16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.

Other Translations of Genesis 13:16

King James Version

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

English Standard Version

16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

The Message

16 I'll make your descendants like dust - counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth.

New King James Version

16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

New Living Translation

16 And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 13:16

Commentary on Genesis 13:14-18

(Read Genesis 13:14-18)

Those are best prepared for the visits of Divine grace, whose spirits are calm, and not ruffled with passion. God will abundantly make up in spiritual peace, what we lose for preserving neighbourly peace. When our relations are separated from us, yet God is not. Observe also the promises with which God now comforted and enriched Abram. Of two things he assures him; a good land, and a numerous issue to enjoy it. The prospects seen by faith are more rich and beautiful than those we see around us. God bade him walk through the land, not to think of fixing in it, but expect to be always unsettled, and walking through it to a better Canaan. He built an altar, in token of his thankfulness to God. When God meets us with gracious promises, he expects that we should attend him with humble praises. In outward difficulties, it is very profitable for the true believer to mediate on the glorious inheritance which the Lord has for him at the last.