Genesis 15:1-10 ▼

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: |Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.|

2 But Abram said, |O sovereign LORD, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?|

3 Abram added, |Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!|

4 But look, the word of the LORD came to him: |This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.|

5 The LORD took him outside and said, |Gaze into the sky and count the stars--if you are able to count them!| Then he said to him, |So will your descendants be.|

6 Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.

7 The LORD said to him, |I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.|

8 But Abram said, |O sovereign LORD, by what can I know that I am to possess it?|

9 The LORD said to him, |Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.|

10 So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half.