Page:The Holy Bible Vol 1 (Thomson).djvu/31

Ch.XV. mine I swear by the Lord the God Most High, who created the heaven and the earth, that of all which belong to thee I will not take from a thread to a shoe latchet; that thou mayest not say, I have made Abram rich; save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of these men who went with me, namely, Eschol, Aunan, Mambre. Let them take a portion.

After these things a word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I protect thee. Thy reward shall be exceedingly great. Whereupon Abram said, O sovereign Lord, what wilt thou give me, seeing I die childless, and the son of Masek my servant, this Damascus Eliezer— Then Abram said, seeing thou hast not given me seed, this servant of mine is to be my heir. And immediately there came a voice of the Lord to him saying, He shall not be thy heir: but one who shall spring from thee shall be thy heir. Then he led him out and said to him, Look up now to the heaven and count the stars if thou canst number them. Then he said, So shall thy seed be. And Abram believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Then he said to him, I am the God who brought thee out of the country of the Chaldees, that I might give thee this land to inherit it. Whereupon he said, O sovereign Lord, how shall I know that I shall inherit it? And the Lord said to him, "Take for me a heifer of three years old and a she goat three years old and a ram three years old and a turtle dove and a pidgeon." So he took for him all these and divided them in halves and placed the halves opposite to one another, but the birds he did not divide; but the birds alighted on the carcases, on the two halves of them, and Abram sat down with them. And at the going down of the sun an ecstacy came on Abram, and lo! a great gloomy horror falleth upon him, and it was said to Abram, Know assuredly that thy seed shall sojourn in a land not their own. And they shall be enslaved and afflicted and humbled. Four hundred years. But the nation which they shall serve I will judge. And after that they shall come out hither with much wealth. Thou indeed shalt go to thy fathers in peace, having been nourished in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall be brought back hither. For the sins of the Amorites have not yet come to the full. And as