15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Fear not,¹ Abram. I am your shield;² your reward will be very great.”³

15:2 But Abram said, “O my Lord Yahweh,⁴ what will you give me since⁵ I continue to be⁶ childless, and the one who is about to inherit me⁷ is⁸ Eliezer of Damascus?”⁹ 15:3 Abram further said,¹⁰ “Since¹¹ you have not given me a descendant¹² then indeed one born in my house will be my heir.”¹³

15:4 But¹⁴ the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one¹⁵ will not be your heir,¹⁶ but rather¹⁷ one who comes from your own body will be¹⁸ your heir.”¹⁹ 15:5 And he took him outside, and said, “Gaze into the heavens and number the stars if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants²⁰ be.”

15:6 Abram believed²¹ in the LORD, and the LORD credited²² righteousness²³ to him.

15:7 The LORD said²⁴ to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans,²⁵ to give you this land to possess it.” 15:8 But Abram said,²⁶ “O Sovereign LORD,²⁷ “By what²⁸ will I know that I will possess it?”

15:9 So the LORD said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram took all these for him, and then he cut them in two,²⁹ and placed each half opposite the other;³⁰ but the birds he did not cut in half. 15:11 When³¹ birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

15:12 When the sun went down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and a deep³² dark dread³³ descended on him. 15:13 Then the LORD said³⁴ to Abram, “Know for certain³⁵ that your descendants³⁶ will be strangers³⁷ in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and afflicted³⁸ for four hundred years. 15:14 also the nation that they will serve I will judge,³⁹ and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15:15 But as for you,⁴⁰ you will go to your fathers⁴¹ in peace, you will be buried in a good old age. 15:16 In the fourth generation⁴² your descendants will return,⁴³ for the sin of the Amorites is not yet complete.”⁴⁴

15:17 When⁴⁵ the sun went down and it was dark, there was a smoking pot with a flaming torch⁴⁶ that passed between these pieces. 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant⁴⁷ with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given⁴⁸ this land, from the river of Egypt⁴⁹ to the great river, the Euphrates river, 15:19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”⁵⁰