God Makes a Covenant with Abram

15:1-21

15 After that, Yahweh said to Abram in a vision,

“Abram, do not be afraid.

I will protect you,

and I will give you a very great reward.” 2 But Abram said to him, “Yahweh my Master, even if you reward me greatly, that will not benefit me, since I still have no children. So when I die, the one who will inherit all that I have is my servant Eliezer who is a foreigner from the city of Damascus.” 3 Then Abram continued, “That’s right, you have not given me any children, so that now when I die, one of my household servants will inherit everything I own!” 4 But immediately Yahweh said to Abram, “No, your servant Eliezer will not inherit your property, rather it will be your very own biological son who will inherit it.” 5 Then Yahweh took Abram outside his tent and said to him, “Look up at the night sky and count how many stars there are, if in fact you are able to count them all.” While Abram was looking at the stars, Yahweh said to him, “That is how many descendants you will have.”

6 Abram trusted Yahweh, and because of that, Yahweh considered him to be righteous. 7 Then Yahweh said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you here from the city of Ur that the Chaldeans rule, to give this land to you to own.” 8 But Abram asked him, “Yahweh my Master, how can I be sure that this land will be mine?” 9 Yahweh replied, “Bring me a heifer, a female goat and a male sheep, each of which is three years old, as well as a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 So the next day Abram brought all those animals to Yahweh and killed them. Then he cut the animals’ bodies in half lengthwise and placed each half a short space across from the other half in two rows, except for the birds, which he did not cut in half. 11 Then some vultures flew down and landed on the animal bodies to eat them, but Abram chased them away.

12 Later as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly, it became completely dark, and he became terrified. 13 Then Yahweh said to him, “I want you to know that your descendants will live as foreigners in a country that is not their own. They will serve the people of that country as slaves, and those people will treat them cruelly for 400 years. 14 But I will punish those people whom they serve. After that, your descendants will leave that country and take many possessions with them. 15 As for you, after you have lived a good long life, you will die peacefully and join your ancestors who have died before you. 16 Then four generations later, your descendants will return here to live, because that is when the Amorites will have sinned as much as I will allow before I take away their land and give it to your descendants.

17 When the sun had set, it became very dark. Then suddenly a clay pot appeared that was full of burning coals and had smoke coming from it, and also a blazing torch, and they both went between the animal halves. 18 At that time Yahweh made a special agreement with Abram and said, “I am giving your descendants this land, which extends from Egypt’s river in the south to the great Euphrates River in the north. 19 That includes the land which belongs to the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”