Genesis 12
12
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
Genesis 12
12
God Calls Abram
1The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country and your people. Leave your father’s family and go to the country that I will show you.
2I will build a great nation from you.
I will bless you
and make your name famous.
People will use your name
to bless other people.
3I will bless those who bless you,
and I will curse those who curse you.
I will use you to bless
all the people on earth.”
Abram Goes to Canaan
4So Abram left Haran just like the Lord said, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the slaves, and all the other things he had gotten in Haran. Then he and his group moved to the land of Canaan. 6Abram traveled through the land as far as the town of Shechem and then to the big tree at Moreh. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time.
7The Lord appeared#12:7 The Lord appeared God often used special shapes so that people could see him. Sometimes he was like a man, an angel, a fire, or a bright light. to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.”
Abram built an altar to honor the Lord who appeared to him there. 8Then he left that place and traveled to the mountains east of Bethel. He set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai#12:8 Ai The name of this town means “the ruins.” was to the east. Abram built another altar at that place to honor the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. 9Then he moved on toward the Negev, stopping for a time at several places on the way.
Abram in Egypt
10During this time there was not enough food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live. 11Just before they arrived in Egypt, Abram told Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12When the Egyptian men see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me and keep you alive because they want you. 13So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will be good to me because of you. In this way you will save my life.”
14So when Abram went into Egypt, the Egyptian men saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15Even some of Pharaoh’s officials noticed her and told Pharaoh how beautiful she was. So they took her to Pharaoh’s house. 16Pharaoh was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was Sarai’s brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and men and women servants.
17Pharaoh took Abram’s wife, so the Lord caused Pharaoh and all the people in his house to have very bad diseases. 18Pharaoh called Abram and said to him, “You have done a very bad thing to me! Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19You said, ‘She is my sister.’ Why did you say that? I took her so that she could be my wife, but now I give your wife back to you. Take her and go!” 20Then Pharaoh commanded his men to lead Abram out of Egypt. So Abram and his wife left that place and took everything they had with them.
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