Capítulo 15

1 - After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, Or [sovereign] your very great reward. Or [shield; / your reward will be very great]"

2 - But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

3 - And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

4 - Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir."

5 - He took him outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars - if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring Or [seed] be."

6 - Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

7 - He also said to him, "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

8 - But Abram said, "Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"

9 - So the Lord said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."

10 - Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

11 - Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

12 - As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

13 - Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.

14 - But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

15 - You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

16 - In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

17 - When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

18 - On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi Or [river] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates -

19 - the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

20 - Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

21 - Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."