1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not Abram; I am thy shield, thy reward shall be exceedingly great.
2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed; and lo, one born in my house will be my heir.
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This one shall not be thy heir; but he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward the heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them; and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed in the Lord; and he accounted it to him for righteousness.
7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give unto thee this land, to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 And he said unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a shegoat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide.
11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses; but Abram drove them away.
12 And when the sun was about going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, a horror, dark and great, fell upon him.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land which is not theirs, and they will make them serve, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14 And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they go out with great substance.
15 But thou shalt come to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 Yet the fourth generation shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Emorites will not be full until then.
17 And it came to pass, when the sun had gone down, and it was dark, that behold a smoking furnace, and a burning flame, which passed between those pieces.
18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates;
19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,
21 And the Emorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.