1The word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision: »Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great.« 2Abram said: »O Jehovah God, what will you give me? I continue childless! The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.« 3Abram also said: »You have given me no offspring. So a slave born in my house is to be my heir.« 4The word of Jehovah came to him: »This man shall not be your heir. No one but your very own issue shall be your heir.« 5He brought him outside and said: »Look toward heaven and count the stars. Are you able to count them?« He continued: »So shall your descendants be.« 6He believed in Jehovah. Jehovah considered Abrams faith as his righteousness. 7Then God said to him: »I AM JEHOVAH, who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.« 8Abram replied: »O Jehovah God, how will I know that I shall possess it?« 9He God said to him: »Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.« 10Abram brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other. He did not cut the birds in two. 11When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. 13Jehovah said to Abram: »Know this for sure; your offspring will be strangers aliens in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years. 14»I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve! Afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15»As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace. You shall be buried at a good old age. 16»They shall come back here in the fourth generation. The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.« 17The sun went down and it was dark. A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram. He said: »To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.«