Genesis 15:11-21

11 And fowls came down on the carrions, and Abram drove them away. (And when birds came down onto the carcasses, Abram drove them away.)
12 And when the sun was gone down, dread felled on Abram, and a great hideousness and dark assailed him. (And as the sun went down, fear fell upon Abram, and a great dark hideousness assailed him.)
13 And it was said to him, Know thou (a) before-knowing, that thy seed shall be [a] pilgrim four hundred years in a land not his own, and they shall make them subject to servage, and they shall torment them; (And the Lord said to him, Know thou a fore-knowing, that thy descendants shall be foreigners in a land not their own, and they shall make them subject to servitude, or to slavery, and they shall torment them for four hundred years;)
14 nevertheless I shall deem the folk to whom they shall serve; and after these things they shall go out with great chattel. (nevertheless I shall judge the nation for whom they shall be slaves; and after these things they shall go out with many possessions.)
15 Forsooth thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and shalt be buried in (a) good [eld] age.
16 Soothly in the fourth generation they shall turn again hither, for the wickedness of [the] Amorites be not yet [full-]filled, till to (this) present time (until now).
17 Therefore when the sun was gone down, a dark mist was made, and a furnace smoking appeared, and a lamp of fire, and (it) passed through those partings. (And when the sun had gone down, a dark mist came, and a smoking furnace appeared, and a lamp of fire which passed between the pieces of the animals.)
18 In that day the Lord made a covenant of peace with Abram, and said, I shall give to thy seed this land, from the river of Egypt till to the great river Euphrates; (And on that day, the Lord made a covenant of peace with Abram, and said, I shall give this land to thy descendants, from the River of Egypt, that is, the Nile, or the Shihor River, unto the great Euphrates River;)
19 (yea, the lands of the) Kenites, and Kenizzites, and Kadmonites,
20 and Hittites, and Perizzites, and Rephaims,
21 and Amorites, and Canaanites, and Girgashites, and Jebusites.

Genesis 15:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 15

This chapter informs us of a gracious appearance of God to Abram, and of a kind promise made unto him, Ge 15:1; of Abram's request for an heir, Ge 15:2,3; of an answer to it, that he should have one, and even a numberless seed, Ge 15:4,5; which he gave credit to, Ge 15:6; upon which he has a fresh promise of the land of Canaan, Ge 15:7; of his inheriting of which he desires a sign, and this was given him, Ge 15:8-12; and at the same time it was predicted to him how long his posterity should be afflicted in a land not theirs, and afterwards come out with great substance, Ge 15:13-16; and the grant of the land of Canaan to his seed is renewed, Ge 15:17-21.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.