Abram’s Reward in the World to Come

1 After these things, after all the kingdoms of the earth had gathered together and drawn up battle against Abram, and had fallen before him, and he had killed four kings of them and brought back nine camps, Abram thought in his heart and said, “Woe is me now! Perhaps I have received the reward of the commandments in this world, and there is no portion for me in the world to come. Or perhaps the brothers or the kinsmen of these slain men who fell before me will go and be in their fortified towns and in their cities, and many legions will join up with them, and they will come against me and kill me. Or perhaps there were a few commandments to my credit the first time, when they fell before me, and they stood up for me; or perhaps no commandment will be found to my credit the second time, and the name of Heaven will be profaned through me.” For this reason a word of prophecy came from before the Lord to Abram the righteous, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram; for even though many legions join up and come against you to kill you, my Memra will be a shield for you, and it will be a protection for you in this world. And even though I have handed your enemies over before you in this world, the reward of your good deeds is made ready for you before me in the world to come.”⁠a

The Promise of an Heir

2 And Abram said, “I entreat you, in mercy from before you, Lord: much you have given me, and much is before you to give me; but I am going from the world without sons, and Eliezer, a son of my house, by whose hands miracles were done for me in Damascus, will be my heir.” 3 And Abram said, “Look, to me you have not given sons, and look, a son of my house will be my heir.” 4 And indeed a word of prophecy came from before the Lord to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir; but only the one who comes out of your own body, he will be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look up now at the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall the offspring of your sons be.” 6 And Abram believed in the name of the Memra of the Lord, and it was counted to him as merit.

The Covenant with Abram

7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of the furnace of fire of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”⁠b 8 And he said, “I entreat you, in mercy from before you: by what now shall I know that I will inherit it?” 9 And he said to him, “Offer before me a heifer three years old, and a goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, and a fledgling, a young pigeon.” 10 And he offered all these before him, and he cut them through the middle, and set each piece opposite its fellow; but the birds he did not cut. 11 And the birds came down on the pieces, and the merit of Abram drove them away. When the bird of prey came down, it settled on the pieces. What is this bird of prey? This bird of prey is the unclean bird of prey; this is the unclean bird. These are the kingdoms of the earth: when they plot evil plots against the house of Israel, through the merits of Abram their father there is deliverance for them. 12 And the sun was about to set, and a sweet sleep fell on Abram. And look, Abram saw four kingdoms rising up against him. Dread: that is Babylon. Darkness: that is Media. Great: that is Greece. Fell upon him: that is wicked Edom, which is destined to fall and will have no rising again. 13 And he said to Abram, “Know for certain that the offspring of your sons will be strangers and settlers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them four hundred years. 14 But the nation that enslaves them, I will exact payment from it; after that they will go out with great wealth. 15 And you shall be gathered to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And the fourth generation will return here, because the sins of the Amorites are not yet complete.” 17 And look, the sun had set and there was darkness; and look, Abram was watching while benches were set in order and thrones were set up. And look, Gehenna, which is likened to a furnace, to an oven, surrounded by sparks of fire, by flames of fire, into the middle of which the wicked fell, because the wicked rebelled against the Law in their lifetime in this world; and the righteous, because they kept it, were delivered from the distress. All this was shown to Abram as he passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your sons I will give this land, from the Nile of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the Salmaeans and the Kenizzites and the Easterners, 20 and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the giants, 21 and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”