Genesis 15
1 After these things hath the word of Jehovah been unto Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I [am] a shield to thee, thy reward [is] exceeding great.'
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 And Abram saith, 'Lord Jehovah, what dost Thou give to me, and I am going childless? and an acquired son in my house is Demmesek Eliezer.'
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 And Abram saith, 'Lo, to me Thou hast not given seed, and lo, a domestic doth heir me.'
Abram added, “You have not given me any children, so think about this: A servant in my household will inherit all I own!”
4 And lo, the word of Jehovah [is] unto him, saying, 'This [one] doth not heir thee; but he who cometh out from thy bowels, he doth heir thee;'
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 and He bringeth him out without, and saith, 'Look attentively, I pray thee, towards the heavens, and count the stars, if thou art able to count them;' and He saith to him, 'Thus is thy seed.'
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 And he hath believed in Jehovah, and He reckoneth it to him — righteousness.
Abram believed that what Yahweh said would happen. And because of that, Yahweh considered that Abram was righteous.
7 And He saith unto him, 'I [am] Jehovah who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give to thee this land to possess 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 and he saith, 'Lord Jehovah, whereby do I know that I possess it?'
But Abram replied, “Yahweh God, how can I know for sure that this land will belong to me?”
9 And He saith unto him, 'Take for Me a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtle-dove, and a young bird;'
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 and he taketh to him all these, and separateth them in the midst, and putteth each piece over against its fellow, but the bird he hath not divided;
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 and the ravenous birds come down upon the carcases, and Abram causeth them to turn back.
Birds that eat dead flesh came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram shooed them away.
12 And the sun is about to go in, and deep sleep hath fallen upon Abram, and lo, a terror of great darkness is falling upon him;
As the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep, and suddenly everything around him became dark and frightening.
13 and He saith to Abram, 'knowing — know that thy seed is a sojourner in a land not theirs, and they have served them, and they have afflicted them 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 and the nation also whom they serve I judge, and after this they go out with great substance;
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 and thou — thou comest in unto thy fathers in peace; thou art buried in a good old age;
But as for you, you will die [EUP] peacefully when you are very old.
16 and the fourth generation doth turn back hither, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.'
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 And it cometh to pass — the sun hath gone in, and thick darkness hath been — and lo, a furnace of smoke, and a lamp of fire, which hath passed over between those 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 In that day hath Jehovah made with Abram a covenant, saying, 'To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Phrat,
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 with the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,
That is the land where the Ken, the Keniz, the Kidmon,
20 and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,
the Heth, the Periz, the Repha,
21 and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.'
the Amor, the Canaan, the Girgash, and the Tebus people-groups live.”
