stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates:
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel #– #you swore to them by yourself and declared, “I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it for ever.” ’
The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.
When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices and presented their offensive offerings there. They also sent up their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offerings there.
However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them #– #the most beautiful of all lands, flowing with milk and honey #– #
‘Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labour of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgement.
He swore by the one who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, ‘There will no longer be a delay,
When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ceremony in this month.
I gave you a land you did not labour for, and cities you did not build, though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.”
You provided bread from heaven for their hunger; you brought them water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and possess the land you had sworn to give them.
Moses said to Hobab, descendant of Reuel the Midianite and Moses’s relative by marriage, ‘We’re setting out for the place the Lord promised, “I will give it to you.” Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.’
Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, “Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,” to the land that you swore to give their ancestors?
He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.