15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; Your reward [for obedience] shall be very great.”
15:2 Abram said, “Lord God, what reward will You give me, since I am [leaving this world] childless, and he who will be the owner and heir of my house is this [servant] Eliezer from Damascus?”
15:3 And Abram continued, “Since You have given no child to me, one (a servant) born in my house is my heir.”
15:4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man [Eliezer] will not be your heir but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.”
15:5 And the Lord brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.”
15:6 Then Abram believed in (affirmed, trusted in, relied on, remained steadfast to) the Lord; and He counted (credited) it to him as righteousness (doing right in regard to God and man).
15:7 And He said to him, “I am the [same] Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance.”
15:8 But Abram said, “Lord God, by what [proof] will I know that I will inherit it?”
15:9 So God 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.”
15:10 So Abram brought all these to Him and cut them down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.
15:11 The birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
15:12 When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram; and a horror (terror, shuddering fear, nightmare) of great darkness overcame him.
15:13 God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.
15:14 But on that nation whom your descendants will serve I will bring judgment, and afterward they will come out [of that land] with great possessions.
15:15 As for you, you shall [die and] go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
15:16 Then in the fourth generation your descendants shall return here [to Canaan, the land of promise], for the wickedness and guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete (finished).”
15:17 When the sun had gone down and a [deep] darkness had come, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch which passed between the [divided] pieces [of the animals].
15:18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates—
15:19 [the land of] the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites
15:20 and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim,
15:21 the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the 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!