Editing Promised Land (section)

== Biblical narrative ==
[[File:Greater Israel map.jpg|thumb|300px|Expansive [[Brook of Egypt#Possible interpretation as the Nile|interpretation]] claiming the [[Nile]] and [[Euphrates]] as the river boundaries of the original promise to [[Abraham]] in {{bibleverse|Genesis|15|HE}}. See also: [[Greater Israel]].]][[File:Map Land of Israel.jpg|thumb|300px|Estimated borders based on biblical interpretation of {{bibleverse|Numbers|34|HE}} and {{bibleverse|Ezekiel|47|HE}}.]]
{{See also|Land of Israel#Biblical borders}}
The concept of the Promised Land is first mentioned in the [[Book of Genesis]], which is the first book of the [[Torah]], which collectively refers to the first five books of the [[Hebrew Bible]].{{NoteTag|The [[Torah]] and the [[Hebrew Bible]] are both originally Jewish scriptures, but they are also regarded as holy in Christianity (which initially emerged as a [[Jewish Christianity|Jewish religious movement]]) and Islam: Christians regard the Hebrew Bible as the [[Old Testament]]; while Muslims refer to the Torah by the Arabic name [[Tawrat]].}}

=== God's covenant with Abraham ===
[[God in Abrahamic religions|God]] is claimed to have spoken the following promises to [[Abraham]] in several verses of [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] (the first book of the [[Torah]]), which a [[New International Version|modern English Bible translates]] to:
:The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." – {{bibleverse|Genesis|12:1|NIV}}
:The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring [or seed] I will give this land." – {{bibleverse|Genesis|12:7|NIV}}

Later in what is called the [[covenant of the pieces]], a verse is said to describe what are known as "borders of the Land" (''Gevulot Ha-aretz''):<ref>''Kol Torah'', vol. 13, no. 9, Torah Academy of Bergen County, Nov 8, 2003</ref>
:On that day the Lord made a [[Covenant (biblical)#Abrahamic|covenant]] with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the [[Wadi of Egypt]] to the great river, the [[Euphrates]] – the land of the [[Kenites]], [[Kenizzites]], [[Kadmonites]], [[Hittites]], [[Perizzites]], [[Rephaites]], [[Amorites]], [[Canaanites]], [[Girgashites]] and [[Jebusites]]."  – {{bibleverse|Genesis|15:18-21|NIV}}

These allegedly divine promises were given prior to the birth of Abraham's sons. [[Abraham's family tree]] includes both the [[Ishmaelites|Ishmaelite tribes]] (the claimed ancestry of [[Arabs]] and of the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]]) through Abraham's first son [[Ishmael]] and the [[Israelites|Israelite tribes]] (the claimed ancestry of [[Jews]] and [[Samaritans]]) through Abraham's second son [[Isaac]].

=== Subsequent confirmations ===
God later confirms the promise to Abraham's son [[Isaac]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|26:3|NIV}}), and then to Isaac's son [[Jacob]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|28:13|NIV}}) in terms of "the land on which you are lying". Jacob is later renamed "[[Israel (name)|Israel]]" ({{bibleverse|Genesis|32:28|NIV}}) and his descendants are called the Children of Israel or the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]].

The Torah's subsequent [[Book of Exodus]] describes it as "land flowing with milk and honey" ({{bibleverse|Exodus|3:17|}}) and gives verses on how to treat the prior occupants and marks the borders in terms of the [[Red Sea]], the "Sea of the [[Philistines]]", and the "River", which a modern English Bible translates to:
: "I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the [[Mediterranean Sea]], and from the desert to the [[Euphrates]] River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you." – {{bibleverse|Exodus|23:31-33|NIV}}

The [[Israelites]] lived in a smaller area of former [[Canaan]]ite land and land east of the [[Jordan River]] after the legendary prophet [[Moses]] led the Israelite Exodus out of [[Biblical Egypt|Egypt]] ({{bibleverse|Numbers|34:1-12|NIV}}). The Torah's [[Book of Deuteronomy]] presents this occupation as their God's fulfillment of the promise ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|1:8|NIV}}). Moses anticipated that their God might subsequently give the Israelites land reflecting the boundaries of the original promise – if they were obedient to the [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]] ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|19:8-9|NIV}}).