Genesis 15:7-21

New International Reader's Version

⁷ He also said to Abram, “I am the Lord. I brought you out of Ur in the land of Babylon. I will give you this land to have as your very own.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord and King, how can I know I will have this land as my own?”

⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a young cow, a goat and a ram. Each must be three years old. Bring a dove and a young pigeon along with them.”

¹⁰ Abram brought all of them to the Lord. Abram cut them in two and placed the halves opposite each other. But he didn’t cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Then large birds came down to eat the dead bodies of the animals and birds. But Abram chased the large birds away.

¹² As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. A thick and scary darkness covered him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “You can be sure of what I am about to tell you. For 400 years, your family who comes after you will be strangers in another country. They will become slaves there and will be treated badly. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves. After that, they will leave with many possessions. ¹⁵ But you will die in peace. You will join the members of your family who have already died. And you will be buried when you are very old. ¹⁶ Your children’s grandchildren will come back here. That’s because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached the point where I must punish them.”

¹⁷ The sun set and it became dark. Then a burning torch and a pot filled with smoking coals appeared. They passed between the pieces of the animals that had been cut in two. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. He said, “I am giving this land to your family who comes after you. It reaches from the River of Egypt to the great Euphrates River. ¹⁹ It includes the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites and Rephaites. ²¹ The Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites also live there.”