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 Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and your very 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.”
Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I continue childless, and the heir of my house is 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!”
Abram said, “Since you have given me no descendant, see, the steward of 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.”
Then, behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but rather the one who will come from your own body will 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!”
Then he brought him outside, and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
6 Abram trusted what the Lord said, and so the Lord counted Abram as being in a right relationship with him.
He believed Yahweh, and he counted it to him as 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.”
He said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 “But Lord God, how can I be certain that I will own it?” Abram asked.
He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will 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.”
Then he said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a dove, 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.
He brought him all these, and cut them in two, and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not divide the birds.
11 When vultures flew down on the carcasses, Abram frightened them off.
When the birds of prey came down upon 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.
Then when the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep and, behold, a deep and terrifying darkness overwhelmed 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.
Then Yahweh said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will be enslaved and oppressed for 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.
I will judge that nation that they will serve, and afterward they will come out with abundant possessions.
15 But as for you, you will die in peace and be buried, having lived a good long life.
But you will go to your fathers in peace, and you will 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.”
In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
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.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the 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,
On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I hereby give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
19 and includes the territory of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
