The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(A)the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ^2 (B)And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3 (C)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^(D)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[c]

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(A)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^(A)northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵ for all the land that you see I will give ^(B)to you and ^(C)to your offspring forever. ^16 (D)I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

God's Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^(A)“Fear not, Abram, I am ^(B)your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue^[a] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^(C)a member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^(D)your very own son^[b] shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^(E)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^(F)“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And ^(G)he believed the Lord, and ^(H)he counted it to him as righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, “I am the Lord who ^(I)brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ^(J)to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord God, ^(K)how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

¹² As the sun was going down, a ^(A)deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ^(B)that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and ^(C)they will be afflicted for ^(D)four hundred years. ¹⁴ But ^(E)I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward ^(F)they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; ^(G)you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for ^(H)the iniquity of the Amorites ^(I)is not yet complete.”