Genesis 15:3-21

3And Abram said, “1Since You have given no 2offspring to me, 3one 4born in my house is my heir.” 4Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; 5but one who will come forth from your own 6body, he shall be your heir.” 5And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and 7count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “8So shall your 9descendants be.” 610Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of 11Ur of the Chaldeans, to 12give you this land to 13possess it.” 8He said, “O Lord 14God, 15how may I know that I will 16possess it?” 9So He said to him, “17Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10Then he 18brought all these to Him and 19cut them 20in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he 21did not cut the birds. 11The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12Now when the sun was going down, 22a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, 23terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13God said to Abram, “Know for certain that 24your 25descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, 26where 27they will be enslaved and oppressed 28four hundred years. 14But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out 29with 30many possessions. 15As for you, 31you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16Then in 32the fourth generation they will return here, for 33the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

17It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which 34passed between these pieces. 18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “35To your 36descendants I have given this land, From 37the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 1938the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”