Bereshit 15

After these things, the word of God came to Abram by revelation, saying: 'Fear not, O Abram; I am your shield; your reward is exceedingly great.'

He said: 'O God, my Lord, what will You give me? — for I am going forth barren; and the steward of my household is Eliezer of Damascus.'

And Abram said: 'Since You have not granted me offspring, the son who is in my household shall inherit me.'

And behold, the word of God came to him, saying: 'This one shall not inherit you; rather, he who shall come forth from your loins — he shall inherit you.'

Then He brought him outside, and said to him: 'Turn your gaze toward the sky, and try to count the stars — can you count them?' Then He said to him: 'So shall your offspring be.'

And he believed in God; and He counted it to him as a good deed.

And He said to him: 'I am God, who brought you out from the furnace of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.'

He said: 'O God, my Lord — by what shall I know that I shall possess it?'

He said to him: 'Bring me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove and a young pigeon.'

And he brought for Him all of these, and divided them in their midst, and placed each piece opposite its fellow; but the bird he did not divide.

Then he placed the bird upon the carcasses; and Abram moved them, and they stirred.

And when it was at the time of sunset, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, an awe — a great darkness — had fallen upon him.

And He said to Abram: 'Know assuredly that your offspring shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs; and they shall be enslaved by them, and they shall afflict them — for the full four hundred years.

And the people whom they shall enslave — I, too, shall judge them; and after that they shall come forth with great possessions.

And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.

And the fourth generation shall return hither — for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.'

And when the sun had gone down, and there was darkness, behold — like a smoking furnace and a flaming brand which passed between those pieces.

On that day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your offspring I give this land — from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates;

the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the mighty ones (Rephaim),

and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.'