¹ After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

² And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

³ And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is my heir.

⁴ And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This shall not be thy heir; but he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy heir.

⁵ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou art able to number them: and he said to him, So shall thy seed be.

⁶ And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

⁸ And he said, Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?

⁹ And he said to him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

¹⁰ And he took to him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds he did not divide.

¹¹ And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

¹² And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

¹³ And he said to Abram, Know certainly that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

¹⁴ And also that nation which they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

¹⁵ And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

¹⁶ But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

¹⁷ And it came to pass, that when the sun had gone down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

¹⁸ In that same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

¹⁹ The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

²⁰ And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

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

¹ Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

² Sarai said to Abram, "See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³ Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

⁵ Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong is your fault. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you."

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes." Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

⁷ The angel of Yahweh found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

⁸ He said, "Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, where did you come from? where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai."

⁹ The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands."

¹⁰ The angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."

¹¹ The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction.

¹² He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. He will live opposite all of his brothers."

¹³ She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees," for she said, "Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?"

¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.