15:1 Some 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."
15:2 But 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.
15:3 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir."
15:4 Then 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."
15:5 Then 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!"
15:6 And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.
15:7 Then 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."
15:8 But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?"
15:9 The 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."
15:10 So 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.
15:11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
15:12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.
15:13 Then 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.
15:14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.
15:15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)
15:16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction."
15:17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.
15:18 So 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--
15:19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
Your support helps pay our hosting costs, and
- with a little bit extra -
lets us pay transcribers and proofreaders.
If you can help, Click here to become a Patreon:
www.patreon.com/IslamAwakened Thank you!