7. He also said to him, ‘I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.’
8. But Abram said, ‘Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I shall gain possession of it?’
9. So the Lord said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.’
10. Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
11. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.