Genesis 15

In which God makes a covenant with Abram.



Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible

15:1  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
15:2  And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
15:3  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
15:5  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
15:6  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
15:7  And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
15:8  And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
15:9  And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

If you kill some animals for me, I'll tell you all about it.

15:10  And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
15:11  And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15:15  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

And if anyone knows about iniquity (immoral or grossly unfair behavior), it's God.

15:17  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
15:18  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
15:19  The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
15:20  And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,
15:21  And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.