Genesis 15
1 Some time later, Abram had a vision in which Yahweh spoke to him and said, “Do not be afraid of (anything/your enemies). I will protect you [MTY], and I will give a great reward.”
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.
2 But Abram replied, “Yahweh God, how can you give me what I truly want, because I have no children, and the one who will be like a son and inherit all my possessions is my servant Eliezer from Damascus!”
And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house [is] this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 Abram added, “You have not given me any children, so think about this: A servant in my household will inherit all I own!”
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is my heir.
4 Yahweh replied, “No! He will not be the one who will inherit it. Instead, you yourself will be the father of the one who will inherit everything you own.”
And behold, the word of the LORD [came] to him, saying, This shall not be thy heir; but he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy heir.
5 Then Yahweh took Abram outside [of his tent] and said, “Look up at the sky! Can you count the stars? No, you cannot count them because there are so many of them, and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars.”
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou art able to number them: and he said to him, So shall thy seed be.
6 Abram believed that what Yahweh said would happen. And because of that, Yahweh considered that Abram was righteous.
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
7 Yahweh also said to him, “I am Yahweh. I am the one who brought you from Ur in Chaldea land. I brought you here to give you this land to possess.”
And he said to him, I [am] the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8 But Abram replied, “Yahweh God, how can I know for sure that this land will belong to me?”
And he said, Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 God said to him, “Bring a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old goat to me, and a dove and a pigeon.”
And he said to him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.
10 So Abram brought all of them and killed them and cut each of the animals in half. He arranged the halves of each one, side by side. But he did not cut the pigeon and dove in half.
And he took to him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds he did not divide.
11 Birds that eat dead flesh came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram shooed them away.
And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep, and suddenly everything around him became dark and frightening.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then God said to Abram, “I want you to know that your descendants will become foreigners living in a land that does not belong to them. They will become slaves of the owners of that land. The owners of the land will mistreat them for 400 years.
And he said to Abram, Know certainly that thy 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 But then I will punish the people of that country that made them become slaves, and then your descendants will leave that country, taking many possessions with them.
And also that nation which they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 But as for you, you will die [EUP] peacefully when you are very old.
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 After your descendants have been slaves for 400 years, they will return here, and take control of this land and defeat the Amor people-group. Those people will, because those people have not yet sinned enough to deserve to be punished now.”
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet full.
17 When the sun had set and it had become dark, [unexpectedly] a blazing torch and a clay pot containing burning coals from which smoke was rising appeared and went between the halves of the animals.
And it came to pass, that when the sun had gone down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 And on that day Yahweh made an agreement with Abram. Yahweh told him, “I will give to your descendants all the land between the river that is on the eastern border of Egypt to the south, and north to the huge Euphrates River.
In that same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 That is the land where the Ken, the Keniz, the Kidmon,
The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 the Heth, the Periz, the Repha,
And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21 the Amor, the Canaan, the Girgash, and the Tebus people-groups live.”
And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
