Genesis 15 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Covenant with Abram

God’s Promise to Abram

(Heb. 11:8–10 )

Gen 15:1After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Gen 15:2

Gen 15:2But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Gen 15:3

Gen 15:3Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

Gen 15:4

Gen 15:4And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

Gen 15:5

Gen 15:5Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Gen 15:6

Gen 15:6And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Gen 15:7

Gen 15:7Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

Gen 15:8

Gen 15:8And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

Gen 15:9

Gen 15:9So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

Gen 15:10

Gen 15:10Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

Gen 15:11

Gen 15:11And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

Gen 15:12

Gen 15:12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.

Gen 15:13

Gen 15:13Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.

Gen 15:14

Gen 15:14“And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

Gen 15:15

Gen 15:15“Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.

Gen 15:16

Gen 15:16“But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

Gen 15:17

Gen 15:17And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

Gen 15:18

Gen 15:18On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—

Gen 15:19

Gen 15:19“the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,

Gen 15:20

Gen 15:20“the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

Gen 15:21

Gen 15:21“the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.