1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
2Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
4Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” 5Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.” 6He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness. 7He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. 11The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; 15but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” 17It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18In 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: 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
In Gen 1:1–2:3, “God” occurs as the divine name, but starting with Gen 2:4, “Yahweh God” (“LORD God”) becomes the dominant title. Some interpreters believe that the difference indicates two different authors or two different accounts of creation. However, “God” appropriately identifies the Creator as the supreme Deity in Gen 1. Since Scripture employs “Yahweh” in contexts speaking of covenant relationships (e.g., Gen 12:1; 15:18) as well as personal worship (e.g., Gen 4:26), “Yahweh God” reflects the personal relationship of the Creator to humanity that dominates the content of Gen 2. The author provides a general account of creation in Genesis 1, then develops a more detailed examination of the most significant event: the creation of man and woman. Gen 2 cannot provide a stand-alone creation account because it is too focused and lacks the broader scope of Gen 1. The two chapters together present a unified account. Without the detailed description of the making of the woman, readers would be unable to understand how the “female” came into existence in Gen 1:27 and why the plural “them” occurs in Gen 1:28. The phrase “These are the generations [toledoth] of” in Gen 2:4 serves as the first of eleven such introductions to key narratives in the book of Genesis (see, also, 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; and 37:2). Each occurrence of this formula develops the early history of mankind in preparation for introducing the descendants of Jacob. Gen 1:1–2:3 stands outside that structure as the introduction to that history.