Genesis 15

3. God promises a son to Abram

The LORD’s Covenant Promise to Abram

1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. +

2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. + 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. +

6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. +

7And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. +

8And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? +

9And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. + 11And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. + 13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; + 14and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. + 15And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. + 16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. +

17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. + 18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: + 19the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, + 20and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. +