Genesis 15

1After these things, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield for you; your reward will be very great.”

2But Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I am going childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

3Then Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and behold, a son of my household will inherit me.”

4And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; rather, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”

5Then he brought him outside and said, “Please look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

6And he believed Yahweh, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

7And he said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

8And he said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will possess it?”

9And he said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

10So he brought all these to him, cut them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

11And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And behold, a great dark dread fell upon him.

13Then he said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land not theirs, and they will enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.”

14But I will also judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

15As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

16And in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

17And when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

18On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the Euphrates.”

19the Kenites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites—

20and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,

21and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.