Genesis 15
New International Version - Genesis 15 << | >> 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950 15:1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. ' 15:2 But Abram said, 'O Sovereign Lord , what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?' 15:3 And Abram said, 'You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.' 15:4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.' 15:5 He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' 15:6 Abram believed the Lord , and he credited it to him as righteousness. 15:7 He also said to him, 'I am the Lord , who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.' 15:8 But Abram said, 'O Sovereign Lord , how can I know that I will gain possession of it?' 15:9 So the Lord said to him, 'Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.' 15:10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 15:11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 15:12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 15:13 Then the Lord said to him, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 15:14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15:15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.' 15:17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- 15:19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.'