Through My Bible Yr 03 – March 07

Genesis 15

Through My Bible – March 07

Genesis 15 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Promise of an Heir

¹After these events the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. He said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

²Abram said, “Lord God^[1] what can you give me, since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Abram also said, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant born in my house will be my heir.”

⁴Just then, the word of the Lord came to him. God said, “This man will not be your heir, but instead one who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” ⁵The Lord then brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “This is what your descendants will be like.” ⁶Abram believed in^[2] the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. ⁷He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.”

⁸He said, “Lord God, how will I know that I will possess it?”

⁹The Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Abram gathered all of these, divided them in half, and laid the two halves across from each other, but he did not divide the birds in two. ¹¹Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹²When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Then terrifying, deep darkness fell on him. ¹³The Lord said to Abram, “Know this! Your descendants will live as aliens in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve its people, who will afflict them for four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will surely judge the nation that they will serve. Afterward your descendants will come out with great wealth, ¹⁵but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come here again, because the guilt of the Amorites is not yet full.” ¹⁷Then when the sun had gone down and it was dark, suddenly a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made^[3] a covenant with Abram. He said, “To your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. ¹⁹I will give you the territory of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Footnotes

Genesis 15:2 The translation follows the tradition of reading the Hebrew combination Adonai Yahweh (Lord Yahweh) as Lord God.
Genesis 15:6 Or trusted in or believed
Genesis 15:18 The Hebrew expression for make a covenant is literally cut a covenant. Perhaps this is a reflection of the cutting of the animals.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Versio...