Genesis 15:12

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

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Genesis 15:12 in Other Translations

KJV

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

ESV

12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

NLT

12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.

MSG

12 As the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.

CSB

12 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and suddenly a terror and great darkness descended on him.

Genesis 15:12 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 15:12

And when the sun was going down
Just setting, descending below the hemisphere; or "about to enter" ^F13 into his chamber, as Piscator observes, from whence he went forth in the morning, as a strong man to run his race; which at sunset is finished according to human appearance, and the common apprehensions of men, who have thought it goes under the earth, or drops into the ocean, see ( Psalms 19:5 ) :

a deep sleep fell upon Abram:
through the great fatigue he had had the preceding day, in doing what is before related; or rather through a more than ordinary influence of God upon him, which bound up his senses, and cast him into an ecstasy or trance, when he had the following prophecy and vision, which more fully explained to him the emblem he had been conversant with; this was such a sleep as fell on Adam, ( Genesis 2:21 ) :

and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him;
or such darkness as was horrible and terrible, so it was represented to his mind in vision; which signified the great afflictions after expressed by darkness, that should come upon his children in Egypt and elsewhere: and so Jarchi says it refers to the distresses and darkness of their captivities in Egypt, and in other places. The Targumists observe, that Abram in this vision saw the four monarchies that should bring his children into bondage.

FOOTNOTES:

F13 (awbl vmvh yhyw) "et fuit sol ad intrandum", Montanus, Piscator.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Genesis 15:12 In-Context

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.

14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.