Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Genesis 15:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites complete the ten-people list attached to the land covenant. The closing names finish the territorial statement and prepare the narrative to return to Abram's household.
Read It With
- Genesis 15:7–21
Read verses 16 and 18–21 together. Verse 16 supplies the moral-delay statement; verse 18 gives the boundaries; verses 19–21 name peoples. Genesis 16 then returns to the unresolved child promise.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The final four names complete the covenant's territorial statement and close the chapter before the household crisis of Genesis 16.
Read Genesis 15:17–21 together
Why these verses belong together: The divine passage, covenant declaration, boundaries, and ten-people list complete the land-promise ratification.
Verse 17. 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Verse 18. 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Verse 19. 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
Verse 20. 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
Verse 21. 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The list does not identify modern races, establish inherited guilt in alleged descendants, or authorize violence against present populations.
What Remains True
Biblical people lists must be read in their ancient narrative setting, not converted into modern racial categories or inherited guilt.
How It Can Shape Life
- Refuse attempts to label modern neighbors as cursed peoples or to use uncertain ancestry as a reason for hostility, exclusion, or violence.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Genesis 15:7–21 — God Binds the Land Promise With a CovenantSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The exact historical location and continuity of several named groups remain uncertain.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed wording, covenant movement, future history, fire imagery, land grant, people list, and canonical connections.
Exact location: Genesis 15:7–21 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 12–13; Exodus 3, 6, 11–12; Jeremiah 34:18–20; Nehemiah 9:7–8; and Acts 7:5–7
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Brought-out formula, possess and know verbs, animal ages and division, deep sleep, sojourner language, chronology, Amorite iniquity, firepot and torch, covenant idiom, completed grant form, boundary terms, and people names.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 15:7–21
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Assurance question, animal terminology, covenant rite, chronology syntax, Amorite collective use, divine fire imagery, covenant idiom, grant tense, river terminology, and people names.
Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 15:7–21 and translator notes 18–40
Open NET Genesis 15 ↗