Kejadian 12:6-7

12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree ¹  of Moreh ²  at Shechem. ³  (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ⁴  12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants ⁵  I will give this land.” So Abram ⁶  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Kejadian 15:18-21

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁷  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁸  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁹  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land ¹⁰  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” ¹¹ 

[12:6]  ¹ tn Or “terebinth.”

[12:6]  ² sn The Hebrew word Moreh (מוֹרֶה, moreh) means “teacher.” It may well be that the place of this great oak tree was a Canaanite shrine where instruction took place.

[12:6]  ³ tn Heb “as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh.”

[12:6]  ⁴ tn The disjunctive clause gives important information parenthetical in nature – the promised land was occupied by Canaanites.

[12:7]  ⁵ tn The same Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[12:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[15:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁸ 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”).

[15:18]  sn To your descendants I give this land. The Lord here unconditionally promises that Abram’s descendants will possess the land, but he does not yet ratify his earlier promises to give Abram a multitude of descendants and eternal possession of the land. The fulfillment of those aspects of the promise remain conditional (see Gen 17:1-8) and are ratified after Abraham offers up his son Isaac (see Gen 22:1-19). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 35-54.

[15:18]  ⁹ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  ¹⁰ tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  ¹¹ tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.