Thematic Bible
Genesis 15:1 (show verse)
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."
Genesis 15:2 (show verse)
But Abram said, "O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?"
Genesis 15:3 (show verse)
Abram added, "Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!"
Genesis 15:4 (show verse)
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."
Genesis 15:5 (show verse)
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."
Genesis 15:6 (show verse)
Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.
Genesis 15:7 (show verse)
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."
Genesis 15:8 (show verse)
But Abram said, "O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?"
Genesis 15:9 (show verse)
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."
Genesis 15:10 (show verse)
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.
Genesis 15:11 (show verse)
When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
Genesis 15:12 (show verse)
When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him.
Genesis 15:13 (show verse)
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.
Genesis 15:14 (show verse)
But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Genesis 15:15 (show verse)
But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
Genesis 15:16 (show verse)
In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit."
Genesis 15:17 (show verse)
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.
Genesis 15:18 (show verse)
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 --
Genesis 15:19 (show verse)
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Genesis 15:20 (show verse)
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
Genesis 15:21 (show verse)
Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."