Genesis 15
15
The Abrahamic Covenant
1#Ge 26:24; Ps 3:3After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram.
I am your shield,
your exceedingly great reward.#Or your reward will be great.”
2#Ac 7:5But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3#Ge 14:14Abram said, “Since You have not given me any children, my heir is a servant born in my house.”
4#Ge 17:16Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son that is from your own body will be your heir.” 5#Dt 1:10; Ge 22:17; Ex 32:13He brought him outside and said, “Look up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
6#Jas 2:23; Ps 106:31Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
7#Ge 12:1; Ne 9:7–8He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess#Or inherit. it.”
8#Lk 1:18; Jdg 6:36–40But Abram said, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess 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.”
10#Lev 1:17; Jer 34:18–19Then Abram brought all of these to Him and cut them in two and laid each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11When the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12#Ge 2:21; Job 33:15As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and terror and a great darkness fell on him. 13#Gal 3:17; Ex 1:11Then He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will live as strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 14But I will judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15#Job 5:26As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and you will be buried at a good old age. 16#1Ki 21:26; Da 8:23In the fourth generation, your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17#Jer 34:18–19When the sun went down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot with a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18#Ge 12:7; Nu 34:5On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Military Bible Association
Genesis 15
15
A Son Promised to Abram
1After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eli-e´zer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5#Rom 4.18; Heb 11.12. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6#Rom 4.3; Gal 3.6; Jas 2.23. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
7And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9And he said unto 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 turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13#Exod 1.1-14; Acts 7.6. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety 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#Exod 12.40,41; Acts 7.7. and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18#Acts 7.5. In that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphra´tes: 19the Kenites, and the Ken´izzites, and the Kad´monites, 20and the Hittites, and the Per´izzites, and the Reph´a-im, 21and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Gir´gashites, and the Jeb´usites.
King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.