4 The Lord’s word came immediately to him, "This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child."
5 Then he brought Abram outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them." He continued, "This is how many children you will have."
6 Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.
7 He said to Abram, "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession."
8 But Abram said, "Lord God, how do I know that I will actually possess it?"
9 He said, "Bring me a three-year-old female calf, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon."
10 He took all of these animals, split them in half, and laid the halves facing each other, but he didn’t split the birds.