He took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘Your offspring will be that numerous.’
Therefore, from one man #– #in fact, from one as good as dead #– #came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.
Those registered were 23,000, every male one month old or more; they were not registered among the other Israelites, because no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.
I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.
You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with a few people and resided there as a foreigner. There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.