Genesis 17:6

And I will make thee exceeding fruitfull, and I will make nations of thee, and Kings shall come out of thee.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan

"I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.
- New American Standard Version (1995)

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
- American Standard Version (1901)

I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you and kings will be your offspring.
- Basic English Bible

And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
- Darby Bible

And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee; and kings shall proceed from thee.
- Webster's Bible

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.
- World English Bible

and I have made thee exceeding fruitful, and made thee become nations, and kings go out from thee.
- Youngs Literal Bible

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
- Jewish Publication Society Bible

Wesley's Notes for Genesis 17:6

17:4 The promise is here introduced with solemnity: As for me, saith the Great God, Behold, behold and admire it, behold and be assured of it, my covenant is with thee. And thou shalt be a father of many nations - This implies, That his seed after the flesh should be very numerous, both in Isaac and in Ishmael, and in the sons of Keturah. And the event answered, for there have been, and are, more of the children of men descended from Abraham, than from any one man at equal distance with him from Noah, the common root. That all believers, in every age, should be looked upon as his spiritual seed, as the father of the faithful. In this sense the apostle directs us to understand this promise, #Rom 4:16|,17. He is the father of those, in every nation, that, by faith, enter into covenant with God, and (as the Jewish writers express it) are gathered under the wings of the divine majesty.

17:5 In token of this, his name was changed from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude. This was to confirm the faith of Abraham, while he was childless; perhaps even his own name was sometimes an occasion of grief to him; Why should he be called a high father, who was not a father at all? But now God had promised him a numerous issue, and had given him a name which signified so much; that name was his joy.

17:7 And I will establish my covenant - Not to be altered or revoked; not with thee only, then it would die with thee but with thy seed after thee; and it is not only thy seed after the flesh, but thy spiritual seed. It is everlasting in the evangelical meaning of it. The covenant of grace is everlasting; it is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it; and the external administration of it is transmitted, with the seal of it, to the seed of believers, and the internal administration of it by the Spirit to Christ's seed in every age. This is a covenant of exceeding great and precious promises. Here are two which indeed are all - sufficient, that God would be their God. All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys, and all its hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: wisdom to guide and counsel them, power to protect and support them, goodness to supply and comfort them; what faithful worshippers can expect from the God they serve, believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough, yet not all.

17:8 And I will give thee Canaan for an everlasting possession - God had before promised this land to Abraham and his seed, #Ge 15:18|. But here, it is promised for an everlasting possession, as a type of heaven, that everlasting rest which remains for the people of God. This is that better country to which Abraham had an eye, and the grant of which was that which answered the vast extent of that promise, that God would be to them a God; so that if God had not designed this, he would have been ashamed to be called their God, #Heb 11:16|. As the land of Canaan was secured to the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh; so heaven is secured to all his spiritual seed for a possession truly everlasting. The offer of this eternal life is made in the word, and confirmed by the sacraments, to all that are under the external administration of the covenant, and the earnest of it is given to all believers.