Genesis 15:1-21 NLT

[1] Some time later, the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great." [2] But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since you've given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. [3] You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir." [4] Then the LORD said to him, "No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir." [5] Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" [6] And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. [7] Then the LORD told him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession." [8] But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?" [9] The LORD told him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." [10] So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. [11] Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away. [12] As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. [13] Then the LORD said to Abram, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. [14] But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. [15] (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) [16] After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction." [17] After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. [18] So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River- [19] the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, [20] Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, [21] Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."