As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Comment: When you read the whole passage together this makes sense, but breaking it up for comments as I have, the first sentence above should come at the end of this section. That is, God gives Abram some information about the intervening years before his descendants inherit the promised land. Even though he, Abram will have children, four hundred years will be spent prior to entering the promised land. We know from what follows later, in the book of Genesis, those years will be spent in Egypt . This happened after the peaceful death of Abram and after a couple more generations have been and gone. Looking ahead, Abram will become the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob whose son Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt and the whole tribe of Jacob’s family went into Egypt at that time for 400 years.
Then Abram went into a deep sleep.
Prayer: Thank You that I can leave my future in Your hands, O, God.
As I read it! 