Genesis 15

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram^p in a vision:^q

“Do not be afraid,^r Abram.

I am your shield,^as

your very great reward.^bt”

²But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^u what can you give me since I remain childless^v and the one who will inherit^c my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?^w” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant^x in my household^y will be my heir.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.^z” ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^a—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^d be.”^b

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^c

⁷He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^d of Ur of the Chaldeans^e to give you this land to take possession of it.”^f

⁸But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^g how can I know^h that I will gain possession of it?”ⁱ

⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^j a goat and a ram, each three years old,^k along with a dove and a young pigeon.^l”

¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^m the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^{n 11}Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^o but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^p and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^q your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^r and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^s with great possessions.^{t 15}You, however, will go to your ancestors^u in peace and be buried at a good old age.^{v 16}In the fourth generation^w your descendants will come back here,^x for the sin of the Amorites^y has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^z appeared and passed between the pieces.^{a 18}On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^b and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^c from the Wadi^e of Egypt^d to the great river, the Euphrates^e—¹⁹the land of the Kenites,^f Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites,^g Perizzites,^h Rephaites,^{i 21}Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^j