Genesis 15:13-21

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 15:13-21 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.