God’s Covenant with Abram

¹ After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield,

your very great reward.”^*

² But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain^* childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.^*

⁷ The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

God Confirms His Promise

⁸ But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”

⁹ And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite^* each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹ And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^* and suddenly great terror^* and darkness overwhelmed him.

¹³ Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved^* and mistreated four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will judge^* the nation they serve as slaves,^* and afterward they will depart with many possessions.¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will return here,^* for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking^* firepot^* and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses. ¹⁸ On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land — from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates — ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”