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

CHAPTER 12

1Forsooth the Lord said to Abram, Go thou out of thy land, and of thy kindred, and of the house of thy father, and come thou into the land which I shall show to thee;

2and I shall make thee into a great folk, and I shall bless thee, and I shall magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed;

3I shall bless them that bless thee, and I shall curse them that curse thee; and all kindreds of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee.

4And so Abram went out, as the Lord commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was five and seventy years when he went out of Haran.

5And he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, the son of his brother, and all the substance which they had in possession, and the men which they had begotten in Haran; and they went out that they should go into the land of Canaan. And when they came into it,

6Abram passed through the land till to the place of Shechem, and till to the noble valley. Forsooth Canaanite was then in the land.

7Soothly the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I shall give this land to thy seed. And Abram built there an altar to the Lord, that appeared to him.

8And from thence he passed forth to the hill [or the mount of] Bethel, that was against the east, and setted there his tabernacle, having Bethel from the west, and Hai from the east. And he builded also there an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called his name.

9And Abram went going, and going forth over to the south.

10Soothly hunger was made in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt, to be a pilgrim there, for hunger had the mastery in the land.

11And when he was nigh to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that thou art a fair woman,

12and that when Egyptians shall see thee, they shall say, It is his wife, and they shall slay me, and keep thee.

13Therefore, I beseech thee, say that thou art my sister, that it be well to me for thee, and that my life live for the love of thee.

14And so when Abram had entered into Egypt, Egyptians saw the woman, that she was full fair;

15and the princes told to Pharaoh, and praised her with him; and the woman was taken up into the house of Pharaoh.

16Forsooth they used well Abram for her; and sheep, and oxen, and asses, and servants, and servantesses, and she-asses, and camels were given to him.

17Forsooth the Lord beat Pharaoh and his house with most vengeances for Sarai, the wife of Abram.

18And Pharaoh called Abram, and said to him, What is it that thou hast done to me? why showedest thou not to me that she was thy wife?

19for what cause saidest thou, that she was thy sister, that I should take her into wife to me? Now therefore lo! thy wife; take thou her, and go.

20And Pharaoh commanded to men on Abram, and they led forth him, and his wife, and all things that he had.

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B'resheet (Gen) 12

Genesis 12