8. But Abram said, "Lord God, how do I know that I will actually possess it?"
9. He said, "Bring me a three-year-old female calf, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon."
10. He took all of these animals, split them in half, and laid the halves facing each other, but he didn’t split the birds.
11. When vultures swooped down on the carcasses, Abram waved them off.
12. After the sun set, Abram slept deeply. A terrifying and deep darkness settled over him.
13. Then the Lord said to Abram, "Have no doubt that your descendants will live as immigrants in a land that isn’t their own, where they will be oppressed slaves for four hundred years.
14. But after I punish the nation they serve, they will leave it with great wealth.
15. As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried after a good long life.
16. The fourth generation will return here since the Amorites’ wrongdoing won’t have reached its peak until then."
17. After the sun had set and darkness had deepened, a smoking vessel with a fiery flame passed between the split-open animals.