After this, Abram had a vision and heard the LORD say to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward."

But Abram answered, "Sovereign LORD, what good will your reward do me, since I have no children? My only heir is Eliezer of Damascus.

Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah had stopped having her monthly periods.

Then the LORD asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Can I really have a child when I am so old?'

Then I took Abraham, your ancestor, from the land across the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,

What shall we say, then, of Abraham, the father of our race? What was his experience?

The scripture says, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous."

But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself.

And so the promise was based on faith, in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God's free gift to all of Abraham's descendants---not just to those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham did. For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all;

Abraham believed and hoped, even when there was no reason for hoping, and so became "the father of many nations." Just as the scripture says, "Your descendants will be as many as the stars."

His faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; his faith filled him with power, and he gave praise to God.

That is why Abraham, through faith, "was accepted as righteous by God."

They were written also for us who are to be accepted as righteous, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death.

The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's home, and go to a land that I am going to show you.

I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations."

After Lot had left, the LORD said to Abram, "From where you are, look carefully in all directions.

I am going to give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all; it would be as easy to count all the specks of dust on earth!

Then he heard the LORD speaking to him again: "This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir."

The LORD took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that."

I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies.

Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in everything he did.

"The LORD has greatly blessed my master and made him a rich man. He has given him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, silver, gold, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.

You, LORD God, chose Abram and led him out of Ur in Babylonia; you changed his name to Abraham.

You found that he was faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him. You promised to give him the land of the Canaanites, the land of the Hittites and the Amorites, the land of the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Girgashites, to be a land where his descendants would live. You kept your promise, because you are faithful.

"Mortal man," he said, "the people who are living in the ruined cities of the land of Israel are saying: 'Abraham was only one man, and he was given the whole land. There are many of us, so now the land is ours.'

Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.

Now, it is clear that no one is put right with God by means of the Law, because the scripture says, "Only the person who is put right with God through faith shall live."

But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse."

It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.

For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.

Though Abraham was practically dead, from this one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, as many as the numberless grains of sand on the seashore.