Genesis 15

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Some time later, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram! I am yourshield and shal give you a very great reward.	1 Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great.
2 'Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, 'what use are your gifts, as I am going on my way childless? . . .	2 And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer.
3 Since you have given me no offspring,' Abram continued, 'a member of my household will be my heir.'	3 And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my servant, born in my house, shall be my heir.
4 Then Yahweh's word came to him in reply, 'Such a one wil not be your heir; no, your heir will be theissue of your own body.'	4 And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir.
5 Then taking him outside, he said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so wil yourdescendants be,' he told him.	5 And he thought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars, if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be.
6 Abram put his faith in Yahweh and this was reckoned to him as uprightness.	6 Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.
7 He then said to him, 'I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to give you thiscountry as your possession.'	7 And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to gibe thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it.
8 'Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, 'how can I know that I shal possess it?'	8 But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?
9 He said to him, 'Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, aturtledove and a young pigeon.'	9 And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon.
10 He brought him all these, split the animals down the middle and placed each half opposite the other;but the birds he did not divide.	10 And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other; but the birds he divided not.
11 And whenever birds of prey swooped down on the carcases, Abram drove them off.	11 And the fowls came down upon carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 Now, as the sun was on the point of setting, a trance fel on Abram, and a deep dark dreaddescended on him.	12 And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him.
13 Then Yahweh said to Abram, 'Know this for certain, that your descendants will be exiles in a land nottheir own, and be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.	13 And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.
14 But I shal bring judgement on the nation that enslaves them and after this they wil leave, with manypossessions.	14 But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance.
15 For your part, you wil join your ancestors in peace; you wil be buried at a happy old age.	15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they wil come back here, for until then the iniquity of the Amorites wil nothave reached its ful extent.'	16 But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passingbetween the animals' pieces.	17 And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.
18 That day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram in these terms: 'To your descendants I give thiscountry, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the River Euphrates,	18 That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,	19 The Cineans and Cenezites, the Cedmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,	20 And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.'	21 And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanits, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.