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BOOK 1 OF 66 · LAW · KING JAMES BIBLE

Genesis 15

Genesis book home•Chapter 15 of 50•21 verses
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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Genesis 15 Overview

Genesis 15 records one of Scripture’s foundational covenant scenes. After Abram’s rescue and refusal of Sodom’s wealth, the LORD tells him not to fear and promises to be his shield and reward. Abram raises the unresolved problem of having no child. God promises an heir from Abram’s own body and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram believes the LORD, and it is counted to him for righteousness. God then confirms the land promise through a covenant ceremony and foretells Israel’s future affliction and deliverance.

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Before you read Genesis 15

Coming from

Genesis 14 ends with Abram refusing Sodom’s riches and honoring the most high God.

In this chapter

God answers Abram’s fear and childlessness with promise, and Scripture explicitly records righteousness being counted to Abram through belief.

Leads into

Genesis 16 shows Abram and Sarai attempting to obtain the promised child through Hagar, producing conflict and the birth of Ishmael.

Key understanding

Genesis 15 records one of Scripture’s foundational covenant scenes. After Abram’s rescue and refusal of Sodom’s wealth, the LORD tells him not to fear and promises to be his shield and reward. Abram raises the unresolved problem of having no child. God promises an heir from Abram’s own body and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram believes the LORD, and it is counted to him for righteousness. God then confirms the land promise through a covenant ceremony and foretells Israel’s future affliction and deliverance.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God himself is Abram’s shield and reward.

Truth 2

The promised heir will come from Abram’s own body.

Truth 3

Abram’s belief is counted for righteousness.

Truth 4

The covenant ceremony emphasizes God’s commitment to fulfill the promise.

Truth 5

Future Egyptian affliction and exodus are foretold generations in advance.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Romans 4 makes Genesis 15:6 a central text for justification by faith apart from works.

Connection 2

Galatians 3 likewise uses Abraham’s faith to explain justification and promise.

Connection 3

James 2 refers to Abraham’s later offering of Isaac, which occurs after the righteousness statement here.

Connection 4

Exodus fulfills the prophecy concerning affliction, deliverance, and departure with great substance.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Genesis 15:6 is explicit: Abram believed the LORD, and righteousness was counted to him. Works are not inserted into that statement.

Keep this clear 2

The later covenant ceremony does not undo the faith statement; it confirms God’s pledged promise.

Keep this clear 3

The “smoking furnace” and “burning lamp” pass between the pieces while Abram is in deep sleep, highlighting divine commitment.

Keep this clear 4

The stated land boundaries belong to the Abrahamic covenant and should not be spiritualized away before being understood literally.

Read Genesis 15 watching for…Explore deeper

Abram’s questions and God’s answers.

The stars as the sign of numerous seed.

The exact order: promise → belief → righteousness counted.

Abram’s deep sleep during the covenant sign.

Specific future events God reveals about Abram’s descendants.

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline4 sections
1-6God promises Abram a son and Abram believes7-11Abram prepares the covenant sacrifice12-16God foretells affliction and return17-21God confirms the covenant and the land
1

After 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.

2

And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

3

And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4

And, 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.

5

And 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.

6

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

7

And 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.

8

And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9

And 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.

10

And 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.

11

And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

12

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13

And 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;

14

And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17

And 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.

18

In 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:

19

The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20

And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21

And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

STUDY THIS VERSE

Genesis 15:16

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