God promises seed to Abram. His faith, sacrifice and vision.

¹ And so, these things having been transacted, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your protector, and your reward is exceedingly great.”

² And Abram said: “Lord God, what will you give to me? I may go without children. And the son of the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.”

³ And Abram added: “Yet to me you have not given offspring. And behold, my servant born in my house will be my heir.”

⁴ And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: “This one will not be your heir. But he who will come from your loins, the same will you have for your heir.”¹

1. 15:4The word ‘utero’ can refer to a man or a woman. When referring to a woman, it is usually translated as ‘womb,’ but it can also refer more generally to a woman’s ability to procreate. When referring to a man, it can be translated as ‘belly,’ or ‘abdomen,’ or ‘loins.’ But it often refers, in men, more generally to the male ability to procreate.(Conte)

⁵ And he brought him outside, and he said to him, “Take in the heavens, and number the stars, if you can.” And he said to him, “So also will your offspring be.”

⁶ Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

⁷ And he said to him, “I am the Lord who led you away from Ur of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land, and so that you would possess it.”

⁸ But he said, “Lord God, in what way may I be able to know that I will possess it?”

⁹ And the Lord responded by saying: “Take for me a cow of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, also a turtle-dove and a pigeon.”¹

1. 15:9The words ‘dove’ and ‘pigeon’ are generally interchangeable. The word turtle-dove is more specific, but, in the context of ancient times, it probably does not refer to only one species.(Conte)

¹⁰ Taking all these, he divided them through the middle, and placed both parts opposite one another. But the birds he did not divide.

¹¹ And birds descended upon the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a dread, great and dark, invaded him.

¹³ And it was said to him: “Know beforehand that your future offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own, and they will subjugate them in servitude and afflict them for four hundred years.

¹⁴ Yet truly, I will judge the nation that they will serve, and after this they will depart with great substance.

¹⁵ But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.

¹⁶ But in the fourth generation, they will return here. For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet completed, even to this present time.”

¹⁷ Then, when the sun had set, there came a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.

¹⁸ On that day, God formed a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt, even to the great river Euphrates:

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

²⁰ and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, likewise the Rephaim,

²¹ and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”