Genesis 15

Abram Promised a Son

1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“Do not fear, Abram,

I am a shield to you;

Your reward shall be very great.”

2Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

3And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”

4Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”

5And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

7And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

8He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”

9So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

10Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.

11The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.

13God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.

14“But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

15“As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

16“Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

17It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.

18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

“To your descendants I have given this land,

From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

19the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite

20and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim

21and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”