Genesis 15

New International Version

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram^(A) in a vision:^(B)

“Do not be afraid,^(C) Abram.
I am your shield,^[a]^(D)
your very great reward.^[b]^(E)”

²But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(F) what can you give me since I remain childless^(G) and the one who will inherit^[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?^(H)” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant^(I) in my household^(J) will be my heir.”

⁴Then 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.^(K)” ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^(L)—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^[d] be.”^(M)

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^(N)

⁷He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^(O) of Ur of the Chaldeans^(P) to give you this land to take possession of it.”^(Q)

⁸But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(R) how can I know^(S) that I will gain possession of it?”^(T)

⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^(U) a goat and a ram, each three years old,^(V) along with a dove and a young pigeon.^(W)”

¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^(X) the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^(Y) ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^(Z) but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^(AA) and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^(AB) your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^(AC) and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^(AD) with great possessions.^(AE) ¹⁵You, however, will go to your ancestors^(AF) in peace and be buried at a good old age.^(AG) ¹⁶In the fourth generation^(AH) your descendants will come back here,^(AI) for the sin of the Amorites^(AJ) has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^(AK) appeared and passed between the pieces.^(AL) ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^(AM) and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^(AN) from the Wadi^[e] of Egypt^(AO) to the great river, the Euphrates^(AP)— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites,^(AQ) Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites,^(AR) Perizzites,^(AS) Rephaites,^(AT) ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^(AU)

Footnotes

Genesis 15:1 Or sovereign
Genesis 15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great
Genesis 15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
Genesis 15:5 Or seed
Genesis 15:18 Or river

Genesis 16

New International Version

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai,^(A) Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.^(B) But she had an Egyptian slave^(C) named Hagar;^(D) ²so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.^(E) Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”^(F)

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³So after Abram had been living in Canaan^(G) ten years,^(H) Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴He slept with Hagar,^(I) and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.^(J) ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”^(K)

⁶“Your slave is in your hands,^(L)” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated^(M) Hagar; so she fled from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord^(N) found Hagar near a spring^(O) in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.^(P) ⁸And he said, “Hagar,^(Q) slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”^(R)

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

⁹Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”^(S)

¹¹The angel of the Lord^(T) also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
    and you will give birth to a son.^(U)
You shall name him^(V) Ishmael,^[a]^(W)
    for the Lord has heard of your misery.^(X)
¹²He will be a wild donkey^(Y) of a man;
    his hand will be against everyone
    and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
    toward^[b] all his brothers.^(Z)”

¹³She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,^(AA)” for she said, “I have now seen^[c] the One who sees me.”^(AB) ¹⁴That is why the well^(AC) was called Beer Lahai Roi^[d];^(AD) it is still there, between Kadesh^(AE) and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar^(AF) bore Abram a son,^(AG) and Abram gave the name Ishmael^(AH) to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old^(AI) when Hagar bore him Ishmael.