Genesis 15

1. After these things the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.”

2. And Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?”

3. And Abram said, “Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.”

4. And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, “This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir.”

5. And He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”

6. And he believed in the LORD. And He accounted it to him for righteousness.

7. And He said to him, “I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”

8. And he said, “Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?”

9. And He said to him, “Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

10. And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds.

11. And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12. And it came to pass, as the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And, behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!

13. And He said to Abram, “You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years.

14. And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall come out with great substance.

15. And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age.

16. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

17. And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark—behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces.

18. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

19. The land of the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20. And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,

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