1: After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a
vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great
reward.
2: And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go
childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3: And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one
born in my house is mine heir.
4: And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall
not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be
thine heir.
5: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and
tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be.
6: And he believed in the LORD; and he counted 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 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 an heifer of three years old, and a she
goat 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 against another: but the birds divided he not.
11: And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them
away.
12: And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and,
lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13: And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall
afflict them four hundred years;
14: And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and
afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15: And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a
good old age.
16: But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17: And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,
behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18: In 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 Rephaims,
21: And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the
Jebusites.