New International Version NIV
The Message Bible MSG
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,your very great reward. ”
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After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
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Abram said, "God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?"
3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
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Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."
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.”
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Then God's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir."
5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
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Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
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And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."
7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
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God continued, "I'm the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own."
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
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Abram said, "Master God, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
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God said, "Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon."
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.
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He brought all these animals to him, split them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. But he didn't split the birds.
11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
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Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off.
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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As the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.
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.
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God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years.
14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
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Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder.
15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
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But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death.
16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
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Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
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When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses.
18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
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That's when God made a covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria -
19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
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the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
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Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
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Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.