Genesis 15:1-21 GNT

[1] After this, Abram had a vision and heard the LORD say to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward." [2] But Abram answered, "Sovereign LORD, what good will your reward do me, since I have no children? My only heir is Eliezer of Damascus. [3] You have given me no children, and one of my slaves will inherit my property." [4] Then he heard the LORD speaking to him again: "This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir." [5] The LORD took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that." [6] Abram put his trust in the LORD, and because of this the LORD was pleased with him and accepted him. [7] Then the LORD said to him, "I am the LORD, who led you out of Ur in Babylonia, to give you this land as your own." [8] But Abram asked, "Sovereign LORD, how can I know that it will be mine?" [9] He answered, "Bring me a cow, a goat, and a ram, each of them three years old, and a dove and a pigeon." [10] Abram brought the animals to God, cut them in half, and placed the halves opposite each other in two rows; but he did not cut up the birds. [11] Vultures came down on the bodies, but Abram drove them off. [12] When the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and fear and terror came over him. [13] The LORD said to him, "Your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be slaves there and will be treated cruelly for four hundred years. [14] But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and when they leave that foreign land, they will take great wealth with them. [15] You yourself will live to a ripe old age, die in peace, and be buried. [16] It will be four generations before your descendants come back here, because I will not drive out the Amorites until they become so wicked that they must be punished." [17] When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch suddenly appeared and passed between the pieces of the animals. [18] Then and there the LORD made a covenant with Abram. He said, "I promise to give your descendants all this land from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River, [19] including the lands of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, [20] the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, [21] the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."