Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great.

His itaque transactis, factus est sermo Domini ad Abram per visionem dicens: Noli timere, Abram: ego protector tuus sum, et merces tua magna nimis.

It was after this that the Lord sent word to Abram in a vision, Have no fear, Abram, I am here to protect thee; thy reward shall be great indeed.

And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer.

Dixitque Abram: Domine Deus, quid dabis mihi? ego vadam absque liberis, et filius procuratoris domus meæ iste Damascus Eliezer.

But Abram answered, Lord God, what can this gift of thine be? I must go the way of childless men; Damascus here, the son of Eliezer, is but the son of my steward;

And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my servant, born in my house, shall be my heir.

Addiditque Abram: Mihi autem non dedisti semen, et ecce vernaculus meus, hæres meus erit.

to me (Abram added) thou hast given no children, so that all the heir I have is a slave born in my house.

And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying : He shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir.

Statimque sermo Domini factus est ad eum, dicens: Non erit hic hæres tuus, sed qui egredietur de utero tuo, ipsum habebis hæredem.

Whereupon the Lord sent word to him, This man shall not succeed thee; thou shalt have an heir sprung from thy own body.

And he brought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars, if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be.

Eduxitque eum foras, et ait illi: Suspice cælum, et numera stellas, si potes. Et dixit ei: Sic erit semen tuum.

Then he took him out of doors, and said to him, Look up at the sky, and count, if thou canst, the stars in it; thy race, like these, shall be numberless.

Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

Credidit Abram Deo, et reputatum est illi ad justitiam.

So Abram put his faith in God, and it was reckoned virtue in him.

And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it.

Dixitque ad eum: Ego Dominus qui eduxi te de Ur Chaldæorum ut darem tibi terram istam, et possideres eam.

And now God said to him, I am the Lord, who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee possession of this land instead.

But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?

At ille ait: Domine Deus, unde scire possum quod possessurus sim eam?

And when he asked, Lord God, what assurance may I have, that it is mine?

And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon.

Et respondens Dominus: Sume, inquit, mihi vaccam triennem, et capram trimam, et arietem annorum trium, turturem quoque et columbam.

the Lord answered, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon.

And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other; but the birds he divided not.

Qui tollens universa hæc, divisit ea per medium, et utrasque partes contra se altrinsecus posuit; aves autem non divisit.

All these he brought to him, and cut them in half, laying the two halves of each on opposite sides, except the dove and the pigeon; he did not divide these.

And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

Descenderuntque volucres super cadavera, et abigebat eas Abram.

The whole day long Abram stood there, driving away the carrion-birds as they swooped down on the carcases;

And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him.

Cumque sol occumberet, sopor irruit super Abram, et horror magnus et tenebrosus invasit eum.

but when the sun set, deep sleep fell upon him, and in the darkness a great dread assailed him.

And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.

Dictumque est ad eum: Scito prænoscens quod peregrinum futurum sit semen tuum in terra non sua, et subjicient eos servituti, et affligent quadringentis annis.

So a voice came to him, This thou must know, that thy race will live as strangers in a land not their own, reduced to slavery and ill-used for four hundred years.

But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance.

Verumtamen gentem, cui servituri sunt, ego judicabo: et post hæc egredientur cum magna substantia.

But I am there to pass judgement on the nation which enslaves them; and when this is done, they shall come back rich in possessions.

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

Tu autem ibis ad patres tuos in pace, sepultus in senectute bona.

For thyself, thou shalt be buried with thy fathers, grown old in comfort;

But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.

Generatione autem quarta revertentur huc: necdum enim completæ sunt iniquitates Amorrhæorum usque ad præsens tempus.

but the fourth generation will have come before these return hither; the wickedness of the Amorrhites has not reached its full term.

And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions.

Cum ergo occubuisset sol, facta est caligo tenebrosa, et apparuit clibanus fumans, et lampas ignis transiens inter divisiones illas.

So the sun went down, and when the darkness of night came on, a smoking furnace was seen, a torch of fire that passed between the pieces of flesh.

That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.

In illo die pepigit Dominus fœdus cum Abram, dicens: Semini tuo dabo terram hanc a fluvio Ægypti usque ad fluvium magnum Euphraten,

And the Lord, that day, made a covenant with Abram; I will grant this land, he told him, to thy posterity, with its borders reaching up to the river of Egypt, and the great river Euphrates;

The Cineans and Cenezites, the Cedmonites,

Cinæos, et Cenezæos, Cedmonæos,

the land of the Cinites, and the Cenezites, and the Cedmonites,

And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also,

et Hethæos, et Pherezæos, Raphaim quoque,

the Hethites and the Pherezites, the Raphaim, too,

And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.

et Amorrhæos, et Chananæos, et Gergesæos, et Jebusæos.

and the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.