1 ¶ After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.

2 ¶ And Abram said, Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram continued, Behold, you have given me no offspring: and, one born in my house is my heir.

4 And, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This man shall not be your heir; but he who shall come forth out of your own body shall be your heir.

5 And he brought him outside, and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.

6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

7 ¶ And he said to him, I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit.

8 But he said, Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?

9 And he said to him, Bring me a heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he brought all these to him, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece one against another: but he did not divide the birds.

11 And when the birds came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 ¶ And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him.

13 And the Lord said to Abram, Know with certainty that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them; and they will afflict them;

14 And I will also judge that nation, whom they shall serve: and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

15 But you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried in a good old age.

16 But in the fourth generation they will come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17 ¶ And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking fire pot, and a flaming torch passed between those pieces.

18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The land of the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.