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) 18} On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^(S) and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^(T) from the Wadi^[a] of Egypt^(U) to the great river, the Euphrates^(V)— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites,^(W) Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites,^(X) Perizzites,^(Y) Rephaites,^{(Z) 21} Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^(AA)

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself,^{(A) 14} saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”^{[a](B) 15} And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.^(C)

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.^{(D) 17} Because God wanted to make the unchanging^(E) nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised,^(F) he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,^(G) we who have fled to take hold of the hope^(H) set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,^{(I) 20} where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.^(J) He has become a high priest^(K) forever, in the order of Melchizedek.^(L)