¹⁰ Abram obeyed the Lord. Then he cut^[a] the animals in half and laid the two halves of each animal opposite each other on the ground. But he did not cut the doves and pigeons in half. ¹¹ And when birds came down to eat the animals, Abram chased them away.

^12 (A) As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and everything became dark and frightening.