15:6 Abram believed 1 the Lord, and the Lord 2 considered his response of faith 3 as proof of genuine loyalty. 4
15:7 The Lord said 5 to him, “I am the Lord 6 who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans 7 to give you this land to possess.” 15:8 But 8 Abram 9 said, “O sovereign Lord, 10 by what 11 can I know that I am to possess it?”
15:9 The Lord 12 said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram 13 took all these for him and then cut them in two 14 and placed each half opposite the other, 15 but he did not cut the birds in half. 15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, 16 and great terror overwhelmed him. 17 15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain 18 that your descendants will be strangers 19 in a foreign country. 20 They will be enslaved and oppressed 21 for four hundred years. 15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. 22 Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15:15 But as for you, 23 you will go to your ancestors 24 in peace and be buried at a good old age. 25 15:16 In the fourth generation 26 your descendants 27 will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.” 28
15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch 29 passed between the animal parts. 30 15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant 31 with Abram: “To your descendants I give 32 this land, from the river of Egypt 33 to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land 34 of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” 35