Genesis 15:11

And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
fowls	הָעַ֖יִט ha.'A.yit	H5861	a hawk or other bird of prey · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
down	וַיֵּ֥רֶד vai.Ye.red	H3381	to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
carcases	הַפְּגָרִ֑ים ha.pe.ga.Rim	H6297	a carcase (as limp) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Abram	אַבְרָֽם 'av.Ram	H87	Abram · proper noun, a man's name
away	וַיַּשֵּׁ֥ב vai.ya.Shev	H5380	to blow · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Psalms 119:13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
Ezekiel 17:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon,…
Ezekiel 17:7 There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:7-11

We have here the assurance given to Abram of the land of Canaan for an inheritance. I. God declares his purpose concerning it, Gen 15:7. Observe here, Abram made no complaint in this matter, as he had done for the want of a child. Note, Those that are sure of an interest in the promised seed will see no reason to doubt of a title to the promised land. If Christ is ours, heaven is ours. Observe again, When he believed the former promise (Gen 15:6) then God explained and ratified this to him. Note, To him that has (improves what he has) more shall be given. Three things God here reminds Abram of, for his encouragement concerning the promise of this good land: - 1. What God is in himself: I am…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 15:9

Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us; and in the glory of the…

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Adam Clarke on Genesis 15:11

And when the fowls - העיט haayit, birds of prey, came down upon the carcasses to devour them, Abram, who stood by his sacrifice waiting for the manifestation of God, who had ordered him to prepare for the ratification of the covenant, drove them away, that they might neither pollute nor devour what had been thus consecrated to God.

John Gill on Genesis 15:11

And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses,.... Upon the birds, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech interpret it, whose carcasses were whole; or rather upon the divided carcasses of the animals, and indeed on both: this is to be understood of birds of prey, as eagles, vultures, kites, crows, &c. and are an emblem of the Egyptians chiefly, and other enemies of Israel, who came upon them to devour them; so the Targum of Jonathan,"and the idolatrous nations descended, who were like to an unclean fowl, to spoil the goods of the Israelites;''and likewise the Targum of Jerusalem,"this unclean fowl are the idolatrous kingdoms of the earth:" Abram drove them away: that they might not settle upon the c…

The Church Fathers

But Abram drove them away, because by his merits Israel was often delivered both from the distress of temporal evils and from the snares of evil spirits.
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

And birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. These divided birds, which descended upon the carcasses, do not indicate anything good, but rather certain spirits of this air seeking their sustenance from the division of the carnal; or certainly the carnal adversaries of the same people, who, according to the counsel of Balaam the diviner, were seeking an opportunity for victory from their crimes, concerning whom the prophet says: "Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens" (Lamentations 4:19).
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

The fowls coming down on the divided carcasses represent nothing good but [rather] the spirits of this air, seeking some food for themselves in the division of carnal people. But that Abraham sat down with them signifies that even amid these divisions of the carnal, true believers shall persevere to the end. With the going down of the sun great fear fell upon Abraham and a horror of great darkness. This signifies that about the end of this world believers shall be in great perturbation and tribulation, of which the Lord said in the Gospel, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning."
— Augustine of Hippo, City of God 16.24

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Chronology — Is the arrangement of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era according to which they date events. Sometimes the years are reckoned,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Sacrifice — The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine institution. It did not originate with man. God himself appointed it as the mode in which acceptable worship was to be offered to him by…
Abraham · General references — General references
Birds · Many kinds of, carnivorous — Many kinds of, carnivorous
Condescension Of God · Enters into covenant with Abraham — Enters into covenant with Abraham
Covenant · By offering a sacrifice — By offering a sacrifice
Covenant, The · Made with: Abraham — Made with: Abraham
Covenants · Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices — Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices
Sacrifices · The covenants of God confirmed by — The covenants of God confirmed by
Sign · .Abraham — .Abraham
Symbols And Similitudes · Sacrificial animals

Genesis 15:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:7-11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 15:9

Adam Clarke on Genesis 15:11

John Gill on Genesis 15:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 15:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:7-11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 15:9

Adam Clarke on Genesis 15:11

John Gill on Genesis 15:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 15:11

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 15:11

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 15:11

Rashi on Genesis 15:11