God’s Covenant with Abram
1. After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2. But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3. And Abram continued, “You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4. Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
5. And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He declared, “So shall your offspring be.”
6. Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
7. Then the LORD said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
God Confirms His Promise
8. But Abram asked, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”
9. And the LORD 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.”
10. So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
11. And when the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.
13. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
14. But I will also judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.
15. As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
16. In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.
18. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
19. the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20. Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21. Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”