Genesis 17:8

17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ²  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 35:4

35:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession ³  and the rings that were in their ears. ⁴  Jacob buried them ⁵  under the oak ⁶  near Shechem

Genesis 48:4

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ⁷  and will multiply you. ⁸  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ⁹  as an everlasting possession.’ ¹⁰ 

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¹ tn The verbal root is גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to reside temporarily,” i.e., as a resident alien). It is the land in which Abram resides, but does not yet possess as his very own.

² tn Or “as an eternal.”

³ tn Heb “in their hand.”

⁴ sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem (Genesis [WBC], 2:324).

⁵ sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.

⁶ tn Or “terebinth.”

⁷ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

⁸ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).