Genesis, 15

[1] Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great. •

[2] And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer. •

[3] And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my servant born in my house, shall be my heir.

[4] And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying : He shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir.

[5] And he brought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be. •

[6] Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. •

[7] And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it.

[8] But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it? •

[9] And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years. and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon. •

[10] And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other: but the birds he divided not. •

[11] And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

[12] And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him. •

[13] And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years. •

[14] But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance. •

[15] And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age. •

[16] But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time. •

[17] And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions. •

[18] That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river to Egypt even to the great river Euphrates. •

[19] The Cineans, and Cenezites, the Cedmonites, •

[20] And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,

[21] And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.