The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram^(A) in a vision:^(B)

² But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(F) what can you give me since I remain childless^(G) and the one who will inherit^[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?^(H)” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant^(I) in my household^(J) will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.^(K)” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^(L)—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^[d] be.”^(M)

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^(N)

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

⁸ But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^(R) how can I know^(S) that I will gain possession of it?”^(T)

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

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

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

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^(AK) appeared and passed between the pieces.^{(AL) 18} On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^(AM) and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^(AN) from the Wadi^[e] of Egypt^(AO) to the great river, the Euphrates^(AP)— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites,^(AQ) Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites,^(AR) Perizzites,^(AS) Rephaites,^{(AT) 21} Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^(AU)

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai,^(AV) Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.^(AW) But she had an Egyptian slave^(AX) named Hagar;^{(AY) 2} so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.^(AZ) Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”^(BA)

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³ So after Abram had been living in Canaan^(BB) ten years,^(BC) Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴ He slept with Hagar,^(BD) and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.^{(BE) 5} Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”^(BF)

⁶ “Your slave is in your hands,^(BG)” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated^(BH) Hagar; so she fled from her.

⁷ The angel of the Lord^(BI) found Hagar near a spring^(BJ) in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.^{(BK) 8} And he said, “Hagar,^(BL) slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”^(BM)

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

⁹ Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰ The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”^(BN)

¹¹ The angel of the Lord^(BO) also said to her:

¹³ She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,^(BV)” for she said, “I have now seen^[h] the One who sees me.”^{(BW) 14} That is why the well^(BX) was called Beer Lahai Roi^[i];^(BY) it is still there, between Kadesh^(BZ) and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar^(CA) bore Abram a son,^(CB) and Abram gave the name Ishmael^(CC) to the son she had borne. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old^(CD) when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Psalm 9^[a][b]

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.