Genesis 15

God’s Covenant With Abram

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram^a in a vision:^b

“Do not be afraid,^c Abram.

I am your shield,^d

your very great reward.^e”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^f what can you give me since I remain childless^g and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?^h” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servantⁱ in my household^j will be my heir.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.^k” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars^l—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^m

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.ⁿ

He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^o of Ur of the Chaldeans^p to give you this land to take possession of it.”^q

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^r how can I know^s that I will gain possession of it?”^t

So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^u a goat and a ram, each three years old,^v along with a dove and a young pigeon.^w”

Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^x the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^y Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^z but Abram drove them away.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^a and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^b your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^c and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^d with great possessions.^e You, however, will go to your ancestors^f in peace and be buried at a good old age.^g In the fourth generation^h your descendants will come back here,ⁱ for the sin of the Amorites^j has not yet reached its full measure.”

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^k appeared and passed between the pieces.^l On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^m and said, “To your descendants I give this land,ⁿ from the Wadi of Egypt^o to the great river, the Euphrates^p— the land of the Kenites,^q Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites,^r Perizzites,^s Rephaites,^t Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^u