Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.

This was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord.

So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.


But now give back the man's wife. Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live. But if you don't give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you."

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, the eternal God.

Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about. On the third day Abraham caught sight of the place in the distance. So he said to his servants, "You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go up there. We will worship and then return to you." read more.
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father?" "What is it, my son?" he replied. "Here is the fire and the wood," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" "God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together. When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son. But the Lord's angel called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am!" he answered. "Do not harm the boy!" the angel said. "Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me." Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

"You are the LORD God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants -- not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, "so will your descendants be."



What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about -- but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." read more.
Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness. So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count sin." Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, "faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness." How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either. For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants -- not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, "so will your descendants be." Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.

Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, so then, understand that those who believe are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time, saying, "All the nations will be blessed in you." read more.
So then those who believe are blessed along with Abraham the believer.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son. God had told him, "Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name," and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness," and he was called God's friend. read more.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.


and say, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; you were thrown out into the open field because you were detested on the day you were born. read more.
"'I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, "Live!" I said to you as you lay there in your blood, "Live!"

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants -- not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.



(as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.


Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress, revive me once again! Bring me up once again from the depths of the earth!

Then we will not turn away from you. Revive us and we will pray to you!

I charge you before God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who made his good confession before Pontius Pilate,

(as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.