The Lord's Promise to Abram

1Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don't be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”

2But Abram answered, “Lord All-Powerful, you have given me everything I could ask for, except children. And when I die, Eliezer of Damascus will get all I own.+ 3You have not given me any children, and this servant of mine will inherit everything.”

4The Lord replied, “No, he won't! You will have a son of your own, and everything you have will be his.” 5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, so the Lord was pleased with him and accepted him.

The Lord Makes Another Promise to Abram

7The Lord said to Abram, “I brought you here from Ur in Chaldea, and I gave you this land.”

8Abram asked, “Lord God, how can I know the land will be mine?”

9Then the Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.”

10Abram obeyed the Lord. Then he cut+ the animals in half and laid the two halves of each animal opposite each other on the ground. But he did not cut the doves and pigeons in half. 11And when birds came down to eat the animals, Abram chased them away.

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and everything became dark and frightening. 13-15 Then the Lord said:

Abram, you will live to an old age and die in peace.

But I solemnly promise that your descendants will live as foreigners in a land that doesn't belong to them. They will be forced into slavery and abused for 400 years. But I will terribly punish the nation that enslaves them, and they will leave with many possessions.

16Four generations later,+ your descendants will return here and take this land, because only then will the people who live here+ be so sinful that they deserve to be punished.

17Sometime after sunset, when it was very dark, a smoking cooking pot+ and a flaming fire passed between the two halves of each animal. 18 At that time the Lord made an agreement with Abram and told him:

I will give your descendants the land east of the Shihor River+ on the border of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River. 19They will possess the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.