Part 17

15:7. And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it.

15:8. But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?

15:9. And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years. and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon.

15:10. And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other: but the birds he divided not.

15:11. And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

15:12. And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him.

15:13. And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.

15:14. But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance.

15:15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age.

15:16. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.

15:17. And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.

15:18. That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river to Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.

15:19. The Cineans, and Cenezites, the Cedmonites,

15:20. And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,

15:21. And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis Chapter 16

Abram marrieth Agar, who bringeth forth Ismael.

16:1. Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children: but having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Agar,

16:2. She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at least. And when he agreed to her request,

16:3. She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife.

To wife. . .Plurality of wives, though contrary to the primitive institution of marriage, Gen. 2.24, was by divine dispensation allowed to the patriarchs: which allowance seems to have continued during the time of the law of Moses. But Christ our Lord reduced marriage to its primitive institution. Matt. 19.

16:4. And he went in to her. But she perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress.

16:5. And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiving herself to be with child, despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee.

16:6. And Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold thy handmaid is in thy own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her, she ran away.

16:7. And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

16:8. He said to her: Agar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress.

16:9. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand.

16:10. And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.