Our Lord said to Abram:  Lift up thine eyes and see directly from the place that thou art now in, from the north to the south, and from the east to the west.  All this land that thou seest I shall give thee, and to thy seed for evermore.  I shall make thy seed as powder or dust of the earth, who that may number the dust of the earth shall number thy seed.  Arise therefore and walk the land in length and in breadth, for I shall give it to thee.  Abram moved then his tabernacle and dwelled in the valley of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and set there his tabernacle.  It happened soon after that there was a war in that land, that four kings warred again other five kings, which were of Sodom, Gomorrah and other.  And the four kings overthrew the five and slew them, and spoiled and took all the substance of the country and took also with them Lot and all his goods.  And a man gat away from them and came to Abram, and told him how that Lot was taken and led away.  And then anon Abram did do gather his people together, the number of three hundred and eighteen.  And followed after, and departed his people in two parties because they should not escape.  And Abram smote in among them, and slew the kings, and rescued Lot and all his goods, and delivered the men of Sodom that were taken and the women.  And they of Sodom came against him, and Melchisedech came and met with him, and offered to him bread and wine.  This Melchisedech was king and priest of Jerusalem and all the country, and blessed Abram.  And there Abram gave to him the tythes of all he had.  And the king of Sodom would that Abram should have had such prey as he took, but he would not have as much as the latchet of a shoe, and thus gat Abram much love of all the people.

After this our Lord appeared to Abram in a vision and said:  Abram, dread thee nothing, I am thy protector, and thy reward and meed shall be great.  Abram answered:  Lord God, what wilt thou give me?  Thou wottest well I have no children, and sith I have none I will well that Eleazar the son of my bailiff be my heir.  Nay, said our Lord, he shall not be thine heir, but he that shall issue and come of thy seed shall be thine heir.  Our Lord led him out and bade him behold the heaven, and number the stars if thou mayst, and said to him, so shall thy offspringing and seed be.  And Abram believed it and gave faith to our Lord’s words, and it was reputed to him to justice.  And our Lord said to him, I am the Lord that led thee out of the land of Ur of the Chaldees for to give to thee this land into thy possession.  And Abram said:  Lord, how shall I know that I shall possess it?  A voice said to Abram:  Thy seed shall be exiled into Egypt by the space of four hundred years, and shall be there in servitude, and after, I shall bring them hither again in the fourth generation.  Thou shalt abide here unto thy good age, and shalt be buried here, and go with thy fathers in peace.  Sara was yet without child, and she had a handmaid named Hagar,