Genesis 15:17-21

15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch ¹  passed between the animal parts. ²  15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ³  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁴  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁵  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land ⁶  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” ⁷ 

[15:17]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “these pieces.”

[15:18]  ³ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  ⁶ tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  ⁷ tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.