¹⁷ I will surely bless you^(A) and make your descendants^(B) as numerous as the stars in the sky^(C) and as the sand on the seashore.^(D) Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,^(E)

¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you^(A) will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.^(B) All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.^[a](C)

¹³ Remember^(A) your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self:^(B) ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars^(C) in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land^(D) I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”

¹⁰ The Lord your God has increased^(A) your numbers^(B) so that today you are as numerous^(C) as the stars in the sky.^(D)

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,^(A) just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^[a](B)

¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(A) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(B)