A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 15
Chapter summary coming soon.
Verse 1. After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
Verse 2. But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Verse 3. Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Verse 4. Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
Verse 5. And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Verse 6. Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Verse 7. The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Verse 8. But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”
Verse 9. And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”
Verse 10. So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Verse 11. And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
Verse 12. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.
Verse 13. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
Verse 14. But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.
Verse 15. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
Verse 16. In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Verse 17. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.
Verse 18. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
Verse 19. the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Verse 20. Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
Verse 21. Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”