The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household^(A) to the land^(B) I will show you.^(C)

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot^(I) went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old^(J) when he set out from Harran.^(K)

⁷ He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^(A) of Ur of the Chaldeans^(B) to give you this land to take possession of it.”^(C)

⁸ But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(D) how can I know^(E) that I will gain possession of it?”^(F)

⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^(G) a goat and a ram, each three years old,^(H) along with a dove and a young pigeon.^(I)”

¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^(J) the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^{(K) 11} Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^(L) but Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^(M) and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^(N) your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^(O) and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^(P) with great possessions.^{(Q) 15} You, however, will go to your ancestors^(R) in peace and be buried at a good old age.^{(S) 16} In the fourth generation^(T) your descendants will come back here,^(U) for the sin of the Amorites^(V) has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^(W) appeared and passed between the pieces.^{(X) 18} On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^(Y) and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^(Z) from the Wadi^[a] of Egypt^(AA) to the great river, the Euphrates^(AB)— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites,^(AC) Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites,^(AD) Perizzites,^(AE) Rephaites,^{(AF) 21} Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^(AG)

² To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers,^(A) listen to me! The God of glory^(B) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.^{(C) 3} ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’^[a](D)

⁴ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.^{(E) 5} He gave him no inheritance here,^(F) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,^(G) even though at that time Abraham had no child. ⁶ God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.^{(H) 7} But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’^{[b](I) 8} Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.^(J) And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth.^(K) Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,^(L) and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.^(M)

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace^(A) and may be guaranteed^(B) to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.^{(C) 17} As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a](D) He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life^(E) to the dead and calls^(F) into being things that were not.^(G)

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,^(H) just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^{[b](I) 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead^(J)—since he was about a hundred years old^(K)—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.^{(L) 20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened^(M) in his faith and gave glory to God,^{(N) 21} being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.^{(O) 22} This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”^(P)