Genesis Quotes in the New Testament

by | Jul 13, 2020 | 02 Library, Quotations

Quotations/Allusions to the Old Testament book of Genesis in the New Testament

GenesisNew Testament
Gen 1:3-4 – Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.2Cor 4:6
Gen 1:27 – God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.Matt 19:4;
Mark 10:6
Gen 2:2 – By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had doneHeb 4:4
Gen 2:7 – Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.1Cor 15:45
Gen 2:24 – For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.Matt 19:5; Mark 10:7,8; 1Cor 6:16; Eph 5:31
Gen 5:2 -He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.Matt 19:4; Mark 10:6
Gen 12:1 – Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives
And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
Acts 7:3
Gen 12:3 – And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”Gal 3:8;
Rev 1:7
Gen 12:7 – The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.Gal 3:16
Gen 13:15 – for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.Gal 3:16
Gen 14:18 – And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.Heb 7:1
Gen 15:5 – And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”Rom 4:18
Gen 15:6 – Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.Rom 4:3; Rom 4:9; Rom 4:22; Gal. 3:6;
Jas 2:23
Gen 15:13 – God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.Acts 7:6-7
Gen 17:5 – “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.Rom 4:17
Gen 17:8 – “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”Acts 7:5,
Gal 17:8
Gen 18:10 – He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.Rom 9:9
Gen 18:14 – “Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”Rom 9:9
Gen 18:18 – since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?Gal 3:8
Gen 21:10 – Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”Gal 4:30
Gen 21:12 – But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.Rom 9:7; Heb 11:18
Gen 22:17 – indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.Heb 6:13-14
Genesis 22:18 – “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”Acts 3:25;
Gal. 3:8; Gal 3:16
Gen 25:23 – The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”Rom 9:12
Gen 26:4 – “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;Acts 3:25
Gen 28:12 – He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.John 1:51
Gen 28:14 – “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”Rev 1:7 “all the tribes of the earth
Gen 47:31- He said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed. (LXX: on the top of his staff)Heb 11:21

A quotation is a word-for-word citation of the original source, often preceded by “it is written” or “saying”.

An allusion is a reference to the original source using the the same key words or thoughts without quoting word for word.

Because the New Testament writers often borrow the language of the Old Testament (allusion) rather than quote verses directly, different scholars suggest different counts for the number of times the New Testament quotes or refers to the Old Testament.

Quotes from the Septuagint (LXX) may have appear to have somewhat different wording than the linked translation of the Hebrew text.


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Resources: Genesis

Quotations: Where Scripture quotes Scripture

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