historical · Gen 12:1–3 · ✓ Approved

The promises to Abram in early reading

Says God promises, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great” (Gen 12:2), and “all the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (12:3; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ, venivrekhu vekha, “and they will be blessed / bless themselves in you”).

Pseudo-Jonathan renders “in thee shall be blessed all the generations of the earth”, and its Jerusalem text “in thy righteousness shall all the generations of the earth be blessed”. Jubilees has “And in Thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. Augustine sees two promises, the land to Abram’s seed and “the other far more excellent, not about the carnal but the spiritual seed”. Keil holds that the niphal “has only the passive signification”, and that the reflexive sense would leave its apostolic use (Acts 3:25; Gal 3:8) “without any firm scriptural basis”. He reads 12:2 as “not only to be blessed by God, but to become a blessing”. Calvin grants that “the Hebrew phrase will bear the interpretation, that Abram shall be called a signal example of happiness”, but takes Abram as “a cause of blessing”. These are their readings.

Uncertain Whether the niphal of 12:3 is passive or reflexive is open (see the later hithpael at 22:18; 26:4). No lean is taken here, and these readings do not fix the meaning of 12:1–3.

Claims

SaysGen 12:2–3: God promises to make Abram a great nation, to bless him and make his name great, to bless those who bless him and curse the one who curses him, and that all the families of the earth will be blessed in him.
UncertainWhether the niphal וְנִבְרְכוּ in 12:3 is passive (“will be blessed”) or reflexive (“will bless themselves”) is open; no lean is taken, and the early readings do not fix the meaning.

Citations

BSB public domain Gen 12:2–3
OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 12:3
Etheridge public domain Etheridge, vol. 1 (1862), Targum of Palestine (Pseudo-Jonathan) and the Jerusalem Targum on Gen 12:3, p. 193 (leaf n205); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
APOT public domain vol. 2 (1913): Jub 12:23, p. 32 (leaf n51); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Civ. 16.16 (trans. Dods, NPNF¹ 2; CCEL npnf102.iv.XVI.16), p. 321 (leaf n344); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), on Gen 12:2–3, p. 193 (leaf n196), p. 195 (leaf n198); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis 1 (King, CTS 1847), on Gen 12:3, p. 348 (leaf n357), p. 349 (leaf n358); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased

Sources BSB public domain OSHB CC BY 4.0 Etheridge public domain APOT public domain Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0

2026-11-12

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