Genesis 15
1 After all this had happened, God spoke to Abram in a vision, telling him, “Don't be afraid, Abram! I am your protector, and your truly great reward!”
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.
2 But Abram replied, “Lord God, what good is whatever you give me? I don't have any children, and the heir to all that I have is Eliezer of Damascus.”
And Abram said, LORD God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 Abram went on to complain, “Look! You haven't given me any children, so a servant from my household has to be my heir!”
And Abram said, Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, see, one born in my house is my heir.
4 But then the Lord told him, “This man won't be your heir. Your heir will be your very own son.”
And, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir.
5 The Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky. See if you can count the stars! That's how many descendants you will have!”
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
6 Abram trusted what the Lord said, and so the Lord counted Abram as being in a right relationship with him.
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
7 The Lord also told him, “I am the Lord, who led you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land for you to own.”
And he said to him, I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.
8 “But Lord God, how can I be certain that I will own it?” Abram asked.
And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a cow, a goat, and a ram, all of them three years old, together with a dove and a young pigeon.”
And he said to him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 So Abram took and killed the three animals. Then he cut them in half, and placed each half opposite the other. However, he didn't cut the birds in half.
And he took to him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 When vultures flew down on the carcasses, Abram frightened them off.
And when the fowls came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun went down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and at the same time a dense and terrifying darkness fell on him.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, see, an horror of great darkness fell on him.
13 The Lord explained to Abram, “You can be absolutely sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be slaves and mistreated for 400 years.
And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 However, I will punish the nation that makes them slaves, and later on they will leave, taking many valuable possessions with them.
And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 But as for you, you will die in peace and be buried, having lived a good long life.
And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
16 Four generations later your descendants will come back here to live, because right now the sins of the Amorites have not reached their full extent.”
But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17 After the sun set and it grew dark, suddenly a smoking furnace and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the animal carcasses.
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 This is how the Lord made an agreement with Abram that day and promised him, “I'm giving this land to your descendants. It extends from the Wadi of Egypt to the great Euphrates River,
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 and includes the territory of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
