創世記15:7-21

15:7 耶和華又對他說：「我是耶和華，曾領你出了迦勒底的吾珥，為要將這地賜你為業。」
15:8 亞伯蘭說：「主耶和華啊，我怎能知道必得這地為業呢？」
15:9 他說：「你為我取一隻三年的母牛，一隻三年的母山羊，一隻三年的公綿羊，一隻斑鳩，一隻雛鴿。」
15:10 亞伯蘭就取了這些來，每樣劈開，分成兩半，一半對著一半地擺列，只有鳥沒有劈開。
15:11 有鷙鳥下來，落在那死畜的肉上，亞伯蘭就把牠嚇飛了。
15:12 日頭正落的時候，亞伯蘭沉沉地睡了；忽然有驚人的大黑暗落在他身上。
15:13 耶和華對亞伯蘭說：「你要的確知道，你的後裔必寄居別人的地，又服事那地的人；那地的人要苦待他們四百年。
15:14 並且他們所要服事的那國，我要懲罰，後來他們必帶著許多財物從那裡出來。
15:15 但你要享大壽數，平平安安地歸到你列祖那裡，被人埋葬。
15:16 到了第四代，他們必回到此地，因為亞摩利人的罪孽還沒有滿盈。」
15:17 日落天黑，不料有冒煙的爐並燒著的火把從那些肉塊中經過。
15:18 當那日，耶和華與亞伯蘭立約，說：「我已賜給你的後裔，從埃及河直到幼發拉底大河之地，
15:19 就是基尼人、基尼洗人、甲摩尼人、
15:20 赫人、比利洗人、利乏音人、
15:21 亞摩利人、迦南人、革迦撒人、耶布斯人之地。」

  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.”
⁸ But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
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.”
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. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi^[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

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    上帝和亞伯拉罕在這裡立永約，並且表明祂必定遵守這約，正如17節的描述：「日落天黑，不料有冒煙的爐並燒著的火把從那些肉塊中經過」。而這些肉塊如10節所說：「亞伯蘭就取了這些來，每樣劈開，分成兩半，一半對著一半地擺列」。

    而這樣的排列是當時立約的規矩，告訴兩方要彼此守約，若不守約就會像這些牲畜一般被劈成兩半。也因此，既然是約，就有彼此提醒要遵守所約定的事情，不可以後悔或不願意達成。

    然而這段敘述也預言到將來出埃及的事件，相信上帝會拯救以色列人，並且要用以色列人來預備上帝的救恩。而這樣的應許，是透過「以色列人進入迦南地，並以迦南地為業」來顯明！

    對人好像是歷史的演進，對上帝而言早就已經命定！