The Lord’s Covenant With Abram
1After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,15:1 Or sovereign
your very great reward.15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great”
2But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring15:5 Or seed be.”
6Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7He 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.”
8But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9So 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.”
10Abram 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. 11Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13Then 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. 14But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi15:18 Or river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Agano La Mungu Na Abramu
115:1 1Sam 3:10; 15:10; 2Sam 7:4; 22:3, 31; 1Fal 6:11; 12:22; Yer 1:8, 13; Eze 3:16; Dan 10:1; Mwa 21:17; 26:24; 46:3; 46:2; Rut 1:20; Hes 12:6; 24:4; Ay 33:15; Kut 14:13; 20:20; 2Fal 6:16; Hag 2:5; 2Nya 20:15-17; Za 3:3; 5:12; 18:2, 20; 37:25; 58:11; 28:7; 33:20; 84:11; 119:114; 144:2; 27:1; Isa 7:4; 41:10-14; 43:1, 5; Kum 33:29; Mit 2:7; 30:5Baada ya jambo hili, neno la Bwana likamjia Abramu katika maono:
“Usiogope, Abramu.
Mimi ni ngao yako,
na thawabu yako kubwa sana.”
215:2 Isa 49:22; Yer 44:26; Eze 5:11; 16:48; Mdo 7:5; Mwa 14:15Lakini Abramu akasema, “Ee Bwana Mwenyezi, utanipa nini na mimi sina hata mtoto na atakayerithi nyumba yangu ni huyu Eliezeri Mdameski?” 315:3 Mwa 24:2, 34; 12:5Abramu akasema, “Hukunipa watoto, hivyo mtumishi katika nyumba yangu ndiye atakuwa mrithi wangu.”
415:4 Gal 4:28Ndipo neno la Bwana lilipomjia: “Mtu huyu hatakuwa mrithi wako, bali mwana atakayetoka katika viuno vyako mwenyewe ndiye atakayekuwa mrithi wako.” 515:5 Ay 11:8; 35:5; Za 8:3; 147:4; Yer 30:19; 33:22; Mwa 12:2; Rum 4:18; Ebr 11:12; Kut 32:13Akamtoa nje na kusema, “Tazama juu kuelekea mbinguni na uhesabu nyota, kama hakika utaweza kuzihesabu.” Ndipo akamwambia, “Hivyo ndivyo uzao wako utakavyokuwa.”
615:6 Za 106:31; Rum 4:3, 20-24; Gal 3:6; Yak 2:23Abramu akamwamini Bwana, naye kwake hili likahesabiwa kuwa haki.
715:7 Mwa 12:1; 13:17; 17:8; 28:4; 35:12; 48:4; Kut 6:8; 20:2; Mdo 7:3; Ebr 11:8; Kum 9:5Pia akamwambia, “Mimi ndimi Bwana, niliyekutoa toka Uru ya Wakaldayo nikupe nchi hii uimiliki.”
815:8 Lk 1:18; Kum 12:20; 19:8Lakini Abramu akasema, “Ee Bwana Mwenyezi, nitawezaje kujua kwamba nitapata kuimiliki?”
915:9 Hes 19:2; Kum 21:3; Hos 4:16; Amo 4:1; 1Sam 1:24; Law 1:14; 5:7, 11; 12:8Ndipo Bwana akamwambia, “Niletee mtamba wa ngʼombe, mbuzi na kondoo dume, kila mmoja wa miaka mitatu, pamoja na hua na kinda la njiwa.”
1015:10 Yer 34:18; Law 1:17; 5:8Abramu akamletea hivi vyote, akampasua kila mnyama vipande viwili, akavipanga kila kimoja kuelekea mwenzake, lakini hata hivyo ndege, hakuwapasua vipande viwili. 1115:11 Kum 28:26; Yer 7:33Kisha ndege walao nyama wakatua juu ya mizoga, lakini Abramu akawafukuza.
1215:12 Mwa 2:21Wakati jua lilipokuwa linatua, Abramu akashikwa na usingizi mzito, giza nene na la kutisha likaja juu yake. 1315:13 Kut 1:11; 3:7; 5:6-14; 12:40; Ay 3:18; Kum 5:15; Mdo 7:6; Hes 20:15; Gal 3:17Kisha Bwana akamwambia, “Ujue hakika kwamba wazao wako watakuwa wageni kwenye nchi ambayo si yao, nao watafanywa watumwa na kuteswa kwa miaka mia nne. 1415:14 Mwa 50:24; Kut 3:8; 6:6-8; 12:25; 12:32-38; Hes 10:29; Yos 1:2; Mdo 7:7Lakini nitaliadhibu taifa lile watakalolitumikia kama watumwa, na baadaye watatoka huko na mali nyingi. 1515:15 Mwa 25:8; 35:29; 47:30; 49:29; Kum 31:16; 34:7; 2Sam 7:12; 1Fal 1:21; Za 49:19; 91:16; Kut 23:29; Yos 14:11; Amu 8:32; 1Nya 29:28; Ay 5:26; 21:23; 42:17; Mit 3:16; 9:11; Isa 65:20Wewe, hata hivyo utakwenda kwa baba zako kwa amani na kuzikwa katika uzee mwema. 1615:16 Kut 3:8, 17; 12:40; Mwa 28:15; 46:4; 48:21; 50:24; Law 18:28; Yos 13:4; Amu 10:11; Eze 16:3; 1Fal 21:26; 2Fal 16:3; 21:11Katika kizazi cha nne wazao wako watarudi hapa, kwa maana dhambi ya Waamori bado haijafikia kipimo kilichojaa.”
1715:17 Amu 7:16-20; 14:4-5Wakati jua lilipokuwa limezama na giza limeingia, tanuru la moshi na mwali wa moto unaowaka vikatokea na kupita kati ya vile vipande vya nyama. 1815:18 Mwa 2:14; 4:7; 12:7; 17:2-7; Kut 6:4; 34:10, 27; 1Nya 16:16; Za 105:9; Hes 34:5; Isa 27:12; Yos 15:4, 47; 1Fal 8:65; 2Fal 24:7; 2Nya 7:8; Yer 37:5; 46:2; Mao 4:17; Eze 30:22; 47:19Siku hiyo Bwana akafanya Agano na Abramu, na kumwambia, “Nitawapa wazao wako nchi hii, kuanzia Kijito cha Misri15:18 Kijito cha Misri hapa ina maana Wadi-el-Arish kwenye mpaka wa kusini wa Yuda. hadi mto ule mkubwa, Frati, 1915:19 Hes 24:21; Amu 1:16; 4:11; 5:24; 1Sam 15:6; 27:10; 30:29; 1Nya 2:55yaani nchi ya Wakeni, Wakenizi, Wakadmoni, 2015:20 Mwa 10:15; Kum 7:1; Mwa 13:7; 14:5Wahiti, Waperizi, Warefai, 2115:21 Mwa 10:16; Yos 3:10; 24:11; Neh 9:8Waamori, Wakanaani, Wagirgashi na Wayebusi.”
