[1] After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision,
saying, "Don`t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great
reward." [2] Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, seeing I go
childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" [3]
Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in
my house is my heir." [4] Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,
"This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own
body will be your heir." [5] Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look
now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you be able to count them." He
said to Abram, "So shall your seed be." [6] He believed in Yahweh; and he
reckoned it to him for righteousness. [7] He said to him, "I am Yahweh who
brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit
it." [8] He said, "Lord Yahweh, whereby will I know that I will inherit
it?" [9] He said to him, "Take me a heifer three years old, a female goat
three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."
[10] He took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each
half opposite the other; but he didn`t 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] He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed
will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They
will afflict them four hundred years. [14] I will also judge that nation,
whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great substance.
[15] But you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good
old age. [16] In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the
iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full." [17] It came to pass that, when
the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a
flaming torch passed between these pieces. [18] In that day Yahweh made a
covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed have I given this land, from the
river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: [19] the Kenites,
the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, [20] the Hittites, the Perizzites, the
Rephaim, [21] the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the
Jebusites."
