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The LORD makes a covenant with Abram

¹Some time later the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, and your reward will be very great.”^{a 2}But Abram answered, “Lord GOD, what will you give me? I am still childless, and everything I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus.”^{b 3}Abram went on, “Since you have not given me a child, someone born in my household will inherit from me.” ⁴Then the word of the LORD came to him: “No, he will not inherit from you. Your heir will be your own son, born of your own body.” ⁵He led Abram outside and said, “Look up into the sky and try counting the stars, if you can.” Then he told him, “Your descendants will be like that.” ⁶Abram put his trust in the LORD, and the LORD counted it to his credit as righteousness.^{c 7}He also told him, “I am the LORD. I brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to be your own.” ⁸But Abram said, “Lord GOD, how can I be sure that I will possess it?” ⁹He answered, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat and a three-year-old ram, with a turtledove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Abram brought them all, split each one down the middle and laid the halves facing each other, but he did not split the birds. ¹¹When birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, Abram chased them off. ¹²When the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and with it a great and terrifying darkness. ¹³Then the LORD said to Abram, “You must understand that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. ¹⁴But I will bring judgment on the nation that enslaves them, and afterward they will come out with great wealth. ¹⁵As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. ¹⁶Your descendants will return here in the fourth generation, because the Amorites’ wickedness has not yet run its full course.” ¹⁷After sunset, in the dark, a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch passed between the halves of the animals. ¹⁸That day the LORD made a covenant with Abram: “I am giving this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”