Promises to Abram^(A)

12 Now the ^(B)Lord had said to Abram:

⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and ^(J)the ^[a]people whom they had acquired ^(K)in Haran, and they ^(L)departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram ^(M)passed through the land to the place of Shechem, ^(N)as far as ^[b]the terebinth tree of Moreh. ^(O)And the Canaanites were then in the land.

^7 (P)Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(Q)“To your ^[c]descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an ^(R)altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(S)called on the name of the Lord. ⁹ So Abram journeyed, ^(T)going on still toward the ^[d]South.

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰ Now there was ^(U)a famine in the land, and Abram ^(V)went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was ^(W)severe in the land. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are ^(X)a woman of beautiful countenance. ¹² Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they ^(Y)will kill me, but they will let you live. ^13 (Z)Please say you are my ^(AA)sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that ^[e]I may live because of you.”

¹⁴ So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He ^(AB)treated Abram well for her sake. He ^(AC)had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(AD)plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ And Pharaoh called Abram and said, ^(AE)“What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” ^20 (AF)So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

God’s Covenant with Abram^(A)

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram ^(B)in a vision, saying, ^(C)“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your ^(D)shield, ^[a]your exceedingly ^(E)great reward.”

^2 (F)But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, ^(G)seeing I ^[b]go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed ^(H)one^[c] born in my house is my heir!”

⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who ^(I)will come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵ Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and ^(J)count the ^(K)stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, ^(L)“So shall your ^(M)descendants be.”

⁶ And he ^(N)believed in the Lord, and He ^(O)accounted it to him for righteousness.

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

⁸ And he said, “Lord God, ^(S)how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he brought all these to Him and ^(T)cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut ^(U)the birds in two. ¹¹ And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² Now when the sun was going down, ^(V)a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly ^(W)that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and ^(X)they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve ^(Y)I will judge; afterward ^(Z)they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ Now as for you, ^(AA)you shall ^[d]go ^(AB)to your fathers in peace; ^(AC)you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But ^(AD)in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity ^(AE)of the Amorites ^(AF)is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that ^(AG)passed between those pieces. ¹⁸ On the same day the Lord ^(AH)made a covenant with Abram, saying:

^(AI)“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— ¹⁹ the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”