Genesis 15

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 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 'Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, 'what use are your gifts, as I am going on my way childless? . . .	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 Since you have given me no offspring,' Abram continued, 'a member of my household 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 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: “This one will not be your heir. But he who will come from your loins, the same will you have for your 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 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 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 led you away from Ur of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land, and so that you would possess it.”
8 'Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, 'how can I know that I shal possess it?'	8 But he said, “Lord God, in what way may I be able to know that I will 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 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 the animals down the middle and placed each half opposite the other;but the birds he did not divide.	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 And whenever birds of prey swooped down on the carcases, Abram drove them off.	11 And birds descended upon the carcasses, but 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 dread, great and dark, invaded 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 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 shal bring judgement on the nation that enslaves them and after this they wil leave, with manypossessions.	14 Yet truly, I will judge the nation that they will serve, and after this they will depart with great substance.
15 For your part, you wil join your ancestors in peace; you wil be buried at a happy old age.	15 But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at 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 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 firepot and a flaming torch passingbetween the animals' 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 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 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 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.”