Gen 17, 1-8 I will multiply you exceedingly

Genesis 17 (chosen pages)

(Gen 17, 1-8) I will multiply you exceedingly

[1] When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless. [2] Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly." [3] When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him: [4] "My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. [5] No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. [6] I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you. [7] 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. [8] 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."

(CCC 1819) Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice (Cf. Gen 17:4-8; 22:1-18). "Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations" (Rom 4:18). (CCC 59) In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father's house (Gen 12:1), and makes him Abraham, that is, "the father of a multitude of nations". "In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 17:5; 12:3 (LXX); cf. Gal 3:8).