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.