B'resheet (Gen) 12
12
Parashah 3: Lekh L’kha (Get yourself out) 12:1–17:27
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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12
The Lord Chooses Abram
1 #
Ac 7.2,3; He 11.8. The Lord said to Abram:
Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3#Ga 3.8. I will bless those who bless you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.#12.3 Everyone … you: Or “Everyone on earth will ask me to bless them as I have blessed you.”
4-5Abram was 75 years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had acquired while in Haran.
When they came to the land of Canaan, 6Abram went as far as the sacred tree of Moreh in a place called Shechem. The Canaanites were still living in the land at that time, 7#Ac 7.5; Ga 3.16. but the Lord appeared to Abram and promised, “I will give this land to your family forever.” Abram then built an altar there for the Lord.
8Abram traveled to the hill country east of Bethel and camped between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and worshiped the Lord. 9Later, Abram started out toward the Southern Desert.
Abram in Egypt
10-11The crops failed, and there was no food anywhere in Canaan. So Abram and his wife Sarai went to live in Egypt for a while. But just before they got there, Abram said, “Sarai, you are really beautiful! 12When the Egyptians see you, they will murder me because I am your husband. But they won't kill you. 13#Gn 20.2; 26.7. Please save my life by saying you are my sister.”
14As soon as Abram and Sarai arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians noticed how beautiful she was. 15The king's#12.15 The king's: The Hebrew text has “Pharaoh's,” a Hebrew word sometimes used for the king of Egypt. officials told him about her, and she was taken to his house. 16The king was good to Abram because of Sarai, and Abram was given sheep, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels.
17Because of Sarai, the Lord struck the king and everyone in his palace with terrible diseases. 18Finally, the king sent for Abram and said to him, “What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19Why did you make me believe she was your sister? Now I've married her. Take her and go! She's your wife.”
20So the king told his men to let Abram and Sarai take their possessions and leave.
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
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