Genesis 15
God’s Covenant with Abram
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram ain a vision, saying, b“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your cshield, your exceedingly dgreat reward.”
2 aBut Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, bseeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed aone born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who awill come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and acount the bstars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, c“So shall your ddescendants be.”
6 And he abelieved in the Lord, and He baccounted it to him for righteousness.
7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who abrought you out of bUr of the Chaldeans, cto give you this land to inherit it.”
8 And he said, “Lord God, ahow shall I know that I will inherit it?”
9 So 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 Then he brought all these to Him and acut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut bthe birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly athat your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and bthey will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve aI will judge; afterward bthey shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, ayou shall go bto your fathers in peace; cyou shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But ain the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity bof the Amorites cis not yet complete.”
17 And 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 apassed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord amade a covenant with Abram, saying:
b“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
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