab, H2803) is an accounting term — "to credit" or "to count to one's account," not a moral declaration but a ledger entry. הֶאֱמִן (he'ēmin, H539) is the Hebrew root behind the Greek pisteuō used throughout the New Testament for "believed."
The thread — Paul cites it in Romans 4:9 and Galatians 3:6 to argue that faith precedes and is independent of the law; James 2:23 cites it to argue that faith without works is incomplete. The same verse anchors two different theological arguments.
Why it lands — The verse isolates a single moment of trust in response to a promise and shows it producing a status change — Abram is credited as righteous on the basis of belief, not works. It asks the reader to identify what they are trusting in and whether that trust is being counted for something.
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 he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Cross-references
- James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
- Galatians 3:6 So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- Romans 4:9 Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
- Romans 4:20 Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
- Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- Psalms 106:31 It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
- Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
- Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.