1 After these events Yehovah’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector. Your reward will be very great.”
2 And Abram said, “My Master Yehovah, what will you give me, since I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Look, you have not given offspring to me, and look, one born in my house is my heir.”
4 And look, Yehovah’s word came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who will come out of your own body, he will be your heir.” 5 And He brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them!” And He said to him, “So will your offspring be.” 6 And he believed Yehovah, and He considered it to him for righteousness.
7 And He said to Abram, “I am Yehovah who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 And he said, “My Master Yehovah, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
9 And He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow*, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, and cut them in half down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t cut the birds in half. 11 And vultures came down on the carcasses, and Abram chased them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and look, fright and great darkness fell on him. 13 And He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. And they will afflict them for 400 years. 14 And I will also judge the nation whom they will serve. And after that they will leave with a lot of stuff. 15 And as for you, you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. 16 And in the fourth generation they will come back here, because the Amorite’s crookedness won't be complete until then.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that look, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. 18 On that day Yehovah made a contract with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, 20 the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”