Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Abraham immediately after the binding of Isaac, confirming a sworn oath because Abraham did not withhold his only son.
The words — The Hebrew כִּי־בָרֵךְ אֲבָרֶכְךָ (ki-varêk 'avarekḵā) employs a verbal intensive to declare "I will surely bless you," while וְהַרְבֵּה אַרְבֶּה (wəhaḇbêh 'arbêh) repeats the root for multiplication to emphasize "I will surely multiply."
The thread — The star and sand imagery appears in Genesis 15:5 and Jeremiah 33:22, while the promise of territorial victory parallels the blessing in Genesis 24:60.
Why it lands — The text states that descendants will inherit enemy strongholds as a direct result of obedience, requiring the reader to accept divine promise as the foundation for future inheritance rather than human strategy.
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
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 the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Cross-references
- 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 24:60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
- Jeremiah 33:22 As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”
- Genesis 26:4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
- 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.
- Numbers 24:17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
- Psalms 2:8 Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.
- Psalms 72:8 May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
- Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
- Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”