Genesis 15

The Lord’s Covenant Promise to Abram

15Some 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."H310H1697H1697H3068H1961H87H4236H559H3372H87H4043H3966H7235H7939 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.H87H559H136H3069H5414H1980H6185H1121H4943H1004H1931H461H1834 3You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir."H87H559H5414H3808H2233H1121H1004H3423 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."H1697H3068H559H3423H3318H4578H3423 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!"H3318H2351H559H5027H8064H5608H3556H3201H5608H559H3541H2233 6And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.H539H3068H2803H6666 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."H559H3068H3318H218H3778H5414H776H3423 8But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?"H559H136H3069H4100H3045H3423 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."H559H3947H5697H8027H5795H8027H352H8027H8449H1469 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.H3947H1334H8432H5414H376H1335H7125H7453H6833H1334 11Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.H5861H3381H6297H87H5380 12As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.H8121H935H8639H5307H87H367H1419H2825H5307 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.H559H87H3045H3045H2233H1616H776H5647H6031H702H3967H8141 14But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.H1471H5647H1777H310H3651H3318H1419H7399 15(As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)H935H1H7965H6912H2896H7872 16After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction."H7243H1755H2008H7725H5771H567H2008H8003 17After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.H8121H935H5939H6227H8574H784H3940H5674H996H1506 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

to the great Euphrates River—H1931H3117H3068H3772H1285H87H559H2233H5414H776H5104H4714H1419H5104H5104H6578 19the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,H7017H7074H6935 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,H2850H6522H7497 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."H567H3669H1622H2983