Yahweh’s Covenant with Abram

¹ After these things the word of Yahweh came¹ to Abram in a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.”

1. Literally “was”

² Then¹ Abram said, “O Yahweh, my Lord, what will you give me? ⌞I continue to be⌟² childless, and ⌞my heir⌟³ is Eliezer of Damascus.”

1. Or “And”
2. Literally “I am going”
3. Literally “the son of the inheritance of my house”

³ And Abram said, “Look, you have not given me a descendant, and here, ⌞a member of my household⌟¹ is ⌞my heir⌟.”²

1. Literally “a son of my house”
2. Literally “inheriting me”

⁴ And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, “This person will not ⌞be your heir⌟,¹ but ⌞your own son will be your heir⌟.”²

1. Literally “inherit you”
2. Literally “he who goes out from your body, he will inherit you”

⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶ And he believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give this land to you, to possess it.”

⁸ And he said, “O Yahweh God, how shall I know that I will possess it?”

⁹ And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite ⌞the other⌟,¹ but the birds he did not cut.

1. Literally “its companion”

¹¹ And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² And it happened, as the sun ⌞went down⌟,¹ then a deep sleep fell upon Abram and, behold, a great terrifying darkness fell upon him.

1. Literally “to go”

¹³ And he said to Abram, “⌞You must surely know⌟¹ that your descendants shall be as aliens in a land ⌞not their own⌟.² And they shall serve them³ and they⁴ shall oppress them four hundred years.

1. Literally “knowing you must know”
2. Literally “not to them”
3. Some nation hostile to Abram’s descendants (Egypt in later history)
4. Some nation hostile to Abram’s descendants (Egypt in later history)

¹⁴ And also the nation that they¹ serve I will judge. Then² afterward they shall go out with great possessions.

1. That is, Abram’s descendants
2. Or “And”

¹⁵ And as for you, you shall go to your ancestors¹ in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.

1. Or “fathers”

¹⁶ And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites ⌞is not yet complete⌟.”¹

1. Literally “is not complete up to now”

¹⁷ And after the sun had gone down and it was dusk, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between those half pieces.

¹⁸ On that day Yahweh ⌞made⌟¹ a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river,

1. Literally “cut”

¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”