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"See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your
descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."
[GEN 9:9-11]
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants
I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the
LORD who had appeared to him. [GEN 12:7]
I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth; if
anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too
might be counted. [GEN 13:16]
He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and
count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall
your descendants be." [GEN 15:5]
"I will make your descendants so numerous," added the
LORD'S messenger, "that they will be too many to count." [GEN
16:10]
"I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."
God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages."
[GEN 17:7-9]
I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the
sky and give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the
nations of the earth shall find blessing [Taken from GEN 26:4]
Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me,
he said, 'I will make you fertile and numerous and raise you
into an assembly of tribes, and I will give this land to your
descendants after you as a permanent possession.'" [GEN 48:3-4]
When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are these?" "They are my sons," Joseph answered his father, "whom God has given me here." "Bring them to me," said his father, "that I may bless them."
(Now Israel's eyes were dim from age, and he could not see well.) When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them.
Then Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!"
[GEN 48:8-11]
"You shall observe this [Passover] as a perpetual ordinance for
yourselves and your descendants." [EX 12:24]
Would that they might always be of such a mind, to fear me and
to keep all my commandments! Then they and their descendants would
prosper forever. [DEUT 5:29]
Yet in his love for your fathers the LORD was so attached to
them as to choose you, their descendants, in preference to all
other peoples, as indeed he has now done. [DEUT 10:15]
Be careful to heed all these commandments I enjoin on you, that
you and your descendants may always prosper for doing what is good
and right in the sight of the LORD, your God. [DEUT 12:28]
"All these curses will come upon you, pursuing you and overwhelming you, until you are destroyed, because you would not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, nor keep the commandments and statutes he gave you.
They will light on you and your descendants as a sign and a wonder for all time."
[DEUT 28:45-46]
I will establish your throne of sovereignty over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, 'You shall always have someone from your line on the throne of Israel.' But if you and your descendants ever withdraw from me, fail to keep the commandments and statutes which I set before you, and proceed to venerate and worship strange gods,
I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them and repudiate the temple I have consecrated to my honor. Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all
nations [Taken from 1KGS 9:5-7]
"I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there henceforth undisturbed; nor shall wicked men ever again oppress them, as they did at first, and during all the time when I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that I, the LORD, will build you a house; so that when your days have been completed and you must join your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who will be one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me, and I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from him who preceded you; but I will maintain him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be firmly established forever." All these words and this whole vision Nathan related exactly to David. [1CHRON
17:9-15]
Now, therefore, LORD, God of Israel, keep the further promise
you made to my father David, your servant, when you said, 'You
shall always have someone from your line to sit before me on the
throne of Israel, provided only that your descendants look to
their conduct so as always to live according to my law, even as
you have lived in my presence.' [2CHRON 6:16]
Jerusalem shall be rebuilt as his home forever. Happy for me if
a remnant of my offspring survive to see your glory and to praise
the King of heaven! The gates of Jerusalem shall be built with
sapphire and emerald, and all your walls with precious stones. The
towers of Jerusalem shall be built with gold, and their
battlements with pure gold. [TOBIT 13:16]
You shall know that your descendants are many, and your
offspring as the grass of the earth. [JOB 5:25]
Their progeny is secure in their sight; they see before them
their kinsfolk and their offspring. [JOB 21:8]
"You who fear the LORD, give praise! All descendants of
Jacob, give honor; show reverence, all descendants of Israel"! [PS
22:24]
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God;
All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you.
[PS 22:29-31]
Who are those who fear the LORD? God shows them the way to choose.
They live well and prosper, and their descendants inherit the
land. [PS 25:12-13]
God will rescue Zion, rebuild the cities of Judah. God's servants shall dwell in the land and possess it;
it shall be the heritage of their descendants; those who love
God's name shall dwell there. [PS 69:36-37]
With your arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of
Jacob and Joseph. [Taken from PS 77:16]
If his descendants forsake my law, do not follow my decrees, If they fail to observe my statutes, do not keep my commandments, I will punish their crime with a rod and their guilt with lashes. But I will not take my love from him, nor will I betray my bond of loyalty.
I will not violate my covenant; the promise of my lips I will not alter.
[PS 89:31-35]
I plead, O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days. Your years last through all generations. Of old you laid the earth's foundations; the heavens are the work of your hands. They perish, but you remain; they all wear out like a garment;
Like clothing you change them and they are changed, but you are the same, your years have no end. May the children of your servants live on; may their descendants live in your presence. [PS
102:25-29]
The LORD remembers us and will bless us, will bless the house of Israel, will bless the house of Aaron, Will bless those who fear the LORD, small and great alike. May the LORD increase your number, you and your descendants.
[PS 115:12-14]
I too am a mortal man, the same as all the rest, and a
descendant of the first man formed on earth. And in my mother's
womb I was molded into flesh [WISDOM 7:1]
If one trusts [wisdom], he will possess her; his descendants too
will inherit her. [SIRACH 4:16]
Whose offspring can be in honor? Those of men. Which offspring
are in honor? Those who fear God. Whose offspring can be in
disgrace? Those of men. Which offspring are in disgrace? Those who
transgress the commandments. [SIRACH 10:19]
A reprobate line are the children of sinners, and witless offspring are in the homes of the wicked.
Their dominion is lost to sinners' children, and reproach abides with their descendants.
[SIRACH 41:5-6]
Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten;
Their wealth remains in their families, their heritage with their descendants;
Through God's covenant with them their family endures, their posterity, for their sake. And for all time their progeny will endure, their glory will never be blotted out; Their bodies are peacefully laid away, but their name lives on and on.
[SIRACH 44:10-14]
Abraham, father of many peoples, kept his glory without stain: He observed the precepts of the Most High, and entered into an agreement with him;
In his own flesh he incised the ordinance, and when tested he was found loyal.
For this reason, God promised him with an oath that in his
descendants the nations would be blessed, That he would make him
numerous as the grains of dust, and exalt his posterity like the
stars; That he would give them an inheritance from sea to sea, and
from the River to the ends of the earth. [SIRACH 44:19-21]
He gave to him his laws, and authority to prescribe and to
judge: To teach the precepts to his people, and the ritual to the
descendants of Israel. [SIRACH 45:17]
But God does not withdraw his mercy, nor permit even one of his
promises to fail. He does not uproot the posterity of his chosen
one, nor destroy the offspring of his friend. So he gave to Jacob
a remnant, to David a root from his own family. [SIRACH 47:22]
I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon
the dry land; I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring, and
my blessing upon your descendants. [ISA 44:3]
Phinehas too, the son of Eleazar, was the courageous third of his line
When, zealous for the God of all, he met the crisis of his people
And, at the prompting of his noble heart, atoned for the children of Israel. Therefore on him again God conferred the right, in a covenant of friendship, to provide for the sanctuary,
So that he and his descendants should possess the high priesthood forever. For even his covenant with David, the son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah,
Was an individual heritage through one son alone; but the heritage of Aaron is for all his descendants. [ISA
45:23-25]
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go. If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea; Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains,
Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence. [ISA
48:17-19]
(But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he
gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his
descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be
accomplished through him. [ISA 53:10]
For I, the LORD, love what is right, I hate robbery and injustice;
I will give them their recompense faithfully, a lasting covenant I will make with them. Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples;
All who see them shall acknowledge them as a race the LORD has blessed. [ISA
61:8-9]
They shall not toil in vain, nor beget children for sudden
destruction; For a race blessed by the LORD are they and their
offspring. [ISA 65:23]
Thus says the LORD: Write this man down as one childless, who
will never thrive in his lifetime! No descendant of his shall
achieve a seat on the throne of David as ruler again over Judah. [JER
22:30]
Like the host of heaven which cannot be numbered, and the sands
of the sea which cannot be counted, I will multiply the
descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to
me. [JER 33:22]
Hear, O LORD, our prayer of supplication, and deliver us for your own sake: grant us favor in the presence of our captors, that the whole earth may know that you are the LORD, our God, and that Israel and his descendants bear your name.
[BARUCH 2:14-15]
Later generations have seen the light, have dwelt in the land,
But the way to understanding they have not known, they have not perceived her paths, or reached her; their offspring were far from the way to her. [BARUCH
3:20-21]
Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one, To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shores of the sea. For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. [DAN
3:35-37]
The LORD has commanded regarding you: no descendant shall come
to bear your name; From your temple I will abolish the carved and
the molten image; I will make your grave a mockery. [NAHUM 1:14]
Did he not make one being, with flesh and spirit: and what does
that one require but godly offspring? You must then safeguard life
that is your own, and not break faith with the wife of your youth.
[MAL 2:15]
[Mary said,] "He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
[Taken from LK 1:54-55]
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over."
And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was
lost." [LK 19:7-10]
They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains.
So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you.
I tell you what I have seen in the Father's presence; then do what you have heard from the Father."
They answered and said to him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham.
But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this."
[JN 8:33-40]
My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. [ACTS 2:29-32]
You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that
God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, 'In your
offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' [ACTS
3:25]
Then they asked for a king. God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
Then he removed him and raised up David as their king; of him he testified, 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.'
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
[ACTS 13:21-23]
"For 'In him we live and move and have our being,' as even some of your poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'
Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination. God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will 'judge the world with justice' through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead." [ACTS
17:28-31]
It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham
and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through
the righteousness that comes from faith. [ROM 4:13]
For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us,
as it is written, "I have made you father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope, that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "Thus shall your descendants be."
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body as (already) dead (for he was almost a hundred years old) and the dead womb of Sarah.
He did not doubt God's promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God
and was fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do.
That is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." But it was not for him alone that it was written that "it was credited to him";
it was also for us, to whom it will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification.
[ROM 4:16-25]
But it is not that the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel are Israel,
nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but "It is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name."
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. [ROM
9:6-8]
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Of course not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life."
But what is God's response to him? "I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt to Baal."
So also at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. [ROM
11:1-5]
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are
they descendants of Abraham? So am I. [2COR 11:22]
Brothers, in human terms I say that no one can annul or amend even a human will once ratified.
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. It does not say, "And to descendants," as referring to many, but as referring to one, "And to your descendant," who is Christ.
This is what I mean: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward,
does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to cancel the promise.
For if the inheritance comes from the law, it is no longer from a promise; but God bestowed it on Abraham through a
promise. Why, then, the law? It was added for transgressions, until the descendant came to whom the promise had been made; it was promulgated by angels at the hand of a mediator.
[GAL 3:15-19]
For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendant,
heirs according to the promise. [GAL 3:26-28]
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of
David: such is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.
[2TM 2:8-9]
Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham;
therefore, he had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
[HEB 2:16-18]
The descendants of Levi who receive the office of priesthood have a commandment according to the law to exact tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, although they also have come from the loins of Abraham.
But he who was not of their ancestry received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises.
Unquestionably, a lesser person is blessed by a greater. [HEB 7:5-7]
By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal
age - and Sarah herself was sterile - for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy.
So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good
as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as
countless as the sands on the seashore. [HEB 11:11-12]
By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name."
[HEB 11:17-18]
Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to
wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's
commandments and bear witness to Jesus. [RV 12:17]
"I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for
the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright
morning star." [RV 22:16]
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