Genesis 15:8-17

8Abram asked, “Almighty Lord, how can I be certain that I will take possession of it?”

9He answered Abram, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a mourning dove, and a pigeon.”

10So Abram brought all these animals to him. He cut each of them in half and laid each half opposite the other. However, he did not cut the birds in half.

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

12As the sun was just about to set, a deep sleep—a dreadful, deep darkness—came over Abram.

13God said to Abram, “You can know for sure that your descendants will live in a land that is not their own, where they will be slaves, and they will be oppressed for 400 years.

14But I will punish the nation they serve, and after that they will come out with many possessions.

15But you will die in peace and be buried at a very old age.

16In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, because the sin of the Amorites will not have run its course until then.”

17The sun had gone down, and it was dark. Suddenly a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between the animal pieces.