Genesis 15
15
The Lord’s Covenant Promise to Abram
1Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
2But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. 3You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
4Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” 5Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
6And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
7Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
8But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
9The Lord told 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.” 10So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. 11Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. 13Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 15(As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 16After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
17After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt#15:18 Hebrew the river of Egypt, referring either to an eastern branch of the Nile River or to the Brook of Egypt in the Sinai (see Num 34:5). to the great Euphrates River— 19the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
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Genesis 15: NLT
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Genesis 15
15
God’s Covenant with Abram
1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: #ch. 26:24; Dan. 10:12; Luke 1:13, 30 “Fear not, Abram, I am #Ps. 3:3; 18:2; 84:11; 119:114your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue#15:2 Or I shall die childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and #ch. 14:14a member of my household will be my heir.” 4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; #ch. 17:16your very own son#15:4 Hebrew what will come out of your own loins shall be your heir.” 5And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and #Ps. 147:4 number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, #ch. 22:17; 26:4; Ex. 32:13; Deut. 1:10; 10:22; 1 Chr. 27:23; Heb. 11:12; Cited Rom. 4:18“So shall your offspring be.” 6And #Rom. 4:9, 22; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23 he believed the Lord, and #Cited Rom. 4:3; [Ps. 106:31]he counted it to him as righteousness.
7And he said to him, “I am the Lord who #ch. 11:31; 12:1; Neh. 9:7, 8; Acts 7:2-4 brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans #Ps. 105:42, 44to give you this land to possess.” 8But he said, “O Lord God, #[Judg. 6:17; 2 Kgs. 20:8; Ps. 86:17; Isa. 7:11-13; Luke 1:18]how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10And he brought him all these, #Jer. 34:18, 19 cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But #Lev. 1:17he did not cut the birds in half. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was going down, a #ch. 2:21deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain #Acts 7:6, 7 that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and #Ex. 1:11, 12; 3:7 they will be afflicted for #Acts 7:6; [Ex. 12:40, 41; Gal. 3:17]four hundred years. 14But #Ex. 6:6 I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward #Ex. 12:36; Ps. 105:37they shall come out with great possessions. 15As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; #ch. 25:8you shall be buried in a good old age. 16And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for #1 Kgs. 21:26; Amos 2:9 the iniquity of the Amorites #[Dan. 8:23; Matt. 23:32; 1 Thess. 2:16]is not yet complete.”
17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, #ch. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7; 26:4; Num. 34:2; Deut. 34:4; Neh. 9:8 “To your offspring I give#15:18 Or have given this land, from #Ex. 23:31; Deut. 1:7; Josh. 1:4the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
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