Genesis 15:16-21

15:16 In the fourth generation ¹  your descendants ²  will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.” ³ 

15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch ⁴  passed between the animal parts. ⁵  15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁶  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁷  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁸  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land ⁹  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” ¹⁰ 

[15:16]  ¹ sn The term generation is being used here in its widest sense to refer to a full life span. When the chronological factors are considered and the genealogies tabulated, there are four hundred years of bondage. This suggests that in this context a generation is equivalent to one hundred years.

[15:16]  ² tn Heb “they”; the referent (“your descendants”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[15:16]  ³ tn Heb “is not yet complete.”

[15:17]  ⁴ sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).

[15:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “these pieces.”

[15:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  ⁸ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  ⁹ tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  ¹⁰ tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.