The family tree of Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, a descendant of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen, from David to the Babylonian Exile fourteen, from the Babylonian Exile to Christ fourteen.

and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather? For I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones.

I tell you, many will come from the east and from the west and take their seats at the feast with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, 'in the kingdom of heaven,

'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob!' Now God is not the God of dead but of living men."

But as to the rising of the dead, did you never read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

as He promised our forefathers, Abraham and his descendants forever."

the oath which He swore to our forefather Abraham,

Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance that you profess, and do not even begin to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather,' for I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones.

the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

And so was it not right for this woman, a descendant of Abraham, whom Satan has for eighteen years kept bound, to be freed from this bond on the Sabbath?"

There you will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves being driven away on the outside.

One day the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to be Abraham's bosom companion, and the rich man too died and was buried.

And in Hades he looked up, in constant tortures as he was, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus his bosom companion.

So he called and said, 'Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue, because I am ceaselessly tortured in this flame.'

But Abraham said, 'My child, remember that you received in full your blessings in your lifetime, and Lazarus his hardships in his, but now he is continuously comforted here, while you are continuously tortured there.

But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.'

But he pleaded, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone went to them from the dead, they would repent.'

Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this home, for he too is a real descendant of Abraham.

But that the dead are raised, even Moses at the bush has demonstrated, when he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and we never have been anybody's slaves. How can you say to us, 'You will be set free'?"

I know that you are Abraham's descendants, and yet you are trying to kill me, because there is no room in you for my teaching.

They answered Him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, you must be practicing what Abraham did.

But right now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that He has learned from God. Abraham never did that.

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that you are under the power of a demon. Abraham is dead; the prophets too, and yet you say, 'If anyone follows my teaching, he will never experience death.'

You are not greater than our forefather Abraham, are you? He is dead and the prophets are dead. Who do you claim to be?"

Your forefather Abraham exulted in the hope of seeing my day. He has seen it and is glad of it."

The Jews then said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?"

Then Jesus said to them, "I most solemnly say to you, I existed before Abraham was born."

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you yourselves betrayed and disowned before Pilate, although he had decided to set Him free.

And you are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the sacred compact which God made with your forefathers, when He said to Abraham: 'All the families of the earth are to be blessed through your posterity.'

He answered: "Listen, brothers and fathers. The glorious God appeared to our forefather Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he ever made his home in Haran,

And with Abraham He made the sacred compact of circumcision, and he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

and were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought with a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

As the time approached for realizing the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people multiplied and became more numerous in Egypt,

'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses was so terrified that he did not dare to look at the bush.

Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

Then what are we to say about our forefather Abraham?

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him as right standing with God."

Now does this happiness come to the Jews alone, or to the heathen peoples too? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as right standing."

and the forefather of those Jews who not only belong to the circumcision but also follow in the footsteps of our forefather Abraham in the faith he had before he was circumcised.

For the promise made to Abraham and his descendants, that he should own the world, was not conditioned on the law, but on the right standing he had with God through faith.

So it is conditioned on faith, that it might be in accordance with God's unmerited favor, so that the promise might be in force for all the descendants of Abraham, not only for those who belong to the law party but also for those who belong to the faith group of Abraham. He is the father of us all,

Abraham, building on hope in spite of hopeless circumstances, had faith, and so he actually became the father of many nations, just as it had been told him, "So numberless shall your descendants be."

nor are they all children of Abraham, because they are his descendants, but the promise was "In the line of Isaac your descendants will I be counted."

That is, it is not Abraham's natural descendants who are God's children, but those who are made children by the promise are counted his true descendants.

I say then, God has not disowned His people, has He? Of course not! Why, I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

just as "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him as right standing with God"?

So you see, it is the men of faith who are the real descendants of Abraham.

Because the Scripture foresaw that God would bring the heathen into right standing with Himself on condition of faith, He beforehand proclaimed the good news to Abraham in the promise, "It is through you that all the heathen will be blessed."

So the men of faith are blessed as partners with trusting Abraham.

that the blessing promised to Abraham might through Jesus Christ come to the heathen, so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and his descendant. It does not say, "and to your descendants," in the plural, but in the singular, "and to your descendant," that is, Christ.

For if our inheritance depends on the law, it can no longer depend on the promise. But it was by promise that God so graciously bestowed it upon Abraham.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are real descendants of Abraham, and heirs in accordance with the promise made to him.

For the Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave girl, the other by a free woman.

For of course it is not angels but descendants of Abraham that He is to help.

For when God made His promise to Abraham, He took an oath by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom He could take it,

For this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was coming back from the defeat of the kings, and put his blessing on him,

to whom Abraham contributed a tenth of all his spoils, who first of all, in accordance with the meaning of his name, is king of righteousness, and then king of Salem, which means king of peace;

Now see how great this man must have been that even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils.

And those of the descendants of Levi who accept the priesthood are authorized by the law to collect a tenth from the people; that is, from their own brothers, though they have sprung from Abraham.

But in this case, the man whose ancestry is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham, and put his blessing on the man who had the promises from God.

And I might almost say, Levi too, who now collects the tenth, through Abraham paid the tenth,

By faith Abraham, on being called, obeyed in starting off for a country which he was to receive as his own, and he did it in spite of the fact that he did not know where he was going.

By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, offered Isaac as a sacrifice; that is, he who had received the promise was starting to offer as a sacrifice his only son,

Was not our forefather Abraham shown to be upright by his good deeds, namely, by offering Isaac his son upon the altar?

and so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him for uprightness, and he was called God's friend."

They were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah, for example, obeyed Abraham and called him master. You have become true daughters of hers, if you practice doing right and cease from every fear.