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 23:1
The Death of Sarah
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years.
Genesis 26:2
26:2 The
Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt;
settle down in the land that I will point out to you.
Genesis 26:2
26:2 The
Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt;
settle down in the land that I will point out to you.
Genesis 22:10
22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter
his son.
Genesis 22:2
22:2 God
said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac
– and go to the land of Moriah!
Offer him up there as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains which I will indicate to
you.”
Genesis 34:18
34:18 Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.
Ezekiel 2:4-5
2:4 The people
to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted,
and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign
Lord says.’
2:5 And as for them,
whether they listen
or not – for they are a rebellious
house
– they will know that a prophet has been among them.