Genesis 15 · Parashat Lech-Lecha

After these things the word of the Lord came to Avram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Avram: I am thy shield; thy reward will be very great.

And Avram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is Eli῾ezer of Dammeseq?

And Avram said, Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed: and, one born in my house is my heir.

And, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This shall not be thy heir; but he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy heir.

And He brought him outside, and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said to him, So shall thy seed be.

And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.

And He said to him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur-kasdim, to give thee this land to inherit it.

And he said, Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?

And He said to him, Take Me a heifer three years old, and a goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

And he took to Him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half against the other: but the birds he divided not.

And the eagle came down upon the carcasses, and Avram drove them away.

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Avram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

And He said to Avram, Know surely 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;

and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterwards shall they come out with great substance.

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

But in the fourth generation they shall come back here, for the iniquity of the Emori is not yet full.

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Avram, saying, To thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Miżrayim to the great river, the river Perat:

the Qeni, and the Qenizzi, and the Qadmoni,

and the Ḥitti, and the Perizzi, and the Refa᾽im,

and the Emori, and the Kena῾ani, and the Girgashi, and the Yevusi.