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

Promises to Abram

1Now the #Gen. 15:7; Acts 7:2, 3; (Heb. 11:8)Lord had said to Abram:

“Get #Gen. 13:9out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

2#(Gen. 17:4–6); 18:18; 46:3; Deut. 26:5; 1 Kin. 3:8I will make you a great nation;

#Gen. 22:17; 24:35I will bless you

And make your name great;

#Gen. 28:4; Zech. 8:13; Gal. 3:14And you shall be a blessing.

3#Gen. 24:35; 27:29; Ex. 23:22; Num. 24:9I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in #Gen. 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Ps. 72:17; Matt. 1:1; Luke 3:34; Acts 3:25; (Gal. 3:8)you all the families of the earth shall be #Is. 41:27blessed.”

4So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and #Gen. 14:14the people whom they had acquired in #Gen. 11:31Haran, and they #Gen. 13:18departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6Abram #Heb. 11:9passed through the land to the place of Shechem, #Deut. 11:30; Judg. 7:1as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. #Gen. 10:18, 19And the Canaanites were then in the land.

7#Gen. 17:1; 18:1Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, #Gen. 13:15; 15:18; 17:8; Deut. 34:4; Ps. 105:9–12; Acts 7:5; Gal. 3:16“To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an #Gen. 13:4, 18; 22:9altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and #Gen. 4:26; 13:4; 21:33called on the name of the Lord. 9So Abram journeyed, #Gen. 13:1, 3; 20:1; 24:62going on still toward the South.

Abram in Egypt

10Now there was #Gen. 26:1a famine in the land, and Abram #Ps. 105:13went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was #Gen. 43:1severe in the land. 11And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are #Gen. 12:14; 26:7; 29:17a woman of beautiful countenance. 12Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they #Gen. 20:11; 26:7will kill me, but they will let you live. 13#Gen. 20:1–18; 26:6–11Please say you are my #Gen. 20:12sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”

14So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. 15The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. 16He #Gen. 20:14treated Abram well for her sake. He #Gen. 13:2had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17But the Lord #Gen. 20:18; 1 Chr. 16:21; (Ps. 105:14)plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18And Pharaoh called Abram and said, #Gen. 20:9, 10; 26:10“What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20#(Prov. 21:1)So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

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Genesis 12

Genesis 12