Genesis 15

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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."	1 And so, these things having been transacted, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your protector, and your reward is exceedingly great.”
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?"	2 And Abram said: “Lord God, what will you give to me? I may go without children. And the son of the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.”
3 Abram continued, "See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."	3 And Abram added: “Yet to me you have not given offspring. And behold, my servant born in my house will be my 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."	4 And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: “This one will not be your heir. But he who will come from your loins, the same will you have for your heir.”
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."	5 And he brought him outside, and he said to him, “Take in the heavens, and number the stars, if you can.” And he said to him, “So also will your offspring be.”
6 Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.	6 Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.
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."	7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who led you away from Ur of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land, and so that you would possess it.”
8 "O Lord GOD," he asked, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?"	8 But he said, “Lord God, in what way may I be able to know that I will possess it?”
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."	9 And the Lord responded by saying: “Take for me a cow of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, also a turtle-dove and a pigeon.”
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.	10 Taking all these, he divided them through the middle, and placed both parts opposite one another. But the birds he did not divide.
11 Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them.	11 And birds descended upon the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.	12 And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a dread, great and dark, invaded him.
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.	13 And it was said to him: “Know beforehand that your future offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own, and they will subjugate them in servitude and afflict them for four hundred years.
14 But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.	14 Yet truly, I will judge the nation that they will serve, and after this they will depart with great substance.
15 You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.	15 But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.
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."	16 But in the fourth generation, they will return here. For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet completed, even to this present time.”
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.	17 Then, when the sun had set, there came a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.
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),	18 On that day, God formed a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt, even to the great river Euphrates:
19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,	19 the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,	20 and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, likewise the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."	21 and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”