Genesis 15

15 ¹ After all this, the word of our Father came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

² But Abram said, "My Sovereign Father, what will you give me, since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my household is Eliezer of Damascus?" ³ Then Abram said, "You have given me no children, so a servant born in my household will be my heir."

⁴ Then the word of our Father came to him: "This man will not be your heir; a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir." ⁵ He brought him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So will your children be."

⁶ Abram believed our Father, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, "I am your Father, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess."

⁸ But Abram said, "My Sovereign Father, how can I know that I will take possession of it?"

⁹ So he said to him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other; but the birds he did not cut in half. ^a a v10 In an ancient way of sealing a covenant, the partners cut animals in two and passed between the halves, pledging their own lives to keep their word. ¹¹ When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ¹² As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

¹³ Then our Father said to Abram, "Know for certain that your children will be strangers in a land not their own, and they will be enslaved and oppressed there for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will bring judgment on the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation they will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ^b b v17 In ancient covenant ceremonies, both parties would walk between the split pieces of animals — a vow that meant, "May I be split like these if I break my promise." Here our Father alone passes through as a blazing light, taking the full weight of the covenant on himself.

¹⁸ On that day our Father made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your children I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates: ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."