In Genesis 15, God speaks to Abram in three visions and gives the covenant promise to his descendants. In the first vision, God reminds Abram of His protection and the great reward and blessings that He is going to give him. But, Abram is confused and asks, "what good are blessings when I don't even have a son?". God reassures him that he will have a son to inherit the blessings and all that He is giving to Abram. In fact, God tells Abram that his descendants will be great in number like the stars in the night sky. At this, "Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith". God also reminded Abram that He is the same God who brought him out of his former homeland and will give him a new "promised" land.
To further reassure Abram of the promise of the land He would give him, God told him to bring animal sacrifices and they performed a traditional agreement custom of cutting the animals in half. Abram experienced two more prophetic visions, which the Lord explained to him. The first was a "terrifying vision of darkness and horror", which the Lord explained as a time when Abram's descendants will be oppressed in a foreign land as slaves. But, the Lord also explained that they would return to the land with great wealth one day. In the last vision, Abram saw a "smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the animal carcasses", which symbolized the covenant the Lord made with Abram that day.