17 I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring* like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand on the seashore,+ and your offspring* will take possession of the gate* of his enemies.+
18 Although beyond hope, yet based on hope, he had faith that he would become the father of many nations according to what had been said: “So your offspring* will be.”+
12 For this reason, from one man who was as good as dead,+ there were born children,+ as many as the stars of heaven in number and as innumerable as the sands by the seaside.+