< Genesis 15 >
1 After these things the word of YHWH came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great."
2 Abram said, "Lord, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3 Then Abram said, "Look, to me you have given no offspring, and look, one born in my house is my heir."
4 And look, the word of God came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."
5 And he brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And he said to him, "So will your descendants be."
6 And he believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
7 And he said to him, "I am God, who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to possess."
8 But he said, "Lord, how can I know that I will possess it?"
9 And 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 pigeon."
10 He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and placed each half opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds.
11 And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And look, a terror of great darkness fell on him.
13 And he said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs; and they will be enslaved there. And they will oppress them four hundred years.
14 But I will also judge that nation whom they will serve. And afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15 But you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, look, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
18 On that day God made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Perath:
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hethites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
