God’s Covenant with Abram
1 After these things the word of theLordcame to Abramin a vision, saying,“Do not be afraid, Abram. Iamyourshield, your exceedinglygreat reward.”
2 But Abram said, “LordGod, what will You give me,seeing I go childless, and the heir of my houseisEliezer of Damascus?”
3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeedone born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of theLordcameto him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one whowill come from your own body shall be your heir.”
5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, andcount thestars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him,“So shall yourdescendants be.”
6 And hebelieved in theLord, and Heaccounted it to him for righteousness.
7 Then He said to him, “IamtheLord, whobrought you out ofUr of the Chaldeans,to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 And he said, “LordGod,how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
9 So He 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 Then he brought all these to Him andcut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cutthe birds in two.
11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down,a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horrorandgreat darkness fell upon him.
13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainlythat your descendants will be strangers in a landthatisnot theirs, and will serve them, andthey will afflict them four hundred years.
14 And also the nation whom they serveI will judge; afterwardthey shall come out with great possessions.
15 Now as for you,you shall goto your fathers in peace;you shall be buried at a good old age.
16 Butin the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquityof the Amoritesisnot yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch thatpassed between those pieces.
18 On the same day theLordmade a covenant with Abram, saying:
# “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”