Genesis 15Book 1 of 66 · 21 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending

  1. After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for I am your shield, your reward shall be very great."
  2. But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
  3. Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring, so a member of my household born in my house will be my heir."
  4. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir."
  5. Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
  6. And he believed in the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
  7. Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it."
  8. And he said, "Lord GOD, how can I be sure 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 cut them in two, down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
  11. And when the vultures swooped down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
  12. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, dreadful terror and great darkness fell upon him.
  13. Then He said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will be oppressed four hundred years.
  14. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
  15. Now as for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
  16. But in the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.
  17. And it came to pass, when the sun had gone down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch that passed between those pieces.
  18. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
  19. The land of the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
  20. the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
  21. the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."