Genesis 12:2

I am going to bless you. That means I will do good things for you and make you strong. Everyone will know about you and respect your name. I will give you a big family and this family will grow into a strong nation. Your family will do good things for all the other nations on the earth.

Barkly (portions)

In The King James Version

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

In Context

1Abram was living in a big town called Harran when the Lord said to him, “Abram, I want you to leave your country, your family and all your relations. I am going to take you to live in a new country.

3If anyone looks after you and does good things for you, I will look after them and be kind to them. But, if anyone puts a curse on you and makes life hard for you, I will put a curse on them and I will make their life very hard. I will use your family to do good things for all the people in the world.”

Read all of Genesis 12

Cross References

Genesis 13:16Look at the ground you are standing on Abram, there is a lot dirt. Your family will be like that dirt, there will be so many people that no-one can count them.

Genesis 15:5Then the Lord took Abram outside the tent and said, “Look up at the sky and try to count all those stars. You cannot do that. And just like those stars, there will be so many people in your family you will not be able to count them.”

Genesis 17:20Abraham, you asked me about Ishmael. I will do good things for him too. I will make a way for him to have a really big family and 12 leaders will come from that family. In that way Ishmael's family will become a great nation.

Genesis 19:29And so, what God told Abraham came true that day. God could not find 10 good people in the towns and so he sent fire and burned them up. But God was kind to Abraham and God saved Lot and his 2 daughters.

Genesis 22:18And I will use your family to do good things for all the nations in the world. You trusted me and did what I asked and so I will keep my promise.”

Genesis 24:35And God has been really good to him, he is a rich man now. God has given him a lot of sheep and cattle, camels and donkeys as well as a lot of men and women that work for him. He has a lot of money too.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 12:2-4

The Call of Abram. ( b. c. 1921.) 1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. We have here the call by which Abram was removed out of the land of his nativity… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 12:2