Genesis 15

KING JAMES BIBLE	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.	1 Some time after these events, this word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great."
2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?	2 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.	3 Abram continued, "See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.	4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir."
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.	5 He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.	6 Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.	7 He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession."
8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?	8 "O Lord GOD," he asked, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?"
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.	9 He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.	10 He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.	11 Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.	12 As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;	13 Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.	14 But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.	15 You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.	16 In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.	17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:	18 It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates),
19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,	19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,	20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.	21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."