⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he brought all these to Him and ^(A)cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut ^(B)the birds in two. ¹¹ And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² Now when the sun was going down, ^(C)a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly ^(D)that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and ^(E)they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve ^(F)I will judge; afterward ^(G)they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ Now as for you, ^(H)you shall ^[a]go ^(I)to your fathers in peace; ^(J)you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But ^(K)in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity ^(L)of the Amorites ^(M)is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that ^(N)passed between those pieces. ¹⁸ On the same day the Lord ^(O)made a covenant with Abram, saying:

^(P)“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—