15Genesis 15

The 's Promise to Abram

1Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don't be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”Select Genesis 15:1

2But Abram answered, “Lord All-Powerful, you have given me everything I could ask for, except children. And when I die, Eliezer of Damascus will get all I own.Select Genesis 15:2

3You have not given me any children, and this servant of mine will inherit everything.”Select Genesis 15:3

4The Lord replied, “No, he won't! You will have a son of your own, and everything you have will be his.”Select Genesis 15:4

5Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.”Select Genesis 15:5

6Abram believed the Lord, so the Lord was pleased with him and accepted him.Select Genesis 15:6

The Makes Another Promise to Abram

7The Lord said to Abram, “I brought you here from Ur in Chaldea, and I gave you this land.”Select Genesis 15:7

8Abram asked, “Lord God, how can I know the land will be mine?”Select Genesis 15:8

9Then the Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.”Select Genesis 15:9

10Abram obeyed the Lord. Then he cut the animals in half and laid the two halves of each animal opposite each other on the ground. But he did not cut the doves and pigeons in half.Select Genesis 15:10

11And when birds came down to eat the animals, Abram chased them away.Select Genesis 15:11

12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and everything became dark and frightening.Select Genesis 15:12

15Then the Lord said: Abram, you will live to an old age and die in peace. But I solemnly promise that your descendants will live as foreigners in a land that doesn't belong to them. They will be forced into slavery and abused for 400 years. But I will terribly punish the nation that enslaves them, and they will leave with many possessions.Select Genesis 15:15

16Four generations later, your descendants will return here and take this land, because only then will the people who live here be so sinful that they deserve to be punished.Select Genesis 15:16

17Sometime after sunset, when it was very dark, a smoking cooking pot and a flaming fire passed between the two halves of each animal.Select Genesis 15:17

18At that time the Lord made an agreement with Abram and told him: I will give your descendants the land east of the Shihor River on the border of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River.Select Genesis 15:18

19They will possess the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,Select Genesis 15:19

20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites,Select Genesis 15:20

21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.Select Genesis 15:21