14 And your offspring* will certainly become like the dust particles of the earth,+ and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and by means of you and by means of your offspring* all the families of the ground will certainly be blessed.*+

2 Then God spoke to Israel in a vision by night and said: “Jacob, Jacob!” to which he said: “Here I am!” 3 He said: “I am the true God, the God of your father.+ Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.+

7 And the Israelites* became fruitful and began to increase greatly, and they kept on multiplying and growing mightier at an extraordinary rate, so that the land became filled with them.+

13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom you swore by yourself and said: ‘I will multiply your offspring* like the stars of the heavens,+ and I will give all this land that I have designated to your offspring,* so that they may take it as a permanent possession.’”+

17 “Just as the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had announced to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,