Genesis 15
15
God’s Covenant with Abram
1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram #Gen. 15:4; 46:2; 1 Sam. 15:10; Dan. 10:1in a vision, saying, #Gen. 21:17; 26:24; Is. 41:10; Dan. 10:12“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your #Deut. 33:29; Ps. 3:3; 84:11; 91:4shield, your exceedingly #Num. 18:20; Ps. 58:11; Prov. 11:18great reward.”
2#Gen. 17:18But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, #Acts 7:5seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed #Gen. 14:14one born in my house is my heir!”
4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who #2 Sam. 7:12; Gal. 4:28will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and #Gen. 22:17; 26:4; Deut. 1:10; Ps. 147:4count the #Jer. 33:22stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, #Ex. 32:13; Rom. 4:18; Heb. 11:12“So shall your #Gen. 17:19descendants be.”
6And he #Gen. 21:1; Rom. 4:3, 9, 22; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23believed in the Lord, and He #Ps. 32:2; 106:31accounted it to him for righteousness.
7Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who #Gen. 12:1brought you out of #Gen. 11:28, 31Ur of the Chaldeans, #Gen. 13:15, 17; Ps. 105:42, 44to give you this land to inherit it.”
8And he said, “Lord God, #Gen. 24:13, 14; Judg. 6:36–40; 1 Sam. 14:9, 10; Luke 1:18how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
9So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10Then he brought all these to Him and #Gen. 15:17; Jer. 34:18cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut #Lev. 1:17the birds in two. 11And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12Now when the sun was going down, #Gen. 2:21; 28:11; Job 33:15a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly #Ex. 1:11; Acts 7:6that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and #Ex. 12:40they will afflict them four hundred years. 14And also the nation whom they serve #Ex. 6:6I will judge; afterward #Ex. 12:36they shall come out with great possessions. 15Now as for you, #Job 5:26you shall go #Gen. 25:8; 47:30to your fathers in peace; #Gen. 25:8you shall be buried at a good old age. 16But #Gen. 15:13; Ex. 12:41in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity #Gen. 48:22; Lev. 18:24–28; 1 Kin. 21:26of the Amorites #1 Kin. 11:12; Matt. 23:32is not yet complete.”
17And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that #Jer. 34:18, 19passed between those pieces. 18On the same day the Lord #Gen. 24:7made a covenant with Abram, saying:
#Gen. 12:7; 17:8; Ex. 23:31; Num. 34:3; Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:4; 21:43; Acts 7:5“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 15
15
God’s Agreement with Abram
1After these things happened, the Lord spoke his word to Abram in a vision: “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you, and I will give you a great reward.”
2But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me? I have no son, so my slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die.” 3Abram said, “Look, you have given me no son, so a slave born in my house will inherit everything I have.”
4Then the Lord spoke his word to Abram: “He will not be the one to inherit what you have. You will have a son of your own who will inherit what you have.”
5Then God led Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars you cannot count them. Your descendants also will be too many to count.”
6Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.
7God said to Abram, “I am the Lord who led you out of Ur of Babylonia so that I could give you this land to own.”
8But Abram said, “Lord God, how can I be sure that I will own this land?”
9The Lord said to Abram, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old male sheep, a dove, and a young pigeon.”
10Abram brought them all to God. Then Abram killed the animals and cut each of them into two pieces, laying each half opposite the other half. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11Later, large birds flew down to eat the animals, but Abram chased them away.
12As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. While he was asleep, a very terrible darkness came. 13Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers and travel in a land they don’t own. The people there will make them slaves and be cruel to them for four hundred years. 14But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land, taking great wealth with them. 15And you, Abram, will die in peace and will be buried at an old age. 16After your great-great-grandchildren are born, your people will come to this land again. It will take that long, because I am not yet going to punish the Amorites for their evil behavior.”
17After the sun went down, it was very dark. Suddenly a smoking firepot and a blazing torch passed between the halves of the dead animals. 18So on that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram and said, “I will give to your descendants the land between the river of Egypt and the great river Euphrates. 19This is the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.