Genesis 15
The Lord appeared to Abram in a vision, promising to be his shield and reward, and Abram expressed his concern about not having an heir. The Lord assured Abram that he would have a son of his own and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Abram believed the Lord and was credited with righteousness. The Lord then made a covenant with Abram, promising to give his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, and Abram was shown a vision of the future, including the enslavement and eventual deliverance of his descendants.
1After 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. "2But 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?"3And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."4Then 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."5He 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."6Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.7He 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."8But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"9So 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."10Abram 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.11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.13Then 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.14But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.16In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.18On 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-19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
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