1The Lord told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, your family home,#12:1. “Your family home”: literally, “your father's house.” and travel to the land I'm going to show you. 2I will make you the ancestor of a great nation and I will bless you. I will make sure you have a great reputation and that you are a blessing to others. 3I will bless those who bless you; I will curse those who curse you. Everyone on earth will be blessed through you.”

4So Abram left following the Lord's instructions, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 when he left Haran. 5With him went his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, together with all the possessions they had collected and the people that had joined them#12:5. “The people that had joined them”: this would include servants, but the term used is not specific and applies to anyone who had joined Abram's group for whatever reason. in Haran. They left for the land of Canaan.

When they arrived there, 6Abram traveled on through the land as far as a place called Shechem, stopping at the oak tree of Moreh. At that time the land was occupied by Canaanites.

7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I'm going to give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar to the Lord there because that was where the Lord appeared to him. 8Then he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up camp there. Bethel was to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar to the Lord there and worshiped him. 9After that he went on his way, heading towards the Negev.#12:9. “The Negev”: the desert area to the south.

10But the land had been hit by famine. So Abram continued on to Egypt, planning to live there because the famine was so bad. 11As he approached Egypt and was about to cross the border, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12When the Egyptians see you, they'll say, ‘She's his wife,’ and they'll kill me but not you! 13Tell them you're my sister so I'll be treated well because of you, and my life will be spared for your sake.”

14When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people there saw how beautiful Sarai was. 15Pharaoh's officials also noticed and spoke positively about her to Pharaoh. So Sarai was taken to his palace to become one of his wives.#12:15. “To become one of his wives”: supplied for clarity. 16Pharaoh treated Abram well because of her, giving him sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17But the Lord caused Pharaoh and the people in his palace to suffer from terrible diseases because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18So Pharaoh ordered Abram brought to him and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? 19Why did you say, ‘She's my sister,’ and let me take her to become one of my wives? So here's your wife! Take her and leave!”

20Pharaoh ordered his guards to expel him and his wife from the country, along with everyone with them and all their possessions.

Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com

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Genesis 12

God Calls Abram

1The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you.

2I will make you a great nation,

and I will bless you.

I will make you famous,

and you will be a blessing to others.

3I will bless those who bless you,

and I will place a curse on those who harm you.

And all the people on earth

will be blessed through you.”

4So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. 5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.

6Abram traveled through that land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. 7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and worshiped him. 9After this, he traveled on toward southern Canaan.

Abram Goes to Egypt

10At this time there was not much food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because there was so little food. 11Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a very beautiful woman. 12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. 13Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you.”

14When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. 15The Egyptian officers saw her and told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was. They took her to the king’s palace, and 16the king was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was her brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

17But the Lord sent terrible diseases on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18So the king sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and leave!” 20Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.

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Genesis 12

Genesis 12