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

² And Abram said: 'O Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?'³ And Abram said: 'Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.'⁴ And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying: 'This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.'⁵ And He brought him forth abroad, and said: 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to count them'; and He said unto him: 'So shall thy seed be.'⁶ And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness.

⁷ And 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.'⁸ And he said: 'O Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?'⁹ And He said unto him: 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.'¹⁰ And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other; but the birds divided he not.¹¹ And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹² And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him.¹³ And 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;¹⁴ and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance.¹⁵ But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.¹⁶ And in the fourth generation they shall come back hither; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.'

¹⁷ And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.¹⁸ In that 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;¹⁹ the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,²⁰ and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,²¹ and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.'