Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
Parallel Translations
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Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
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And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
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And Abram said: 'Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.'
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Genesis 15:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his three hundred eighteen trained men, born in his house, and pursued as far as Dan.
- Proverbs 29:21 He who pampers his servant from youth will have him become a son in the end.
- Ecclesiastes 2:7 I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou…
Gen 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Ver. 3. And Abram said, Behold, to me, &c.] He harps again upon the same string; when we fall upon crosses we add, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, we are eloquent above measure, and beyond truth sometimes. But how comes Abram to speak thus to God once and again? In former visions God only spake, here Abram answers. It appears he grew in a holy familiarity with the divine Majesty, and a humble boldness, as Cajetan here observeth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Of such see Gen 14:14; Ecc 2:7. And these…
Of such see Gen 14:14; Ecc 2:7. And these are opposed to them that are born of a man’s body, Job 19:17; Pro 31:2; Jer 2:14.
Mine heir; either,
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1. By nearness of relation, being, as some conceive, descended from Aram the eldest son of Shem. Or,
2. For a recompence of his fidelity: compare Pro 17:2. Or,
3. because he only had the exact knowledge and absolute power of all his master’s estate, Gen 24:10, and therefore could easily keep all after his master’s death. All which reasons concurring might give occasion for this speech.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Abram said, behold, to me thou hast given…
And Abram said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed,.... He had bestowed many temporal blessings on him, as well as spiritual ones, having given himself in covenant, and all things in it, but he had not given him a child:
and lo, one born in my house is mine heir; meaning either Eliezer or his son, whom he had made his heir, or intended to make him, since he had no child; or of course he would have been to, Lot his nephew having no sons; and this Eliezer descending from Aram, the youngest son of Shem, was like to be next heir, if Abram should have no child of his own, as Dr. Lightfoot observes (g).
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(g) Works, vol. 1. p. 695.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Behold to me thou hast given no seed -…
Behold to me thou hast given no seed - Not only no son, but no seed. If he had had a daughter, from her the promised Messias might have come, who was to be the Seed of the Woman; but he had neither son nor daughter.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 15:3. Behold, to me thou hast given no…
Gen 15:3. Behold, to me thou hast given no seed — Not only no son, but no seed. If he had had a daughter, from her the promised Messias might have come, who was to be the seed of the woman; but he had neither son nor daughter.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Eliezer of Damascus . . . one born in…
Eliezer of Damascus . . . one born in my house is mine heir--According to the usage of nomadic tribes, his chief confidential servant, would be heir to his possessions and honors. But this man could have become his son only by adoption; and how sadly would that have come short of the parental hopes he had been encouraged to entertain! His language betrayed a latent spirit of fretfulness or perhaps a temporary failure in the very virtue for which he is so renowned--and absolute submission to God's time, as well as way, of accomplishing His promise.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. One born in my house — Hebrews, a…
3. One born in my house — Hebrews, a son of my house. Abram here refers again to Eliezer, whom he has just called a son of possession of my house; and this confirms our view stated above, that the oldest servant of a childless patriarch was regarded as the principal heir.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. one born in my house] The childless master…
3. one born in my house] The childless master of the house is here represented as likely to be succeeded by a member of his household. Lot is ignored. For the favourable position of a trusted slave in an Israelite household, cf. 24; 1Sa_9:3-8; 1Sa_9:22; 1Ch_2:34 ff.; Pro_17:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) One born in my house.—This is a mistake.…
(3) One born in my house.—This is a mistake. Those born in Abram’s house were his servants (Gen_14:14). The Hebrew is, the son of my house, my house-son, not born of me, but the chief of the house next to myself, and its representative. Eliezer was probably born at Damascus.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given…
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house (literally, the son of my house, i.e. Eliezer) is mine heir. The language of the patriarch discovers three things:
(1) a natural desire to have a child of his own;
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(2) a struggle to hold on by the promise in face of almost insuperable difficulties; and
(3) an obvious unwillingness to part with the hope that the promise, however seemingly impossible, would eventually be realized. This unwillingness it was which caused him, as it were, so pathetically to call the Divine attention to his childless condition; in response to which he received an assurance that must have thrilled his anxious heart with joy.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.