Discovery BoxGenesis 15:8-11 
Context15:8 But 1 Abram 2 said, “O sovereign Lord, 3 by what 4 can I know that I am to possess it?”
15:9 The Lord 5 said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram 6 took all these for him and then cut them in two 7 and placed each half opposite the other, 8 but he did not cut the birds in half. 15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
Genesis 15:17-18
Context15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch 9 passed between the animal parts. 10 15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant 11 with Abram: “To your descendants I give 12 this land, from the river of Egypt 13 to the great river, the Euphrates River –
1 tn Here the vav carries adversative force and is translated “but.”
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn See note on the phrase “sovereign
4 tn Or “how.”
5 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “in the middle.”
8 tn Heb “to meet its neighbor.”
sn For discussion of this ritual see G. F. Hasel, “The Meaning of the Animal Rite in Genesis 15,” JSOT 19 (1981): 61-78.
9 sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).
10 tn Heb “these pieces.”
11 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
12 tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).
sn To your descendants I give this land. The
13 sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.
