Pentateuch - Genesis, Chapter 15

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Genesis

CHAPTER 15

45. The Pact between Halves
	15 :	1	After these events, God's word came to Abram in a vision, saying "Fear not Abram, I am your shield. Your reward is very great."
	15 :	2	Abram said, "O Lord, God, what will you give me if I remain childless? The heir to my household will be Damascus Eliezer.
	15 :	3	Abram continued, "You have given me no children. A member of my household will inherit what is mine."
	15 :	4	Suddenly God's word came to him: "That one will not be your heir! One born from your own body will inherit what is yours."
	15 :	5	He then took [Abram] outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars. See if you can count them." [God] then said to him, "That is how [numerous] your descendants will be."
	15 :	6	[Abram] believed in God, and He counted it as righteousness.
	15 :	7	[God] said to him, "I am God who took you out of Ur Casdim to give you this land as a possession.
	15 :	8	"O Lord, God," replied [Abram], "How can I really know that it will be mine?"
	15 :	9	[God] said to him, "Bring for Me a prime heifer, a prime goat, a prime ram, a dove and a young pigeon."
	15 :	10	[Abram] brought all these for Him. He split them in half, and placed one half opposite the other. The birds, however, he did not split.
	15 :	11	Vultures descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
	15 :	12	When the sun was setting, Abram fell into a trance, and he was stricken by a deep dark dread.
	15 :	13	[God] said to Abram, "Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years. They will be enslaved and oppressed.
	15 :	14	But I will finally bring judgment against the nation who enslaves them, and they will then leave with great wealth.
	15 :	15	You shall join your fathers in peace, and you will be buried at a good old age.
	15 :	16	The fourth generation will return here, since the Amorite's sin will not have run its course until then."
	15 :	17	The sun set, and it became very dark. A smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the animals.
	15 :	18	On that day, God made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the Egyptian River as far as the great river, the Euphrates;
	15 :	19	[the lands of] the Kenites, the Kenizites, the Kadmonites,
	15 :	20	the Hittites, the Perizites, the Rephaim,
	15 :	21	the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Yebusites.