1 After these things athe word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "bDo not fear, Abram, I am ca shield to you; Your dreward shall be very great." 2 Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one aborn in my house is my heir." 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; abut one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." 5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and acount the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "bSo shall your descendants be." 6 aThen he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out of aUr of the Chaldeans, to bgive you this land to possess it." 8 He said, "O Lord GOD, ahow may I know that I will possess it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and acut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he bdid not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that ayour descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where bthey will be enslaved and oppressed cfour hundred years. 14 "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out awith many possessions. 15 "As for you, ayou shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 "Then in athe fourth generation they will return here, for bthe iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." 17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which apassed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "aTo your descendants I have given this land, From bthe river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 athe Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite."