Genesis 15

After that, God said to Abram in a vision, “Abram, do not be afraid. I will protect you, {and} I will give you a very great reward.”

But Abram said {to him}, “God my Master, even if you reward me greatly, {that will not benefit me}, since I still have no children. So {when I die,} the one who will inherit all that I have {is} {my servant} Eliezer {who is} {a foreigner} from {the city of} Damascus.”

Then Abram continued, “That’s right, you have not given me any children, so that now {when I die}, {one of} my household servants will inherit everything I own!” \*

But immediately God said to Abram, “{No,} your servant {Eliezer} will not inherit your property, rather it will be your very own {biological} son who will inherit it.”

Then God took Abram outside {his tent} and said {to him}, “Look {up} at the {night} sky and count how many stars there are, if {in fact} you are able to count them {all}.” {While Abram was looking at the stars,} God said to him, “That is how many descendants you will have.” \*

Abram trusted God, and because of that, God considered him to be righteous.

Then God said to him, “I am God who brought you {here} from {the city of} Ur that the Chaldeans rule, to give this land to you to own.”

But Abram asked {him}, “God my Master, how can I be sure that this land will be mine?” \*

God replied, “Bring me a heifer, a female goat and a male sheep, each of which is three years old, as well as a dove and a young pigeon.”

So {the next day} Abram brought all those {animals} to God {and killed them}. Then he cut the animals’ bodies in half lengthwise and placed each half a short space across from the other half {in two rows}, except for the birds, which he did not cut in half.

Then {some} vultures flew down {and landed} on the {animal} bodies {to eat them}, but Abram chased them away. \*

Later, as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly, it became completely dark, and he became terrified.

Then God said to him, “I want you to know that your descendants will live as foreigners in a country that is not their own. They will serve the people {of that country} {as slaves}, and those people will treat them cruelly for 400 years. \*

But I will punish those people whom they serve. After that, your descendants will leave {that country} and take many riches with them.

As for you, after you have lived a good long life, you will die peacefully and join your ancestors {who have died before you}.

Then four generations later, your descendants will return here {to live}, because that is when the Amorites will have sinned as much as I will allow {before I take away their land and give it to your descendants}.” \*

When the sun had set, it became {very} dark. Then suddenly a {clay} pot {appeared} {that was full} of burning coals and had smoke coming from it, and also a blazing torch, and they {both} went between the {animal} halves.

At that time God made a {special} agreement with Abram and said, “I am giving your descendants this land, {which extends} from Egypt’s river {in the south} to the great Euphrates River {in the north}.

{That includes} {the land which belongs to} the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” \*