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!

Remember that you promised to make everything go well for me and to give me more descendants than anyone could count, as many as the grains of sand along the seashore."

Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand, and I would have made sure they were never destroyed."

And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: "Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved;

for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world."

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.

This is what he says in the book of Hosea: "The people who were not mine I will call 'My People.' The nation that I did not love I will call 'My Beloved.'

And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called the children of the living God."

I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper. I will show love to those who were called "Unloved," and to those who were called "Not-My-People" I will say, "You are my people," and they will answer, "You are our God."

I will tell the north to let them go and the south not to hold them back. Let my people return from distant lands, from every part of the world.

"Those who will rebuild you are coming soon, and those who destroyed you will leave.

"Your country was ruined and desolate--- but now it will be too small for those who are coming to live there. And those who left you in ruins will be far removed from you.

Then you will say to yourself, 'Who bore all these children for me? I lost my children and could have no more. I was exiled and driven away--- who brought these children up? I was left all alone--- where did these children come from?' "

Jerusalem, you have been like a childless woman, but now you can sing and shout for joy. Now you will have more children than a woman whose husband never left her.

You will extend your boundaries on all sides; your people will get back the land that the other nations now occupy. Cities now deserted will be filled with people.

Look around you and see what is happening: Your people are gathering to come home! Your sons will come from far away; Your daughters will be carried like children.

Great caravans of camels will come, from Midian and Ephah. They will come from Sheba, bringing gold and incense. People will tell the good news of what the LORD has done!

What are these ships that skim along like clouds, Like doves returning home?

The LORD says to Jerusalem, "Foreigners will rebuild your walls, And their kings will serve you. In my anger I punished you, But now I will show you my favor and mercy.

But nations that do not serve you Will be completely destroyed.

The descendants of those who oppressed you will come And bow low to show their respect. All who once despised you will worship at your feet. They will call you 'The City of the LORD,' 'Zion, the City of Israel's Holy God.'

Nations and kings will care for you As a mother nurses her child. You will know that I, the LORD, have saved you, That the mighty God of Israel sets you free.

The sounds of violence will be heard no more; Destruction will not shatter your country again. I will protect and defend you like a wall; You will praise me because I have saved you.

Your days of grief will come to an end. I, the LORD, will be your eternal light, More lasting than the sun and moon.

Even your smallest and humblest family Will become as great as a powerful nation. When the right time comes, I will make this happen quickly. I am the LORD!"

They will bring back all your people from the nations as a gift to me. They will bring them to my sacred hill in Jerusalem on horses, mules, and camels, and in chariots and wagons, just as Israelites bring grain offerings to the Temple in ritually clean containers.

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light.

At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.

Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.

God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.

And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called the children of the living God."

I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."

So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.

See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children---and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.