¹ After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."

² Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

³ Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."

⁴ Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."

⁵ Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."

⁶ He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

⁷ He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."

⁸ He said, "Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?"

⁹ He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

¹⁰ He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.

¹¹ The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹² When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.

¹³ He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.

¹⁴ I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,

¹⁵ but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.

¹⁶ In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."

¹⁷ It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

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

¹⁹ the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, 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.