Genesis 17:16

And God said, “I will do a good thing for her too. She will have a son, and you will be his father. Yes, I will do that good thing for her. Lots of people will be born into her son’s family, and they will split up into lots of nations. And some of those people will be the big bosses of those nations.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

In Context

15Then God said to Abraham, “I am changing your wife’s name too. Don’t call her Sarai any more. Call her Sarah.” (Both of those names mean important woman.)

17Abraham got down on his knees again and put his face near the ground, and he laughed. He thought, “I am nearly 100 years old, and Sarah is nearly 90. We can’t have a baby. We are too old.”

Read all of Genesis 17

Cross References

Genesis 1:28God was good to them, and he said to them, “You will have lots of kids, and the earth will be full of people. You people will be boss over all the earth. You will be boss over the fish in the sea, and you will be boss over the birds in the sky, and you will be boss over all the animals that live on the land.”

Genesis 15:4Then Abram heard God talk to him again. God said, “I tell you, that work-man will not get all your things after you die. I am going to give you a son, and he will get all your things after you die.”

Genesis 18:10You know, one of those men was God, but he made himself to be like a man when he talked to Abraham. He said, “I will come back to you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a baby boy.” Sarah was at the doorway of the tent, and she listened to them talking.

Genesis 24:60Then Rebekah’s family asked God to be good to Rebekah. They said to her, “We are asking God to give you lots of kids and grand-kids, so that your family will become a really big mob of people. And we are asking God to make them strong, so that when other people fight against your mob, your mob will win, and then your mob will take the towns that belonged to those other people.”

Galatians 4:26But there is another city called Jerusalem up in heaven. That city’s people are free. And we belong to that city, so we are free.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 17:16-23

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 17:16