⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^(A) a goat and a ram, each three years old,^(B) along with a dove and a young pigeon.^(C)”

¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^(D) the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^{(E) 11} Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^(F) but Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^(G) and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^(H) your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^(I) and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^(J) with great possessions.^{(K) 15} You, however, will go to your ancestors^(L) in peace and be buried at a good old age.^{(M) 16} In the fourth generation^(N) your descendants will come back here,^(O) for the sin of the Amorites^(P) has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^(Q) appeared and passed between the pieces.^(R)

⁷ Understand, then, that those who have faith^(A) are children of Abraham.^{(B) 8} Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[a](C) 9} So those who rely on faith^(D) are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.^(E)

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law^(F) are under a curse,^(G) as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”^{[b](H) 11} Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God,^(I) because “the righteous will live by faith.”^{[c](J) 12} The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”^{[d](K) 13} Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law^(L) by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”^{[e](M) 14} He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,^(N) so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.^(O)