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Genesis 15

1After these events Yahweh's word came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am a shield for you; your reward will be very great.” 2Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, when I go on childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Abram said, “Look, you have given me no offspring, and look, a member of my household is to inherit from me.” 4And look, Yahweh's word came to him: “This man will not inherit from you. The one who comes from your own body will inherit from you.” 5He brought him outside and said, “Please look toward heaven and count the stars, if you can count them.” He said to him, “So will your offspring be.” 6He trusted in Yahweh, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

7He said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will possess it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these, cut them through the middle, and placed each half opposite the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and look, a terror, a great darkness, fell upon him.

13He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be enslaved and afflicted four hundred years. 14But I will also judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with great possessions. 15As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation they will return here, because the Amorites' wrongdoing is not yet complete.” 17When the sun had set and darkness had come, look, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: 19the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Translation notes 5

15:1–3 — Shield; heir. Verse 1 can instead identify God himself as Abram's exceedingly great reward. The draft reads two statements, protection and promised reward. The expression describing Eliezer's role is difficult; “heir” follows the surrounding inheritance discussion, while household manager is another interpretation.

15:6 — Trust; righteousness. The first “he” is Abram. The natural reading makes Yahweh the one who counts Abram's trust as righteousness, though the Hebrew pronouns also permit Abram regarding God's promise as righteous or reliable. The draft retains the pronouns rather than inserting either person's name. The verse does not by itself supply the arguments made from it by later writers.

15:9–18 — Covenant rite. The three animals are understood as three years old; “three of each” is another interpretation. Passing between divided animals belongs to the covenant scene, but the text does not expressly recite a self-curse formula. “Made a covenant” translates the conventional Hebrew expression “cut a covenant.”

15:13–16 — Years; generations. Four hundred years and a fourth generation are both stated. The wording does not expressly allocate all four hundred years to one phase of foreign residence, enslavement, and affliction. “Go to your fathers” is a death expression; the burial is stated separately.

15:18–21 — Land grant. “I have given” preserves the completed form used in the promise. The river of Egypt is not securely identified here with either the Nile or the smaller border watercourse elsewhere called the brook of Egypt. The named peoples and broad boundaries are retained without imposing a later political map.