1Now Adonai said to Avram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4So Avram went, as Adonai had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5Avram took his wife Sarai, his brother’s son Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, as well as the people they had acquired in Haran; then they set out for the land of Kena‘an and entered the land of Kena‘an.

6Avram passed through the land to the place called Sh’khem, to the oak of Moreh. The Kena‘ani were then in the land. 7Adonai appeared to Avram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to Adonai, who had appeared to him.

8He left that place, went to the hill east of Beit-El and pitched his tent. With Beit-El to the west and ‘Ai to the east, he built an altar there and called on the name of Adonai. 9Then Avram traveled on, continuing toward the Negev. 10But there was a famine in the land, so Avram went down into Egypt to stay there, because the famine in the land was severe.

11When he came close to Egypt and was about to enter, he said to Sarai his wife, “Here now, I know that you are a good-looking woman; 12so that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and kill me but keep you alive. 13Please say that you are my sister, so that it will go well with me for your sake, and so that I will stay alive because of you.”

(ii) 14When Avram entered Egypt, the Egyptians did notice that the woman was very beautiful. 15Pharaoh’s princes saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16He treated Avram well for her sake, giving him sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

17But Adonai inflicted great plagues on Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai Avram’s wife. 18Pharaoh called Avram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my own wife? Now therefore, here is your wife! Take her, and go away!” 20So Pharaoh gave orders concerning him to his men, and they sent him on his way with his wife and everything he had.

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Genesis 12

1 Then the Lord said to Abram: "Depart from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, and come into the land that I will show you.

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and magnify your name, and you will be blessed.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

4 And so Abram departed just as the Lord had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

5 And he took his wife Sarai, and Lot, the son of his brother, and all the substance which they had come to possess, and the lives which they had acquired in Haran, and they departed in order to go to the land of Canaan. And when they arrived in it,

6 Abram passed through the land even to the place of Shechem, as far as the famous steep valley. Now at that time, the Canaanite was in the land.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and he said to him, "To your offspring, I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 And passing on from there to a mountain, which was opposite the east of Bethel, he pitched his tent there, having Bethel to the west, and Hai on the east. He also built an altar there to the Lord, and he called upon his name.

9 And Abram traveled, going out and continuing further on, toward the south.

10 But a famine occurred in the land. And Abram descended to Egypt, to sojourn there. For famine prevailed over the land.

11 And when he was close to entering Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I know you to be a beautiful woman.

12 And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'She is his wife.' And they will put me to death, and retain you.

13 Therefore, I beg you to say that you are my sister, so that it may be well with me because of you, and so that my soul may live by your favor."

14 And so, when Abram had arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was exceedingly beautiful.

15 And the princes reported it to Pharaoh, and they praised her to him. And the woman was inducted into the house of Pharaoh.

16 In truth, they treated Abram well because of her. And he had sheep and oxen and male donkeys, and men servants, and women servants, and female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the Lord scourged Pharaoh and his house with great wounds because of Sarai, the wife of Abram.

18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and he said to him: "What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife?

19 For what reason did you claim her to be your sister, so that I would take her to me as a wife? Now therefore, behold your mate, receive her and go."

20 And Pharaoh instructed his men about Abram. And they led him away with his wife and all that he had.

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B'resheet (Gen) 12

Genesis 12