Dan

Hi all

This may be straightforward but it's confusing me at the moment!

Paul seems to be quite clear in Galatians 3:16 that the promises to Abraham and his seed (KJV) / offspring (ESV) / descendant (NET) were not to a plural offspring or "seeds", but were to one descendant, i.e. Christ.

But when looking back into the record of the promises in Genesis, they all appear have the hallmarks of a plural seed.

The 'standard' explanation that I hear is that the Hebrew word for 'seed' can also be singular as well as plural, therefore it must have been singular in the passage that Paul seems to be quoting, (Genesis 13:15). But that doesn't seem to accurately reflect the context and flow of the narrative - "all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted." (Genesis 13:15-16)

Without knowing anything about Hebrew, the only section of the promises to Abraham that appear to indicate that a singular seed was in mind is Genesis 22:17 - "his" enemies in ESV and KJV, but still in most other versions this becomes "their" enemies, (NET, NASB, NIV).

Are we able to determine how the promises in Genesis should be translated, singular or plural? If they are all plural, how are we to understand Galatians 3?

Any ideas appreciated, thanks.