Genesis 15:18

Verse

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

American Standard Version (1901)

In that day Jehovah 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:

Bible in Basic English

In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram, and said, To your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Douay-Rheims 1899

That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.

Free Bible Version

This is how the Lord made an agreement with Abram that day and promised him, “I'm giving this land to your descendants. It extends from the Wadi of Egypt to the great Euphrates River,

Geneva Bible 1599

In that same day the Lord made a couenant with Abram, saying, Vnto thy seede haue I giuen this lande, from the riuer of Egypt vnto the great riuer, the riuer Euphrates.

King James (Authorized) Version

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:

One Unity Resource Bible

In that day Adonai made a covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties· with Avram [Exalted father], saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt [Abode of slavery] to the great river, the river Euphrates [Fruitful]:

Plain English Version

That’s how God showed Abram that he was really going to do everything that he promised. God said to him again, “I am going to give your family all this country, from the river in Egypt in the south, right up to the big river called Euphrates in the north. These are the tribes in this country now, – the Ken tribe, – the Keniz tribe, – the Kadmon tribe, – the Heth tribe, – the Periz tribe, – the Refa tribe, – the Amor tribe, – the Canaan tribe, – the Girgash tribe, – the Jebus tribe. I will take this country away from all those tribes, and I will give it to your family.” God promised that to Abram.

Translation for Translators

And on that day Yahweh made an agreement with Abram. Yahweh told him, “I will give to your descendants all the land between the river that is on the eastern border of Egypt to the south, and north to the huge Euphrates River.

Unlocked Literal Bible

On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I hereby give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

Noah Webster Bible

In that same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

World English Bible

In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Young's Literal Translation

In that day hath Jehovah made with Abram a covenant, saying, 'To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Phrat,

Context

God Confirms His Promise

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

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Summary

In Genesis 15:18, God makes a covenant with Abram, promising him and his descendants the land from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River. This covenant reaffirms God's faithfulness to His chosen people and foreshadows the fulfillment of His promises in the future. The expansive territory mentioned symbolizes the abundance and blessings that God intends to bestow upon Abram's descendants. This verse underscores the importance of God's covenant relationship with His people and His commitment to fulfill His plans for them.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Keil-Delitzsch
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

The Lord made a covenant - כרת ברית carath berith signifies to cut a covenant, or rather the covenant sacrifice; for as no covenant was made without one, and the creature was cut in two that the contracting parties might pass between the pieces, hence cutting the covenant signified making the covenant. The same form of speech obtained among the Romans; and because, in making their covenants they always slew an animal, either by cutting its throat, or knocking it down with a stone or axe, after which they divided the parts as we have already seen, hence among the percutere faedus, to smite a covenant, and scindere faedus, to cleave a covenant, were terms which signified simply to make or enter into a covenant. From the river of Egypt - Not the Nile, but the river called Sichor, which was before or on the border of Egypt, near to the isthmus of Suez; see Jos 13:3; though some think that by this a branch of the Nile is meant. This promise was fully accomplished in the days of David and Solomon. See Sa2 8:3, etc., and Ch2 9:26.

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

In Gen 15:18-21 this divine revelation is described as the making of a covenant (בּרית, from בּרה to cut, lit., the bond concluded by cutting up the sacrificial animals), and the substance of this covenant is embraced in the promise, that God would give that land to the seed of Abram, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. The river (נהר) of Egypt is the Nile, and not the brook (נחל) of Egypt (Num 34:5), i.e., the boundary stream Rhinocorura, Wady el Arish. According to the oratorical character of the promise, the two large rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates, are mentioned as the boundaries within which the seed of Abram would possess the promised land, the exact limits of which are more minutely described in the list of the tribes who were then in possession. Ten tribes are mentioned between the southern border of the land and the extreme north, "to convey the impression of universality without exception, of unqualified completeness, the symbol of which is the number ten" (Delitzsch). In other passages we find sometimes seven tribes mentioned (Deu 7:1; Jos 3:10), at other times six (Exo 3:8, Exo 3:17; Exo 23:23; Deu 20:17), at others five (Exo 13:5), at others again only two (Gen 13:7); whilst occasionally they are all included in the common name of Canaanites (Gen 12:6). The absence of the Hivites is striking here, since they are not omitted from any other list where as many as five or seven tribes are mentioned. Out of the eleven descendants of Canaan (Gen 10:15-18) the names of four only are given here; the others are included in the common name of the Canaanites. On the other hand, four tribes are given, whose descent from Canaan is very improbable. The origin of the Kenites cannot be determined. According to Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11, Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, was a Kenite. His being called Midianite (Num 10:29) does not prove that he was descended from Midian (Gen 25:2), but is to be accounted for from the fact that he dwelt in the land of Midian, or among the Midianites (Exo 2:15). This branch of the Kenites went with the Israelites to Canaan, into the wilderness of Judah (Jdg 1:16), and dwelt even in Saul's time among the Amalekites on the southern border of Judah (Sa1 15:6), and in the same towns with members of the tribe of Judah (Sa1 30:29). There is nothing either in this passage, or in Num 24:21-22, to compel us to distinguish these Midianitish Kenites from those of Canaan. The Philistines also were not Canaanites, and yet their territory was assigned to the Israelites. And just as the Philistines had forced their way into the land, so the Kenites may have taken possession of certain tracts of the country. All that can be inferred from the two passages is, that there were Kenites outside Midian, who were to be exterminated by the Israelites. On the Kenizzites, all that can be affirmed with certainty is, that the name is neither to be traced to the Edomitish Kenaz (Gen 36:15, Gen 36:42), nor to be identified with the Kenezite Jephunneh, the father of Caleb of Judah (Num 32:12; Jos 14:6 : see my Comm. on Joshua, p. 356, Eng. tr.). - The Kadmonites are never mentioned again, and their origin cannot be determined. On the Perizzites see Gen 13:7; on the Rephaims, Gen 14:5; and on the other names, Gen 10:15-16.

John Gill Bible Commentary

The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites. In this and the following verses ten nations are reckoned as occupying the land of Canaan at this time, whereas only seven are mentioned in the times of Moses and Joshua; and these three are not among them, and seem before those times to have been extinct, or were mixed with the other nations, and were no more distinct ones; though Aben Ezra thinks these people had two names, and Jarchi interprets them of the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, who shall be the inheritance of the children of Israel in future times, according to Isa 11:14; and so the Jerusalem Talmud (t), from whence he seems to have taken it; and some are of opinion that the Midianites are meant by the Kenites, since Jethro, Moses's father in law, who was of Midian, is called the Kenite, as was also Heber, who was of the same race, Jdg 1:16; there were Kenites near to the Amalekites in the times of Balaam, and who dwelt among them in the times of Saul, Num 24:20; as there were also some of this name that descended from the father of the house of Rechab, or the Rechabites, who were associates and proselytes to the people of Israel, Ch1 2:55; the Kenizzites are supposed by some to be the descendants of Kenaz, a grandson of Esau, Gen 36:11; but then they must be so called here by anticipation, since Kenaz was not now born, and rather then would have had the name of Kenazites; besides, none of the land of the children of Esau, at least of those that dwelt about Mount Seir, was to be given to the children of Israel, Deu 1:5; could indeed the Edomites or Idumeans be intended, it might be thought this had its accomplishment in the times of David, and more especially when the Idumeans became Jews, embraced their religion, and were one people with them, in the times of Hyrcanus (u): the Kadmonites, or the Orientals, were, as Bochart (w) very probably thinks, the Hivites, who inhabited the eastern part of the land of Canaan about Mount Hermon, and from thence might have their name, as they are in the Jerusalem Targum called the children of the east; and hence came the names of Cadmus and Hermione his wife, who were Hivites, and the fable of their being turned into serpents, which the word Hivites signifies. (t) Sheviith, fol. 37. 2. (u) Joseph Antiqu. l. 13. c. 9. sect. 1. (w) Canaan, l. 1. c. 19. col. 447.

Genesis 15:18

God Confirms His Promise

Scripture
Sermons
Commentary

Berean Standard Bible

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

American Standard Version (1901)

In that day Jehovah 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:

Bible in Basic English

In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram, and said, To your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Douay-Rheims 1899

That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.

Free Bible Version

This is how the Lord made an agreement with Abram that day and promised him, “I'm giving this land to your descendants. It extends from the Wadi of Egypt to the great Euphrates River,

Geneva Bible 1599

In that same day the Lord made a couenant with Abram, saying, Vnto thy seede haue I giuen this lande, from the riuer of Egypt vnto the great riuer, the riuer Euphrates.

King James (Authorized) Version

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:

One Unity Resource Bible

Plain English Version

Translation for Translators

Unlocked Literal Bible

On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I hereby give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

Noah Webster Bible

In that same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

World English Bible

In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Young's Literal Translation

In that day hath Jehovah made with Abram a covenant, saying, 'To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Phrat,