- 1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
- 2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
- 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
- 4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
- 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
- 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
- 7And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
- 8And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
- 9And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
- 10And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
- 11And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
- 12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
- 13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
- 14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
- 15And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
- 16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
- 17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
- 18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
- 19The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
- 20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
- 21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
KING JAMES VERSION
GENESIS 15
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Genesis 15 — God counts Abram’s faith as righteousness and seals the promise of descendants and land through a solemn covenant.
About this illustration
The vision is rendered through stars, flame, smoke, and the divided offerings described in the text. No bodily form is assigned to God; the supernatural elements remain visual signs of the covenant encounter.
Scripture basis: Genesis 15:1–21King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
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Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Approximately fifteenth–fourteenth centuries BC
Nuzi Household and Legal Tablets
More than five thousand tablets from Nuzi preserve the legal and economic choices of Late Bronze Age households, supplying valuable context for Genesis while exposing the danger of turning broad ancient customs into proofs of patriarchal biography.
Genesis 15:1–4 · Genesis 16:1–4 · Genesis 27:1–40
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Late second or early third century AD
P.Oxy. IV 656: An Early Greek Genesis Codex
Four papyrus leaves from a late-second- or early-third-century Genesis codex preserve Abraham, Lot, Isaac, and Jacob passages together with revealing gaps and later additions at divine-name locations.
Genesis 14:21–23 · Genesis 15:5–9 · Genesis 19:32–38
Prophecy Events
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