1
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.
2
And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house [is] this Eliezer of Damascus?
3
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is my heir.
4
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.
5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou art able to number them: and he said to him, So shall thy seed be.
6
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
7
And he said to him, I [am] the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8
And he said, Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9
And he said to him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.
10
And he took to him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds he did not divide.
11
And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.