Chapter 15

After these things hath the word of Yehovah been unto Abram in a vision, saying, `Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to thee, thy reward is exceeding great.`

And Abram saith, `Lord Yehovah, what dost Thou give to me, and I am going childless? and an acquired son in my house is Demmesek Eliezer.`

And Abram saith, `Lo, to me Thou hast not given seed, and lo, a domestic doth heir me.`

And lo, the word of Yehovah is unto him, saying, `This one doth not heir thee; but he who cometh out from thy bowels, he doth heir thee;`

and He bringeth him out without, and saith, `Look attentively, I pray thee, towards the heavens, and count the stars, if thou art able to count them;` and He saith to him, `Thus is thy seed.`

And he hath believed in Yehovah, and He reckoneth it to him -- righteousness.

And He saith unto him, `I am Yehovah who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give to thee this land to possess it;`

and he saith, `Lord Yehovah, whereby do I know that I possess it?`

And He saith unto him, `Take for Me a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtle-dove, and a young bird;`

and he taketh to him all these, and separateth them in the midst, and putteth each piece over against its fellow, but the bird he hath not divided;

and the ravenous birds come down upon the carcases, and Abram causeth them to turn back.

And the sun is about to go in, and deep sleep hath fallen upon Abram, and lo, a terror of great darkness is falling upon him;

and He saith to Abram, `knowing -- know that thy seed is a sojourner in a land not theirs, and they have served them, and they have afflicted them four hundred years,

and the nation also whom they serve I judge, and after this they go out with great substance;

and thou -- thou comest in unto thy fathers in peace; thou art buried in a good old age;

and the fourth generation doth turn back hither, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.`

And it cometh to pass -- the sun hath gone in, and thick darkness hath been -- and lo, a furnace of smoke, and a lamp of fire, which hath passed over between those pieces.

In that day hath Yehovah made with Abram a covenant, saying, `To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Phrat,

with the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.`