Genesis 15:9-18

Common English Bible

⁹ He said, “Bring me a three-year-old female calf, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ He took all of these animals, split them in half, and laid the halves facing each other, but he didn’t split the birds. ¹¹ When vultures swooped down on the carcasses, Abram waved them off. ¹² After the sun set, Abram slept deeply. A terrifying and deep darkness settled over him.

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Have no doubt that your descendants will live as immigrants in a land that isn’t their own, where they will be oppressed slaves for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But after I punish the nation they serve, they will leave it with great wealth. ¹⁵ As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried after a good long life. ¹⁶ The fourth generation will return here since the Amorites’ wrongdoing won’t have reached its peak until then.”

¹⁷ After the sun had set and darkness had deepened, a smoking vessel with a fiery flame passed between the split-open animals. ¹⁸ That day the Lord cut a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from Egypt’s river to the great Euphrates,