1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a ^svision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your ^tshield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I ^ucontinue¹ childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^vyour very own son² shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the ^wstars, ^xif you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^y“So shall your offspring be.” 6 ^zAnd he believed the Lord, and he ^acounted it to him as righteousness.

7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out ^bfrom Ur of the Chaldeans ^cto give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, ^dhow am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 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 And he brought him all these, ^ecut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. ^fBut he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 ^gAs the sun was going down, a ^hdeep sleep fell on Abram. ⁱAnd behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that ^jyour offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be ^kafflicted for ^lfour hundred years. 14 But ^mI will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward ⁿthey shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; ^oyou shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And ^pthey shall come back here in the fourth generation, for ^qthe iniquity of the Amorites is ^rnot yet complete.”

17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 ^sOn that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give³ this land, ^tfrom the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”