15 After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, ^[a]and thy exceeding great reward. ² And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I ^[b]go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? ³ And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. ⁴ And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. ⁶ And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. ⁷ And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. ⁸ And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? ⁹ And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon. ¹⁰ And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not. ¹¹ And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹² And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; ¹⁴ and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. ¹⁵ But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. ¹⁷ And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹ the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, ²⁰ and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, ²¹ and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.