1Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great.” 2Avram replied, “Adonai, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions? 3You haven’t given me a child,” Avram continued, “so someone born in my house will be my heir.” 4But the word of Adonai came to him: “This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body.” 5Then he brought him outside and said, “Look up at the sky, and count the stars — if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!” 6He believed in Adonai, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

(vi) 7Then he said to him, “I am Adonai, who brought you out from Ur-Kasdim to give you this land as your possession.” 8He replied, “Adonai, God, how am I to know that I will possess it?” 9He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these, cut the animals in two and placed the pieces opposite each other; but he didn’t cut the birds in half. 11Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Avram drove them away.

12As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Avram; horror and great darkness came over him. 13Adonai said to Avram, “Know this for certain: your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves and held in oppression there four hundred years. 14But I will also judge that nation, the one that makes them slaves. Afterwards, they will leave with many possessions. 15As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16Only in the fourth generation will your descendants come back here, because only then will the Emori be ripe for punishment.”

17After the sun had set and there was thick darkness, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared, which passed between these animal parts. 18That day Adonai made a covenant with Avram: “I have given this land to your descendants — from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River — 19the territory of the Keni, the K’nizi, the Kadmoni, 20the Hitti, the P’rizi, the Refa’im, 21the Emori, the Kena‘ani, the Girgashi and the Y’vusi.”

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Genesis 15

1 And so, these things having been transacted, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your protector, and your reward is exceedingly great."

2 And Abram said: "Lord God, what will you give to me? I may go without children. And the son of the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus."

3 And Abram added: "Yet to me you have not given offspring. And behold, my servant born in my house will be my heir."

4 And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: "This one will not be your heir. But he who will come from your loins, the same will you have for your heir."

5 And he brought him outside, and he said to him, "Take in the heavens, and number the stars, if you can." And he said to him, "So also will your offspring be."

6 Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

7 And he said to him, "I am the Lord who led you away from Ur of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land, and so that you would possess it."

8 But he said, "Lord God, in what way may I be able to know that I will possess it?"

9 And the Lord responded by saying: "Take for me a cow of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, also a turtle-dove and a pigeon."

10 Taking all these, he divided them through the middle, and placed both parts opposite one another. But the birds he did not divide.

11 And birds descended upon the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a dread, great and dark, invaded him.

13 And it was said to him: "Know beforehand that your future offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own, and they will subjugate them in servitude and afflict them for four hundred years.

14 Yet truly, I will judge the nation that they will serve, and after this they will depart with great substance.

15 But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.

16 But in the fourth generation, they will return here. For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet completed, even to this present time."

17 Then, when the sun had set, there came a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.

18 On that day, God formed a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt, even to the great river Euphrates:

19 the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites

20 and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, likewise the Rephaim,

21 and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

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B'resheet (Gen) 15

Genesis 15