5. Then God led Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky. See the many stars. There are so many you cannot count them. Your family will be like that.”
6. Abram believed the Lord, and because of this faith the Lord accepted him as one who has done what is right.
7. He said to Abram, “I am the Lord who led you from Ur of Babylonia. I did this so that I could give you this land. You will own this land.”
8. But Abram said, “Lord GOD, how can I be sure that I will get this land?”
9. God said to Abram, “We will make an agreement. Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.”
10. Abram brought all these to God. Abram killed these animals and cut each of them into two pieces. Then he laid each half across from the other half. He did not cut the birds into two pieces.
11. Later, large birds flew down to eat the animals, but Abram chased them away.
12. The sun began to go down and Abram got very sleepy. While he was asleep, a very terrible darkness came over him.
13. Then the Lord said to Abram, “You should know this: Your descendants will live in a country that is not their own. They will be strangers there. The people there will make them slaves and be cruel to them for 400 years.
14. But then I will punish the nation that made them slaves. Your people will leave that land, and they will take many good things with them.