Kejadian 15:8

15:8 But ¹  Abram ²  said, “O sovereign Lord, ³  by what ⁴  can I know that I am to possess it?”

Kejadian 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁵  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁶  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁷  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Kejadian 17:6-8

17:6 I will make you ⁸  extremely ⁹  fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ¹⁰  17:7 I will confirm ¹¹  my covenant as a perpetual ¹²  covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ¹³  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹⁴  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ¹⁵  possession. I will be their God.”

[15:8]  ¹ tn Here the vav carries adversative force and is translated “but.”

[15:8]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:8]  ³ tn See note on the phrase “sovereign Lord” in 15:2.

[15:8]  ⁴ tn Or “how.”

[15:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁶ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  sn To your descendants I give this land. The Lord here unconditionally promises that Abram’s descendants will possess the land, but he does not yet ratify his earlier promises to give Abram a multitude of descendants and eternal possession of the land. The fulfillment of those aspects of the promise remain conditional (see Gen 17:1-8) and are ratified after Abraham offers up his son Isaac (see Gen 22:1-19). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 35-54.

[15:18]  ⁷ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[17:6]  ⁸ tn This verb starts a series of perfect verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive to express God’s intentions.

[17:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and I will make you into nations, and kings will come out from you.”

[17:7]  ¹¹ tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).

[17:7]  ¹² tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”

[17:8]  ¹⁴ tn The verbal root is גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to reside temporarily,” i.e., as a resident alien). It is the land in which Abram resides, but does not yet possess as his very own.

[17:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “as an eternal.”