21 verses
God reaffirms his covenant with Abram, promising land and descendants despite Abram’s childlessness, illustrated through a symbolic sacrifice and a divine vision.
In Genesis 15, Abram receives a vision in which God declares himself his shield and promises a great reward. Abram questions how he will receive an heir, to which God responds that his offspring will come from his own flesh, not from his servant. God instructs Abram to sacrifice a heifer, goat, ram, and two birds; the birds are spared while the animals are divided. As night falls, Abram is enveloped in darkness and experiences a terrifying vision. God then declares that Abram’s descendants will be foreigners in a land not theirs for 400 years, yet they will be delivered and ultimately possess the promised land. Abram is told he will return to his fathers in peace and will be buried in a good old age. A covenant fire appears between the sacrificial pieces, and God formally sets the covenant, defining the borders from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, listing the peoples who will inhabit the land.
mixed
The chapter contains both reassurance of divine promise and the unsettling vision of darkness, reflecting a complex emotional landscape.