Genesis 15
God appeared to Abram in a vision, promising to protect him and give him a great reward, but Abram expressed concern about not having an heir. God reassured Abram that his heir would be a biological son, and to illustrate the multitude of his offspring, God told Abram to count the stars. Abram believed God and was considered righteous. God then made a covenant with Abram, promising to give his offspring the land from the Nile to the Euphrates, and Abram was told that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years before returning to the promised land.
And so, these things having been transacted, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your protector, and your reward is exceedingly great.And Abram said: "Lord God, what will you give to me? I may go without children. And the son of the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.And Abram added: "Yet to me you have not given offspring. And behold, my servant born in my house will be my heir.And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: "This one will not be your heir. But he who will come from your loins, the same will you have for your heir.And he brought him outside, and he said to him, "Take in the heavens, and number the stars, if you can." And he said to him, "So also will your offspring be.Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justiceAnd he said to him, "I am the Lord who led you away from Ur of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land, and so that you would possess it.But he said, "Lord God, in what way may I be able to know that I will possess it?And the Lord responded by saying: "Take for me a cow of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, also a turtle-dove and a pigeon.Taking all these, he divided them through the middle, and placed both parts opposite one another. But the birds he did not divideAnd birds descended upon the carcasses, but Abram drove them awayAnd when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a dread, great and dark, invaded himAnd it was said to him: "Know beforehand that your future offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own, and they will subjugate them in servitude and afflict them for four hundred yearsYet truly, I will judge the nation that they will serve, and after this they will depart with great substanceBut you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old ageBut in the fourth generation, they will return here. For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet completed, even to this present time.Then, when the sun had set, there came a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisionsOn that day, God formed a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt, even to the great river Euphratesthe land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites, the Kadmoniteand the Hittites, and the Perizzites, likewise the Rephaimand the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
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