Genesis 15:8–16

⁸Abram asked, “Almighty Lord, how can I be certain that I will take possession of it?” 

⁹He answered Abram, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a mourning dove, and a pigeon.” ¹⁰So Abram brought all these animals to him. He cut each of them in half and laid each half opposite the other. However, he did not cut the birds in half. 

¹¹When birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ¹²As the sun was just about to set, a deep sleep—a dreadful, deep darkness—came over Abram. 

¹³God said to Abram, “You can know for sure that your descendants will live in a land that is not their own, where they will be slaves, and they will be oppressed for 400 years. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve, and after that they will come out with many possessions. ¹⁵But you will die in peace and be buried at a very old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, because the sin of the Amorites will not have run its course until then.”