Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

◄ Genesis 12:7 ►

New International Version
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

New Living Translation
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

English Standard Version
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

King James Bible
And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

New King James Version
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

New American Standard Bible
And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

NASB 1995
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

NASB 1977
And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your seed I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to Yahweh who had appeared to him.

Amplified Bible
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to [honor] the LORD who had appeared to him.

Christian Standard Bible
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

American Standard Version
And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him.

Contemporary English Version
but the LORD appeared to Abram and promised, "I will give this land to your family forever." Abram then built an altar there for the LORD.

English Revised Version
And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'm going to give this land to your descendants." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Good News Translation
The LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants." Then Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

International Standard Version
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'll give this land to your descendants." So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Majority Standard Bible
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

NET Bible
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

New Heart English Bible
Then God appeared to Abram and said to him, "I will give this land to your offspring." He built an altar there to God, who appeared to him.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, To thy seed will I give this land: and there he erected an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him.

World English Bible
Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
And YHWH appears to Abram and says, “To your seed I give this land”; and there he builds an altar to YHWH, who has appeared to him.

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith, 'To thy seed I give this land;' and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, who hath appeared unto him.

Smith's Literal Translation
And Jehovah shall be seen to Abram, and will say, To thy seed will I give this land, and he will build there an altar to Jehovah, being seen to him.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land. And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and he said to him, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

New American Bible
The LORD appeared to Abram and said: To your descendants I will give this land. So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

New Revised Standard Version
Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, To your descendants will I give this land; and Abram built there an altar to the LORD, for he had appeared to him.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And LORD JEHOVAH was revealed unto Abram and said to him: “To your seed I shall give this land.” And he built there an altar to LORD JEHOVAH who was revealed unto him.

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said: 'Unto thy seed will I give this land'; and he builded there an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I will give this land to thy seed. And Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

The Calling of Abram
…6Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Genesis 13:14-17
After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west, / for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. / I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. ...

Genesis 15:18-21
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates— / the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, / Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ...

Genesis 17:8
And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

Genesis 26:3-4
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. / I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

Genesis 28:13-15
And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie. / Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. / Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 35:12
The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

Exodus 6:7-8
I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. / And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”

Exodus 33:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’

Deuteronomy 34:4
And the LORD said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”

Joshua 1:2-4
“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel. / I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses. / Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.

Nehemiah 9:7-8
You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. / You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.

Psalm 105:9-11
the covenant He made with Abraham, and the oath He swore to Isaac. / He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: / “I will give you the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.”

Acts 7:5
He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.

Acts 7:2-4
And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, / and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’ / So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.

Romans 4:13
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Treasury of Scripture

And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, To your seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him.

appeared.

Genesis 17:1
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Genesis 18:1
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

Genesis 32:30
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Unto thy.

Genesis 13:15
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Genesis 17:3,8
And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, …

Genesis 26:3
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

builded.

Genesis 12:8
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 8:20
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 13:4,18
Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD…

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Genesis 12

1. God calls Abram, and blesses him with a promise of Christ.
4. He departs with Lot from Haran, and comes to Canaan.
6. He journeys through Canaan,
7. which is promised to him in a vision.
10. He is driven by famine into Egypt.
11. Fear makes him feign his wife to be his sister.
14. Pharaoh, having taken her from him, is compelled to restore her.
18. Pharaoh reproves Abram, whom he dismisses.

Berean Study Bible

Then the LORD appeared to Abram
This phrase marks a significant moment in the narrative of Abram, later known as Abraham. The Hebrew word for "appeared" is "וַיֵּרָא" (vayera), which implies a visible manifestation of God. This theophany underscores the personal relationship God establishes with Abram. In the ancient Near Eastern context, divine appearances were rare and signified a special favor or mission. Abram's experience is foundational for the Abrahamic covenant, highlighting God's initiative in revealing Himself to humanity.

and said, 'To your offspring
The term "offspring" is translated from the Hebrew "זֶרַע" (zera), which can mean seed, descendants, or progeny. This promise of offspring is central to the Abrahamic covenant, indicating not just biological descendants but a spiritual lineage that would impact the world. Historically, this promise is fulfilled through the nation of Israel and ultimately through Jesus Christ, as seen in the New Testament. The promise of offspring also reflects God's faithfulness in fulfilling His word across generations.

I will give this land.'
The phrase "this land" refers to the land of Canaan, a region of great significance in biblical history. The promise of land is a recurring theme in the Bible, symbolizing God's provision and blessing. The Hebrew word for "land" is "אֶרֶץ" (eretz), which can mean earth, land, or territory. This promise is not just about physical territory but also about a place where God's people can dwell in His presence. Archaeological evidence supports the historical presence of ancient civilizations in Canaan, providing a backdrop for the biblical narrative.

So he built an altar there
Building an altar was a common practice in the ancient world, serving as a place of worship and sacrifice. The Hebrew word for altar is "מִזְבֵּחַ" (mizbeach), derived from a root meaning "to slaughter" or "sacrifice." Abram's act of building an altar signifies his response to God's promise, demonstrating faith and devotion. It also marks the land as sacred, dedicated to the worship of the LORD. This act of worship sets a precedent for future generations, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging God's presence and promises.

to the LORD, who had appeared to him
The repetition of "appeared" reinforces the personal encounter Abram had with God. The use of "LORD" in all capital letters indicates the translation of the divine name "YHWH" (Yahweh), emphasizing God's covenantal relationship with His people. This encounter is a pivotal moment in Abram's journey of faith, as it solidifies his role as the patriarch of a great nation. The personal nature of God's revelation to Abram highlights the intimate relationship God desires with His people, a theme that resonates throughout Scripture.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) The Lord appeared unto Abram.--This is the first time that any appearance of the Deity is men tioned. Always previously the communications between God and man had been direct, without the intervention of any visible medium. Thus, God commanded Adam (Genesis 2:16); Adam and Eve heard His voice (Genesis 3:8), and He called them (Genesis 3:9); He said unto Cain (Genesis 4:6-9); unto Noah (Genesis 6:13; Genesis 7:1), and spake unto him (Genesis 8:15; Genesis 9:8): but henceforward we read repeatedly of a Divine appearance, and this visible manifestation is subsequently connected with the phrase "an angel of Jehovah" (see Genesis 16:7; Genesis 22:11, &c), and less frequently "an angel of God" (Genesis 21:17; Judges 6:20; Judges 13:9). Upon the question whether this was a created angel, or whether it was an anticipation of the incarnation of Christ, see Excursus on "Angel of Jehovah" at end of this book. . . .

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - And the Lord appeared. The first mention of a theophany, though Acts 7:2 alleges that such a Divine manifestation had previously occurred in Ur of the Chaldees. Though not a direct vision of Jehovah (John 1:18), that there was some kind of outward appearance may be inferred from the subsequent Divine manifestations to the patriarch (Genesis 18:2, 17, 33; Genesis 22:11-18), to Hagar (Genesis 16:7-14; Genesis 21:17, 18), and to Jacob (Genesis 31:11-13; Genesis 32:24-30). On the relation of the angel of Jehovah to Jehovah vide Genesis 16, 17. Unto Abram. "Jam paene fatigato Abraha isto duro exsilio et perpetuis migrationibus" (Luther). And said, Unto thy seed - to himself God gave "none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on" (Acts 7:5); the land was promised to his seed "when as yet he had no child" - will I give this land. Now occupied by the Canaanites. Undoubtedly a great promise, that the Canaanites should be dispossessed, and their country given to the offspring of a childless old man already over seventy-five years. The apparent improbability of its ever being accomplished rendered it a strong trial to the patriarch's faith. And there builded he an altar. "Constituit certum locum, in quo conveniat ecclesia, auditura verbum Dei, factura preess, laudatura Deum, sacrificatura Dee" (Luther). "Altare forma est Divini cultus; invocatio autem substantia et veritas" (Calvin). "The rearing of an altar in the land was, in fact, a form of taking possession of it on the ground of a right secured to the exercise of his faith" (Bush). "It is often said of Abraham and the patriarchs that they built altars to the Lord; it is never said they built houses for themselves" (Wordsworth). Unto the Lord who had appeared to him.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

Then the LORD
יְהוָה֙ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

appeared
וַיֵּרָ֤א (way·yê·rā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7200: To see

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

Abram
אַבְרָ֔ם (’aḇ·rām)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 87: Abram -- 'exalted father', the original name of Abraham

and said,
וַיֹּ֕אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“I will give
אֶתֵּ֖ן (’et·tên)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

this
הַזֹּ֑את (haz·zōṯ)
Article | Pronoun - feminine singular
Strong's 2063: Hereby in it, likewise, the one other, same, she, so much, such deed, that,

land
הָאָ֣רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

to your offspring.”
לְזַ֨רְעֲךָ֔ (lə·zar·‘ă·ḵā)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2233: Seed, fruit, plant, sowing-time, posterity

So [Abram] built
וַיִּ֤בֶן (way·yi·ḇen)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1129: To build

an altar
מִזְבֵּ֔חַ (miz·bê·aḥ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4196: An altar

there
שָׁם֙ (šām)
Adverb
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither

to the LORD,
לַיהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

who had appeared
הַנִּרְאֶ֥ה (han·nir·’eh)
Article | Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7200: To see

to him.
אֵלָֽיו׃ (’ê·lāw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

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OT Law: Genesis 12:7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said (Gen. Ge Gn)