Genesis
Summary
Genesis 15 details God making a formal covenant with Abram. After Abram expresses concern about having no heir, God promises him a biological son and descendants as numerous as the stars, which Abram believes. God then seals the promise of giving him the land of Canaan through a powerful vision involving a smoking firepot passing between halved animal sacrifices, while also foretelling the future enslavement and eventual deliverance of his descendants.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceeding great reward."
But Abram said, "Sovereign the LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir."
He took him outside and said, "Look now toward the heavens and number (s'phor) the stars, if indeed you can count them." Then He said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
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."
But Abram said, "Sovereign the LORD, how can I know that I shall possess it?"
So He said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; but the birds he did not cut.
Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, a deep sleep (tardemah) fell upon Abram, and behold, a horror and great darkness fell upon him.
Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your offspring will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your seed I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates,
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."