Genesis 15
1 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.”
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.”
2 Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
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!”
3 Abram said, “Since you have given me no descendant, see, the steward of my house is my heir.”
Abram added, “You have not given me any children, so think about this: A servant in my household will inherit all I own!”
4 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.”
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.”
5 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.”
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.”
6 He believed Yahweh, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Abram believed that what Yahweh said would happen. And because of that, Yahweh considered that Abram was righteous.
7 He said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
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.”
8 He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
But Abram replied, “Yahweh God, how can I know for sure that this land will belong to me?”
9 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.”
God said to him, “Bring a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old goat to me, and a dove and a pigeon.”
10 He brought him all these, and cut them in two, and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not divide the birds.
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.
11 When the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
Birds that eat dead flesh came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram shooed them away.
12 Then when the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep and, behold, a deep and terrifying darkness overwhelmed him.
As the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep, and suddenly everything around him became dark and frightening.
13 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.
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.
14 I will judge that nation that they will serve, and afterward they will come out with abundant possessions.
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.
15 But you will go to your fathers in peace, and you will be buried in a good old age.
But as for you, you will die [EUP] peacefully when you are very old.
16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
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.”
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.
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.
18 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—
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.
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
That is the land where the Ken, the Keniz, the Kidmon,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites,
the Heth, the Periz, the Repha,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
the Amor, the Canaan, the Girgash, and the Tebus people-groups live.”
