Genesis 15:7-11

15:7 The Lord said ¹  to him, “I am the Lord ²  who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ³  to give you this land to possess.” 15:8 But ⁴  Abram ⁵  said, “O sovereign Lord, ⁶  by what ⁷  can I know that I am to possess it?”

15:9 The Lord ⁸  said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram ⁹  took all these for him and then cut them in two ¹⁰  and placed each half opposite the other, ¹¹  but he did not cut the birds in half. 15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹ tn Heb “And he said.”

² sn I am the Lord. The Lord initiates the covenant-making ceremony with a declaration of who he is and what he has done for Abram. The same form appears at the beginning of the covenant made at Sinai (see Exod 20:1).

³ sn The phrase of the Chaldeans is a later editorial clarification for the readers, designating the location of Ur. From all evidence there would have been no Chaldeans in existence at this early date; they are known in the time of the neo-Babylonian empire in the first millennium b.c.

⁴ tn Here the vav carries adversative force and is translated “but.”

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn See note on the phrase “sovereign Lord” in 15:2.

⁷ tn Or “how.”

⁸ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “in the middle.”

¹¹ tn Heb “to meet its neighbor.”