Genesis 15:1-15

Good News Translation

God's Covenant with Abram

15 After this, Abram had a vision and heard the Lord say to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward.”

²But Abram answered, “Sovereign Lord, what good will your reward do me, since I have no children? My only heir is Eliezer of Damascus.^[a] ³You have given me no children, and one of my slaves will inherit my property.”

⁴Then he heard the Lord speaking to him again: “This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir.” ⁵^(A)The Lord took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that.”

⁶^(B)Abram put his trust in the Lord, and because of this the Lord was pleased with him and accepted him.

⁷Then the Lord said to him, “I am the Lord, who led you out of Ur in Babylonia, to give you this land as your own.”

⁸But Abram asked, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that it will be mine?”

⁹He answered, “Bring me a cow, a goat, and a ram, each of them three years old, and a dove and a pigeon.” ¹⁰Abram brought the animals to God, cut them in half, and placed the halves opposite each other in two rows; but he did not cut up the birds. ¹¹Vultures came down on the bodies, but Abram drove them off.

¹²^(C)When the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and fear and terror came over him. ¹³^(D)The Lord said to him, “Your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be slaves there and will be treated cruelly for four hundred years. ¹⁴^(E)But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and when they leave that foreign land, they will take great wealth with them. ¹⁵You yourself will live to a ripe old age, die in peace, and be buried.