1 AFTER these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward is exceedingly great.

2 And Abram said, O LORD God, what will thou give me, for I will die childless, and Eliezer of Damascus, one of my household, will be my heir?

3 And Abram said, Behold, thou hast given me no son; and, behold, one of the members of my household will be my heir.

4 Then the LORD said to him, This man shall not be your heir; but your own son that shall come out of your own loins shall be your heir.

5 And he brought him outside, and said to him, Look now toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them; and he said to him, So shall your descendants be.

6 And Abram believed in the LORD; and it was counted to him for righteousness.

7 And he said to him, I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.

8 And Abram said, O LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9 And he said to him, Take for yourself a heifer, three years old, a three year old ram, a three year old she-goat, a pigeon, and a young dove.

10 And he took to himself all these, and cut them in two, and laid each piece against another; but the birds he did not divide.

11 And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, lo, fear and a great darkness fell upon him.

13 And the LORD said to Abram, Know of a surety that your descendants shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and shall be in servitude: and they shall afflict them for four hundred years;

14 But I will judge the nation which they shall serve; and afterward they shall come out with great wealth.

15 And you shall depart from this life and go to your fathers in peace; and you shall be buried at a good old age.

16 And after four centuries, they shall return here; for the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet full.

17 And it came to pass that when the sun had set and it was dark, behold there appeared a smoking furnace and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your descendants have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 The Hittites, the Perizzites, the Giants,

21 The Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.