God Affirms His Promise
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
2 Abram said, “Lord God, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram said, “You have given no children to me. Someone born in my house is my heir.”
4 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body will be your heir.” 5 The Lord brought him outside and said, “Look now toward the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.” 6 He believed in the Lord, who credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He said to Abram, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
The Future of Abram’s Descendants
8 He said, “Lord God, how will I know that I will inherit 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 He brought him all these and split them down and laid each half opposite the other, but he did not divide the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know with certainty that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them for 400 years. 14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth, 15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the sins of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from 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.”