 1 After these things the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. 2 Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, since I am childless and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? 3 Abram said, Behold, since you have given no child to me, one servant born in my house is my heir. 4 The Word of the Lord came to him saying, That servant will not be your heir. But one who comes out of your own bowels will be your heir. 5 He brought him outside and said, Look toward the heavens and count the stars. See if you are able to count them. Thus will your descendants be. 6 Abram believed in the Lord and God counted it to him as righteousness. 7 God said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to inherit it. 8 Abram said, Lord God, how can I know that I will inherit it? 9 God said to him, Take a heifer three years old and a she goat three years old and a ram three years old and a turtledove and a young pigeon. 10 So Abram took all these and divided them in the middle and laid each piece against one another. But he did not divide the birds. 11 When birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram and a terrible great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, You must surely know that your descendants will be a stranger in a land not theirs and will serve them and will afflict them 400 years. 14 Then I will judge that nation that they serve and afterward they will come out with great substance. 15 You will then go to your fathers in peace and 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 Then the sun went down and it was dark. And behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces. 18 That same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, I have given this land to your descendants from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates including the lands of 19 the Kenites and Kenizzites and Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites and Perizzites and the giants, 21 the Amorites and Canaanites and Girgashites and Jebusites.
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