Then he added,“ I will give you more descendants than you can count.”

又说：“我必使你的后裔极其繁多，甚至不可胜数”；

耶和华的使者对她说：“我必使你的后裔极其繁多，多到不可胜数。”

耶和华的使者对她说：“我必使你的后裔极其繁多，多到不可胜数。”

又说：“我必使你的后代多得不可胜数。”

耶和华的使者又对她说：“我必使你的后裔人丁兴旺，多到不可胜数。”

耶和华的使者又对她说：“我将使你的后裔大大增多，多得无法数清。”

又說：「我必使你的後裔極其繁多，甚至不可勝數」；

耶和華的使者對她說：「我必使你的後裔極其繁多，多到不可勝數。」

耶和華的使者對她說：「我必使你的後裔極其繁多，多到不可勝數。」

又說：「我必使你的後代多得不可勝數。」

耶和華的使者又對她說：“我必使你的後裔人丁興旺，多到不可勝數。”

永恆主的使者又對她說：『我必定使你的後裔大大增多，多到數不過來。』

耶和華的使者又對她說：「我將使你的後裔大大增多，多得無法數清。」

又曰、我必使爾苗裔繁衍、不可勝數、

又曰、我將增爾苗裔、生齒繁衍、不可勝數。

主之使者又曰、我必使爾後裔蕃衍、不可勝數、

The angel added,“ I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

The angel continued,“ I will give you and your family many children. There will be more of them than anyone can count.”

The angel of the Lord also said to her,“ I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”

The angel of the LORD said to her,“ I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.”

The angel of the Lord also said to her,“ I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

Then the Angel of the Lord said to her,“ I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”

And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

The Angel of the Lord also said to her,“ I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.”

And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the LORD’s angel added,“ so that they will be too numerous to count.”

Yahweh’s angel said to her,“ I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.”

As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites;Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre.

But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.”

Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.“ This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name thatI will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed— all because you have obeyed me.”

This is the account of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant.Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,Mishma, Dumah, Massa,Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped.Ishmael lived for 137 years. Then he breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.Ishmael’s descendants occupied the region from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt in the direction of Asshur. There they lived in open hostility toward all their relatives.

Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.”

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Then he blessed Joseph and said,“ May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked— the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day,the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm— may he bless these boys. May they preserve my name and the names of Abraham and Isaac. And may their descendants multiply greatly throughout the earth.”

Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him—the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the Lord is his name!

Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away.“ I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears.

In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.

“ I will stay,” the angel of the Lord replied,“ but I will not eat anything. However, you may prepare a burnt offering as a sacrifice to the Lord.”( Manoah didn’t realize it was the angel of the Lord.)Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord,“ What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you.”“ Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied.“ It is too wonderful for you to understand.”Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the Lord. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the Lord did an amazing thing.As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground.The angel did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Manoah finally realized it was the angel of the Lord,and he said to his wife,“ We will certainly die, for we have seen God!”

After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he said,“ Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession.I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.

The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites,“ I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you.For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this?So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.”

Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out,“ Oh, Sovereign Lord, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”“ It is all right,” the Lord replied.“ Do not be afraid. You will not die.”And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh Shalom( which means“ the Lord is peace”). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites.

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.Then the man said,“ Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said,“ I will not let you go unless you bless me.”“ What is your name?” the man asked. He replied,“ Jacob.”“ Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him.“ From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”“ Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.“ Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.Jacob named the place Peniel( which means“ face of God”), for he said,“ I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

The Lord said to him,“ I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.“ This is amazing,” Moses said to himself.“ Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush,“ Moses! Moses!”“ Here I am!” Moses replied.“ Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned.“ Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.I am the God of your father— the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me,‘ Jacob!’ And I replied,‘ Yes, here I am.’“ The angel said,‘ Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you.I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’”

“ Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,‘ I am the God of your ancestors— the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.“ Then the Lord said to him,‘ Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’“ So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded,‘ Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior.And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.“ Moses himself told the people of Israel,‘ God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life giving words to pass on to us.

“ Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.