Genesis 15:1-21
The Cutting of the Covenant
15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”
15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?”
15:3 Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!”
15:4 But look, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
15:5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.
15:7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
15:8 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?”
15:9 The Lord 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 took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him.
15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.
15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15:15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.
15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River –
15:19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Genesis 2:1
2:1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.
Ezekiel 19:6
19:6 He walked about among the lions; he became a young lion.
He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.
Matthew 14:10
14:10 So
he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.
Matthew 23:34-35
23:34 “For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town,
23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Acts 12:1-3
James is Killed and Peter Imprisoned
12:1 About that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them.
12:2 He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword.
12:3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too. (This took place during the feast of Unleavened Bread.)
Acts 12:1
James is Killed and Peter Imprisoned
12:1 About that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them.
Acts 2:15
2:15 In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk,
for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.
Revelation 11:7
11:7 When
they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them and conquer
them and kill them.