Genesis 15:18

Bible in Basic English (1941)

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:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא כָּרַ֧ת יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־אַבְרָ֖ם בְּרִ֣ית לֵאמֹ֑ר לְזַרְעֲךָ֗ נָתַ֙תִּי֙ אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את מִנְּהַ֣ר מִצְרַ֔יִם עַד־הַנָּהָ֥ר הַגָּדֹ֖ל נְהַר־פְּרָֽת׃

Transliteration

In-the-yôm the-that kāraṯ YHWH with-ʾAḇrām bərîṯ lēʾmōr to-zarʿăḵā nāṯattî et-the-ʾāreṣ the-this from-nəhar Miṣrayim until-the-nāhār the-gāḏōl nəhar-Pərāṯ.

Grammar Details

• *yôm*: masculine singular noun with prefix preposition and definite article - in the day
• *kāraṯ*: Qal perfect 3rd masculine singular - cut/made
• *YHWH*: divine name
• *ʾAḇrām*: proper name with preposition
• *bərîṯ*: feminine singular noun - covenant
• *lēʾmōr*: Qal infinitive construct with prefix - to say
• *zarʿăḵā*: masculine singular noun with 2nd masculine singular suffix - your seed/offspring
• *nāṯattî*: Qal perfect 1st person singular - I have given
• *ʾāreṣ*: feminine singular noun - land
• *nəhar*: masculine singular construct noun - river of
• *Miṣrayim*: proper name - Egypt
• *nāhār*: masculine singular noun - river
• *gāḏōl*: masculine singular adjective - great
• *Pərāṯ*: proper name - Euphrates

Word Meanings

• *kāraṯ*: cut/made/established (idiom for covenant-making)
• *bərîṯ*: covenant/agreement/treaty/alliance
• *zarʿăḵā*: your seed/your offspring/your descendants/your posterity
• *nāṯattî*: I have given/I give/I will give (prophetic perfect)
• *ʾāreṣ*: land/earth/territory/country
• *nəhar*: river/stream/wadi
• *gāḏōl*: great/large/mighty

Referenced Verses

• Gen 12:7 : 7 And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.
• Deut 1:7-8 : 7 Make a move now, and go on your way into the hill-country of the Amorites and the places near it, in the Arabah and the hill-country and in the lowlands and in the South and by the seaside, all the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, all the land is before you: go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed after them.
• Neh 9:8 : 8 You saw that his heart was true to you, and made an agreement with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite and the Girgashite, even to give it to his seed, and you have done what you said; for righteousness is yours:
• Deut 11:24 : 24 Every place where you put your foot will be yours: from the waste land and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates as far as the Great Sea, will be the limits of your land.
• Deut 34:4 : 4 And the Lord said to him, This is the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: now I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go in there.
• Josh 1:3-4 : 3 Every place on which you put your foot I have given to you, as I said to Moses. 4 From the waste land and this mountain Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, and all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea, in the west, will be your country.
• Exod 23:27-31 : 27 I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come; all those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you. 28 I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face. 29 I will not send them all out in one year, for fear that their land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you. 30 Little by little I will send them away before you, till your numbers are increased and you take up your heritage in the land. 31 I will let the limits of your land be from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the waste land to the river Euphrates: for I will give the people of those lands into your power; and you will send them out before you.
• Gen 13:15 : 15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.
• Gen 24:7 : 7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and made an oath to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land: he will send his angel before you and give you a wife for my son in that land.
• Gen 26:4 : 4 I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;
• 1 Kgs 4:21 : 21 And Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the edge of Egypt; men gave him offerings and were his servants all the days of his life.
• Num 34:5 : 5 And from Azmon it will go round to the stream of Egypt as far as the sea.
• 1 Chr 5:9 : 9 And to the east his limits went as far as the starting point of the waste land, ending at the river Euphrates, because their cattle were increased in number in the land of Gilead.
• 2 Chr 9:26 : 26 And he was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the limit of Egypt.
• Gen 28:4 : 4 And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage.
• Gen 28:13-14 : 13 And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping. 14 Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
• Gen 35:12 : 12 And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you; and to your seed after you I will give the land.
• Gen 50:24 : 24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come; but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
• Exod 3:8 : 8 And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
• Exod 6:4 : 4 And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings.
• Exod 23:23 : 23 And my angel will go before you, guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand.
• Gen 17:1-9 : 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him, and said, I am God, Ruler of all; go in my ways and be upright in all things, 2 And I will make an agreement between you and me, and your offspring will be greatly increased. 3 And Abram went down on his face on the earth, and the Lord God went on talking with him, and said, 4 As for me, my agreement is made with you, and you will be the father of nations without end. 5 No longer will your name be Abram, but Abraham, for I have made you the father of a number of nations. 6 I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you and kings will be your offspring. 7 And I will make between me and you and your seed after you through all generations, an eternal agreement to be a God to you and to your seed after you. 8 And to you and to your seed after you, I will give the land in which you are living, all the land of Canaan for an eternal heritage; and I will be their God. 9 And God said to Abraham, On your side, you are to keep the agreement, you and your seed after you through all generations. 10 And this is the agreement which you are to keep with me, you and your seed after you: every male among you is to undergo circumcision. 11 In the flesh of your private parts you are to undergo it, as a mark of the agreement between me and you. 12 Every male among you, from one generation to another, is to undergo circumcision when he is eight days old, with every servant whose birth takes place in your house, or for whom you gave money to someone of another country, and not of your seed. 13 He who comes to birth in your house and he who is made yours for a price, all are to undergo circumcision; so that my agreement may be marked in your flesh, an agreement for all time. 14 And any male who does not undergo circumcision will be cut off from his people: my agreement has been broken by him. 15 And God said, As for Sarai, your wife, from now her name will be not Sarai, but Sarah. 16 And I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her: truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations: kings of peoples will be her offspring. 17 Then Abraham went down on his face, and laughing, said in his heart, May a man a hundred years old have a child? will Sarah, at ninety years old, give birth? 18 And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael's life might be your care! 19 And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have given ear to your prayer: truly I have given him my blessing and I will make him fertile and give him great increase; he will be the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time. 22 And having said these words, God went up from Abraham. 23 And Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all whose birth had taken place in his house, and all his servants whom he had made his for a price, every male of his house, and on that very day he gave them circumcision in the flesh of their private parts as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he underwent circumcision. 25 And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he underwent circumcision. 26 Abraham and Ishmael, his son, underwent circumcision on that very day. 27 And all the men of his house, those whose birth had taken place in the house and those whom he had got for money from men of other lands, underwent circumcision with him.
• Gen 2:14 : 14 And the name of the third river is Tigris, which goes to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
• Gen 9:8-9 : 8 And God said to Noah and to his sons, 9 Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you, 10 And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you. 11 And I will make my agreement with you; never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters; never again will the waters come over all the earth for its destruction. 12 And God said, This is the sign of the agreement which I make between me and you and every living thing with you, for all future generations: 13 I will put my bow in the cloud and it will be for a sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14 And whenever I make a cloud come over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 And I will keep in mind the agreement between me and you and every living thing; and never again will there be a great flow of waters causing destruction to all flesh. 16 And the bow will be in the cloud, and looking on it, I will keep in mind the eternal agreement between God and every living thing on the earth. 17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the agreement which I have made between me and all flesh on the earth.
• Exod 34:11 : 11 Take care to do the orders which I give you today; I will send out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
• Num 34:2-3 : 2 Give orders to the children of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land which is to be your heritage, the land of Canaan inside these limits,) 3 Then your south quarter will be from the waste land of Zin by the side of Edom, and your limit on the south will be from the east end of the Salt Sea,
• Deut 7:1 : 1 When the Lord your God takes you into the land where you are going, which is to be your heritage, and has sent out the nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you;
• Josh 12:1-9 : 1 Now these are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel overcame, taking as their heritage their land on the east side of Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east: 2 Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was living in Heshbon, ruling from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the town in the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, as far as the river Jabbok, the limits of the children of Ammon; 3 And the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, to the east, and to the sea of the Arabah, that is the Salt Sea, to the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah: 4 And the land of Og, king of Bashan, of the rest of the Rephaim, who was living at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 Ruling in the mountain of Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, as far as the limits of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, to the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon. 6 Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel overcame them; and Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave their land for a heritage to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 7 And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel overcame on the west side of Jordan, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which goes up to Seir; and Joshua gave the land to the tribes of Israel for a heritage, in keeping with their divisions; 8 In the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and on the mountain slopes, and in the waste land, and in the South; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is near Beth-el, one; 10 The king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; 11 The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; 12 The king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; 13 The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; 14 The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; 15 The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; 16 The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Beth-el, one; 17 The king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; 18 The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one; 19 The king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; 20 The king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
• Josh 15:4 : 4 Then on to Azmon, ending at the stream of Egypt: and the end of the limit is at the sea; this will be your limit on the south.
• Josh 19:1-9 : 1 And the second heritage came out for the tribe of Simeon by their families; and their heritage was in the middle of the heritage of the children of Judah. 2 And they had for their heritage Beer-sheba and Shema and Moladah 3 And Hazar-shual and Balah and Ezem 4 And Eltolad and Bethul and Hormah 5 And Ziklag and Beth-marcaboth and Hazar-susah 6 And Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen towns with their unwalled places; 7 Ain, Rimmon, and Ether and Ashan; four towns with their unwalled places; 8 And all the unwalled places round about these towns as far as Baalath-beer-ramah to the south. This is the heritage of the tribe of Simeon by their families. 9 The heritage of Simeon was taken out of Judah's stretch of land, for Judah's part was more than they had need of, so the heritage of the children of Simeon was inside their heritage. 10 And the third heritage came out for Zebulun by their families; the limit of their heritage was as far as Sarid; 11 And their limit goes up to the west to Maralah, stretching to Dabbesheth, and to the stream in front of Jokneam; 12 Then turning east from Sarid to the limit of Chisloth-tabor, it goes out to Daberath, and up to Japhia; 13 And from there it goes on east to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin; ending at Rimmon which goes as far as Neah; 14 And the line goes round it on the north to Hannathon, ending at the valley of Iphtah-el; 15 And Kattath and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Beth-lehem; twelve towns with their unwalled places. 16 This is the heritage of the children of Zebulun by their families, these towns with their unwalled places. 17 For Issachar the fourth heritage came out, for the children of Issachar by their families; 18 And their limit was to Jezreel and Chesulloth and Shunem 19 And Hapharaim and Shion and Anaharath 20 And Rabbith and Kishion and Ebez 21 And Remeth and En-gannim and En-haddah and Beth-pazzez; 22 And their limit goes as far as Tabor and Shahazimah and Beth-shemesh, ending at Jordan; sixteen towns with their unwalled places. 23 This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Issachar by their families, these towns with their unwalled places. 24 And the fifth heritage came out for the tribe of Asher by their families. 25 And their limit was Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph 26 And Alammelech and Amad and Mishal, stretching to Carmel on the west and Shihor-libnath; 27 Turning to the east to Beth-dagon and stretching to Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el as far as Beth-emek and Neiel to the north; on the left it goes as far as Cabul 28 And Ebron and Rehob and Hammon and Kanah, to great Zidon; 29 And the limit goes round to Ramah and the walled town of Tyre and Hosah, ending at the sea by Heleb and Achzib; 30 And Ummah and Aphek and Rehob; twenty-two towns with their unwalled places. 31 This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Asher by their families, these towns with their unwalled places. 32 For the children of Naphtali the sixth heritage came out, for the children of Naphtali by their families; 33 And their limit was from Heleph, from the oak-tree in Zaanannim, and Adami-hannekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, ending at Jordan; 34 And turning west to Aznoth-tabor, the limit goes out from there to Hukkok, stretching to Zebulun on the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah at Jordan on the east. 35 And the walled towns are Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth 36 And Adamah and Ramah and Hazor 37 And Kedesh and Edrei and En-Hazor 38 And Iron and Migdal-el, Horem and Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen towns with their unwalled places.
• 2 Sam 8:3 : 3 And David overcame Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to make his power seen by the River.
• 2 Sam 23:5 : 5 For is not my house so with God? For he has made with me an eternal agreement, ordered in all things and certain: as for all my salvation and all my desire, will he not give it increase?
• Ps 105:11 : 11 Saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the measured line of your heritage:
• Isa 27:12 : 12 And it will be in that day that the Lord will get together his grain, from the River to the stream of Egypt, and you will be got together with care, O children of Israel.
• Isa 55:3 : 3 Give ear, and come to me, take note with care, so that your souls may have life: and I will make an eternal agreement with you, even the certain mercies of David.
• Jer 31:31-34 : 31 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah: 32 Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; which agreement was broken by them, and I gave them up, says the Lord. 33 But this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law in their inner parts, writing it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And no longer will they be teaching every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Get knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord: for they will have my forgiveness for their evil-doing, and their sin will go from my memory for ever.
• Jer 32:40 : 40 And I will make an eternal agreement with them, that I will never give them up, but ever do them good; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not go away from me.
• Jer 33:20-26 : 20 The Lord has said: If it is possible for my agreement of the day and the night to be broken, so that day and night no longer come at their fixed times, 21 Then my agreement with my servant David may be broken, so that he no longer has a son to take his place on the seat of the kingdom; and my agreement with the Levites, the priests, my servants. 22 As it is not possible for the army of heaven to be numbered, or the sand of the sea measured, so will I make the seed of my servant David, and the Levites my servants. 23 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Have you taken note of what these people have said, The two families, which the Lord took for himself, he has given up? This they say, looking down on my people as being, in their eyes, no longer a nation. 25 The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me, 26 Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.
• Gal 3:15-17 : 15 Brothers, as men would say, even a man's agreement, when it has been made certain, may not be put on one side, or have additions made to it. 16 Now to Abraham were the undertakings given, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of a great number; but as of one, he says, And to your seed, which is Christ. 17 Now this I say: The law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not put an end to the agreement made before by God, so as to make the undertaking without effect.
• Heb 13:20 : 20 Now may the God of peace, who made that great keeper of his flock, even our Lord Jesus, come back from the dead through the blood of the eternal agreement,