Chapter 15
1 After these things the LORD ’s word came to Abram in a vision , saying , "Don’t be afraid , Abram. I am your shield , your exceedingly great reward ."
2 Abram said, " Lord GOD , what will you give me , since I go childless , and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus ?"
3 Abram said, " Behold , you have given no children to me : and , behold , one born in my house is my heir ."
4 Behold , the LORD ’s word came to him , saying , " This man will not be your heir , but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir ."
5 The LORD brought him outside , and said , " Look now towards the sky , and count the stars , if you are able to count them ." He said to Abram, " So your offspring will be ."
6 He believed in the LORD , who credited it to him for righteousness .
7 He said to Abram, " I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees , to give you this land to inherit it ."
8 He said, " Lord GOD , how will I know that I will inherit it ?"
9 He said to him , " Bring me a heifer three years old , a female goat three years old , a ram three years old , a turtledove , and a young pigeon ."
10 He brought him all these , and divided them in the middle , and laid each half opposite the other ; but he didn’t divide the birds .
11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses , and Abram drove them away .
12 When the sun was going down , a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him .
13 He said to Abram, " Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them . They will afflict them four hundred years .
14 I will also judge that nation , whom they will serve . Afterward they will come out with great wealth ;
15 but you will go to your fathers in peace . You will be buried at a good old age .
16 In the fourth generation they will come here again , for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full ."
17 It came to pass that , when the sun went down, and it was dark , behold , a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces .
18 In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, " I have given this land to your offspring , from the river of Egypt to the great river , the river Euphrates :
19 the land of the Kenites , the Kenizzites , the Kadmonites ,
20 the Hittites , the Perizzites , the Rephaim ,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites , the Girgashites , and the Jebusites ."