Genesis 15 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 15:2, 15:11, 15:13, 15:17
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Genesis 15
The Promise of an Heir
Verse 15:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:1 After these things, the word of YHWH came to Abram in a vision: “Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield for you; your reward is very great.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:1 After these things, a word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not fear, Abram. I shield you; your reward will be very great.”
Classification & Notes
[Different] H presents God as a shield; G uses the protective action as a verb and explicitly makes the reward future. H's clauses can also be construed with God as Abram's reward.
Verse 15:2 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:2 Abram said, “Lord YHWH, what will You give me, since I go childless, and the heir of my household is Damascus Eliezer?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:2 Abram said, “Master, what will You give me? I am departing childless, and the son of Masek, my household-born woman, is Damascus Eliezer.”
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] H's difficult ben-mesheq is rendered heir here; G treats Masek as a name and gives a female household-born relationship. RH has Master alone, correcting the draft's Master Lord. Neither text identifies her as Egyptian.
Verse 15:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:3 Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will inherit from me.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:3 Abram said, “Since You have given me no offspring, my household-born man will inherit from me.”
Classification & Notes
[Different] G specifies household birth; H says son of my house. Both express the inheritance problem.
Verse 15:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:4 Behold, the word of YHWH came to him: “This man shall not inherit from you; the one who comes from your own body shall inherit from you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:4 Immediately a voice of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not inherit from you; the one who comes from you shall inherit from you.”
Classification & Notes
[Different] G has immediate voice where H has behold, word, and omits H's explicit bodily term. Both promise a descendant as heir.
Verse 15:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them.” He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:5 He brought him outside and said to him, “Look up to heaven and count the stars, if you can count them.” He said, “So shall your offspring be.”
Classification & Notes
[Similar] The action and comparison agree; small address and directional differences remain.
Verse 15:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:6 He trusted in YHWH, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:6 Abram believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Classification & Notes
[Different] G names Abram, names God rather than YHWH, and uses a passive reckoning. H leaves both actors pronominal; the usual reading takes God as the one reckoning, but its syntax has received other interpretations.
Saints — Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 92: Justin uses Abraham’s faith before circumcision in his argument about righteousness and the later covenant sign.
The Covenant of the Pieces
Verse 15:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:7 He said to him, “I am YHWH, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:7 He said to him, “I am God, who brought you out of the country of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit.”
Classification & Notes
[Different] H names YHWH and Ur; G has God and country. H possession and G inheritance overlap but differ in emphasis.
Verse 15:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:8 He said, “Lord YHWH, by what shall I know that I will possess it?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:8 He said, “Master Lord, by what shall I know that I will inherit it?”
Classification & Notes
[Similar] Both ask for assurance. Unlike verse 2, RH here has both Master and Lord.
Verse 15:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:9 He 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 bird.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:9 He 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 pigeon.”
Classification & Notes
[Different] H's final word denotes a young bird, often understood as a young pigeon; G specifies a pigeon without the age term. The three-year animal ages follow the usual interpretation of H's form.
Verse 15:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:10 He brought him all these, cut them down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; he did not cut the birds.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:10 He brought Him all these, divided them down the middle, and laid them facing one another; he did not divide the birds.
Classification & Notes
[Similar] The divided animals and undivided birds correspond. H's singular bird is collective in context.
Verse 15:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:11 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:11 Birds came down on the bodies, on their divided pieces, and Abram sat down with them.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] H describes repelling predatory birds; G describes sitting with them and explicitly mentions divided pieces. G's pronoun can be related to the bodies/pieces; a ritual vigil is an interpretation, not an added action in the translation.
Verse 15:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:12 As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, a dread, a great darkness, was falling on him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:12 Around sunset a trance fell on Abram, and behold, a great dark fear was falling on him.
Classification & Notes
[Different] H uses deep sleep and great darkness; G uses trance and a dark fear. The vocabulary differs without proving that G depicts ordinary wakefulness.
Verse 15:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:13 He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be strangers in a land not their own. They will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:13 It was said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will sojourn in a land not their own. They will enslave them, mistreat them, and humble them four hundred years.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] H presents the descendants serving and then suffering affliction; G keeps the oppressors as agents of a three-verb sequence. G also uses passive speech introduction. The 400 years agree.
Verse 15:14 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:14 But I will judge the nation that they serve; afterward they will go out with great possessions.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:14 But I will judge the nation that they serve; afterward they will come out here with much baggage.
Classification & Notes
[Divergent] G adds here, specifying the direction of the promised emergence; H does not. Baggage and possessions differ in emphasis.
Verse 15:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:15 As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:15 As for you, you will depart to your fathers in peace, buried at a good old age.
Classification & Notes
[Similar] RH reads buried, correcting the draft's nurtured. The peaceful death and burial correspond.
Verse 15:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the sins of the Amorites have not yet been filled up.”
Classification & Notes
[Similar] The timing and explanation agree; H's collective iniquity corresponds to G's plural sins.
Verse 15:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:17 The sun had set and deep darkness had come. Behold, a smoking furnace and a fiery torch passed between these pieces.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:17 As the sun was setting, a flame appeared. Behold, a smoking furnace, and fiery torches that passed between these divided pieces.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] H has deep darkness after sunset and a singular torch; G has the appearance of a flame at sunset and plural torches. The changed visual sequence is retained.
Verse 15:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:18 On that day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
Classification & Notes
[Different] H presents the grant as given; G makes it future. Both make a covenant with the same stated limits; H's idiom is literally cut a covenant.
Verse 15:19 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
Classification & Notes
[Same] The listed peoples correspond.
Verse 15:20 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
Classification & Notes
[Same] Here G transliterates Rephaim rather than rendering giants; this contrasts with 14:5.
Verse 15:21 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
15:21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
15:21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Classification & Notes
[Divergent] RH adds the Hivites, absent from H and from the draft's Greek column.