1After all this had happened, God spoke to Abram in a vision, telling him, “Don't be afraid, Abram! I am your protector, and your truly great reward!”

2But Abram replied, “Lord God, what good is whatever you give me? I don't have any children, and the heir to all that I have is Eliezer of Damascus.”#15:2. It was the practice of the time for childless couples to appoint their most trusted servant as their heir. 3Abram went on to complain, “Look! You haven't given me any children, so a servant from my household has to be my heir!”

4But then the Lord told him, “This man won't be your heir. Your heir will be your very own son.”

5The Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky. See if you can count the stars! That's how many descendants you will have!”

6Abram trusted what the Lord said, and so the Lord counted Abram as being in a right relationship with him.

7The Lord also told him, “I am the Lord, who led you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land for you to own.”

8“But Lord God, how can I be certain that I will own it?” Abram asked.

9The Lord told him, “Bring me a cow, a goat, and a ram, all of them three years old, together with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10So Abram took and killed the three animals. Then he cut them in half, and placed each half opposite the other. However, he didn't cut the birds in half. 11When vultures flew down on the carcasses, Abram frightened them off.

12As the sun went down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and at the same time a dense and terrifying darkness fell on him. 13The Lord explained to Abram, “You can be absolutely sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be slaves and mistreated for 400 years. 14However, I will punish the nation that makes them slaves, and later on they will leave, taking many valuable possessions with them. 15But as for you, you will die in peace and be buried, having lived a good long life. 16Four generations later your descendants will come back here to live, because right now the sins of the Amorites have not reached their full extent.”

17After the sun set and it grew dark, suddenly a smoking furnace and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the animal carcasses. 18This is how the Lord made an agreement with Abram that day and promised him, “I'm giving this land to your descendants. It extends from the Wadi of Egypt#15:18. “Wadi of Egypt”: Not the Nile, but what is known as the Wadi Arish today. See Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4, Joshua 15:47. to the great Euphrates River, 19and includes the territory of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com

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Bereshis 15

1After these things the Devar Hashem came unto Avram in a makhazeh, saying, Fear not, Avram; I am thy mogen, and thy exceeding great sachar (reward).

2And Avram said, Adonoi Hashem, what wilt Thou give me, since I go childless, and the Ben Meshek of my Bais is this Eli'ezer of Damesek (Damascus)?

3And Avram said, See, to me Thou hast given no zera; and, hinei, one born in my bais is my yoresh (heir).

4And, hinei, the Devar Hashem came unto him saying, This shall not be thy yoresh; but he that shall come forth out of thine own body shall be thy yoresh.

5And He brought him forth outside, and said, Look now toward Shomayim, and count the kokhavim, if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall thy zera be.

6And he believed in Hashem; and He credited [emunah (faith)] to him as tzedakah (righteousness).

7And He said unto him, I am Hashem Who brought thee out of Ur Kasdim, to give thee ha'aretz hazot to be the yoresh of it.

8And he said, Adonoi Hashem, how can I have da'as that I will be its yoresh?

9And He said unto him, Bring Me a heifer meshuleshet, and a she goat meshuleshet, and a ram meshulash, and a dove, and a pigeon.

10And he brought unto Him all these, and divided them in two, and laid each half one opposite another; but the birds divided he not.

11And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Avram drove them away.

12And when the shemesh was going down, a tardemah fell upon Avram; and, hinei, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13And Hashem said unto Avram, Know of a surety that thy zera shall be a ger in a land not their own, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them arba me'ot shanah;

14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with rechush gadol (great substance).

15And thou shalt go to thy avot in shalom; thou shalt be buried at a good old age.

16But in the fourth generation they shall come back here again; for the avon (iniquity) of the Emori (Amorite) is not yet full.

17And it came to pass, that, when the shemesh went down, and it was dark, hinei a smoking fire-pot, and a blazing torch passed between those pieces.

18On that day Hashem cut a brit (covenant) with Avram, saying, Unto thy zera have I given ha'aretz hazot, from the Wadi of Mitzrayim unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19[the land of] the Keni, and the Kenizzi, and the Kadmoni,

20And the Chitti, and the Perizzi, and the Repha'im,

21And the Emori, and the Kena'ani, and the Girgashi, and the Yevusi.

THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE

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Genesis 15

Bereshis 15