Biblia Sacra (Gutenberg Bible) (1454) - Page 20

and Heth, and Hazazon-tamar. original: "auer · eschol a mambre · isti accipient partes suas."

Chapter 15.

A large ornamental initial 'H' in blue, decorated with red penwork flourishes that extend vertically into the left margin.

Having thus translated these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great. And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children, and the son of the steward of my house, this Eliezer of Damascus, is my heir. And Abram added: To me thou hast not given a son, and lo, my servant born in my house shall be my heir. And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He shall not be thy heir, but he that shall come out of thy womb, him shalt thou have for thy heir. And he brought him forth and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars, if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be. Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land and that thou mightest possess it. But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it? And the Lord answered: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtledove also, and a pigeon. Who taking all these, divided them in the midst and laid the two pieces of each one against the other. But the birds he divided not. And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. And when the sun was setting, a fear fell upon Abram, and a great and dark horror seized him. And it was said to 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 will afflict them four hundred years. But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall go out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither. For as yet the iniquities

of the Amorites are not at the full, even to this present time. 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. Upon that day the Lord made a covenant original: "fed⁹" (foedus) with Abram, saying: To thy seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates: The Kenites and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, the Rephaim also, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Chapter 16.

An ornamental initial 'I' in red, with blue penwork flourishes.

It came to pass that Sarai, the wife of Abram, had not borne him children; but having an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar, 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, she took Hagar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they had first dwelt in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband to wife. And he went in to her. But she, seeing that she had conceived, despised her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me. I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiveth that she hath conceived, and despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee. To whom Abram answered: Behold, thy handmaid is in thy own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her, she ran away. And when the angel of the Lord had found her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert, he said to her: Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou and whither goest thou? She answered: I flee from the face of Sarai my mistress. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress and humble thyself under her hand. And again: I will multiply thy seed, he said, and it shall not be numbered for multitude. And furthermore: Behold, he said, thou hast conceived and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. He shall be a wild man, his hand