Some time later, the word of יהוה came to Abram in a vision:
“Fear not, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.”
But Abram said, “O lord יהוה,*lord יהוה Heb. ’adonai y-h-w-h, traditionally read aloud as ’adonai ’elohim (rather than ’adonai twice). NJPS “Lord God.” See also the Dictionary under “male metaphors for God.” what can You give me, seeing that I shall die childless, and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!”*and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
Abram said further, “Since You have granted me no offspring, my steward will be my heir.”
The word of יהוה came to him in reply, “That one shall not be your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir.”
[Then in the vision, God] took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them”—continuing, “So shall your offspring be.”
And he put his trust in יהוה, who reckoned it to his merit.
Then [God] said to him, “I am יהוה who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”
And he said, “O lord יהוה, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”
Came the reply, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young bird.”
He brought all these and cut them in two, placing each half opposite the other; but he did not cut up the bird.
Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great dark dread descended upon him.
And [God] said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;
but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.
As for you,
You shall go to your ancestors in peace;
You shall be buried at a ripe old age.
And they shall return here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven, and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces.
On that day יהוה made a covenant with Abram: “To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates—
the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”