Kejadian 15:18-21

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ¹  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ²  this land, from the river of Egypt ³  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land ⁴  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” ⁵ 

Keluaran 23:31

23:31 I will set ⁶  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ⁷  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Yosua 1:4

1:4 Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) ⁸  and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea ⁹  in the west. ¹⁰ 

Yosua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

1 Raja-raja 4:21

4:21 (5:1) ¹¹  Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River ¹²  to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms paid tribute as Solomon’s subjects throughout his lifetime. ¹³ 

1 Raja-raja 4:1

Solomon’s Royal Court and Administrators

4:1 King Solomon ruled over all Israel.

1 Tawarikh 18:3

18:3 David defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah as far as Hamath, when he went to extend his authority ¹⁴  to the Euphrates River. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 72:8-11

72:8 May he rule ¹⁶  from sea to sea, ¹⁷ 

and from the Euphrates River ¹⁸  to the ends of the earth!

72:9 Before him the coastlands ¹⁹  will bow down,

and his enemies will lick the dust. ²⁰ 

72:10 The kings of Tarshish ²¹  and the coastlands will offer gifts;

the kings of Sheba ²²  and Seba ²³  will bring tribute.

72:11 All kings will bow down to him;

all nations will serve him.

[15:18]  ¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ² tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  sn To your descendants I give this land. The Lord here unconditionally promises that Abram’s descendants will possess the land, but he does not yet ratify his earlier promises to give Abram a multitude of descendants and eternal possession of the land. The fulfillment of those aspects of the promise remain conditional (see Gen 17:1-8) and are ratified after Abraham offers up his son Isaac (see Gen 22:1-19). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 35-54.

[15:18]  ³ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  ⁴ tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  ⁵ tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.

[23:31]  ⁶ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

[23:31]  ⁷ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “all the land of the Hittites.” The expression “the land of the Hittites” does not refer to Anatolia (modern Turkey), where the ancient Hittite kingdom of the second millennium b.c. was located, but rather to Syria, the “Hatti land” mentioned in inscriptions of the first millennium b.c. (see HALOT 1:363). The phrase is omitted in the LXX and may be a scribal addition.

[1:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, even to the great sea [at] the place where the sun sets, your territory will be.”

[4:21]  ¹¹ sn Beginning with 4:21, the verse numbers through 5:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:21 ET = 5:1 HT, 4:22 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:18 ET = 5:32 HT. Beginning with 6:1 the numbering of verses in the English Bible and the Hebrew text is again the same.

[4:21]  ¹² tn Heb “the River” (also in v. 24). This is the standard designation for the Euphrates River in biblical Hebrew.

[4:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “[They] were bringing tribute and were serving Solomon all the days of his life.”

[18:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

[18:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when he went to set up his hand at the Euphrates River.” The Hebrew word יָד (yad, “hand”) is usually understood to mean “control” or “dominion” here. However, since יָד does occasionally refer to a monument, perhaps one could translate, “to set up his monument at the Euphrates River” (i.e., as a visible marker of the limits of his dominion). For another example of the Hiphil of נָצַב (natsav) used with יָד (“monument”), see 1 Sam 15:12.

[72:8]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is a (shortened) jussive form, indicating this is a prayer of blessing.

[72:8]  ¹⁷ sn From sea to sea. This may mean from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east. See Amos 8:12. The language of this and the following line also appears in Zech 9:10.

[72:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the river,” a reference to the Euphrates.

[72:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “islands.” The term here refers metonymically to those people who dwell in these regions.

[72:9]  ²⁰ sn As they bow down before him, it will appear that his enemies are licking the dust.

[72:10]  ²¹ sn Tarshish was a distant western port, the precise location of which is uncertain.

[72:10]  ²² sn Sheba was located in Arabia.

[72:10]  ²³ sn Seba was located in Africa.