New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."
1
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, "O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house 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 offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir."
3
Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."
4 But the word of the Lord came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir."
4
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 brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants 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 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
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And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."
7 Then he said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess."
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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 he said, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
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Abram said, "Master God, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
9 He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, 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 He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
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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 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
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Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon 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 Abram, "Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years;
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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 bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall 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 As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in 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 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
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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 gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these 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, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river 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, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
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the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
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Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
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Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.