Then there before the Lord your God you will say: ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean. He went down into Egypt and stayed there. When he went there, he had only a few people in his family. But in Egypt he became a great nation—a powerful nation with many people.
God blessed them and said to them, “Have many children. Fill the earth and take control of it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. Rule over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God said to him, “I am God All-Powerful, and I give you this blessing: Have many children and grow into a great nation. Other nations and other kings will come out of you.
You made their descendants as many as the stars in the sky. You brought them to the land you promised to give their ancestors. They went in and took that land.
You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.
I will surely bless you and give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they will take from their enemies.
I will make your people so many that they will be like the dust of the earth. If people could count all the particles of dust on earth, they could count your people.
He was the Angel who saved me from all my troubles. And I pray that he will bless these boys. Now they will have my name and the name of our ancestors, Abraham and Isaac. I pray that they will grow to become great families and nations on earth.”
I will make your family as many as the stars of heaven, and I will give all these lands to your family. Through your descendants every nation on earth will be blessed.
The God of Israel chose our ancestors. And during the time our people lived in Egypt as foreigners, he made them great. Then he brought them out of that country with great power.
Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one came to argue about this well. So Isaac named it Rehoboth. He said, “Now the Lord has found a place for us. We will grow and be successful in this place.”
The Egyptians forced the Israelites to work harder and harder. But the harder they worked, the more they grew and spread, and the more the Egyptians became afraid of them.
I helped you grow like a plant in the field. You grew and grew. You became a young woman: your periods began, your breasts grew, and your hair began to grow. But you were still bare and naked.