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
The Call of Abram
1And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. 3And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
Abram’s Journey
4And Abram went out as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old#Literally “the son of five years and seventy years” when he went out from Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew,#Literally “the son of his brother” and all their possessions that they had gathered, and all the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to the land of Canaan. 6And Abram traveled through the land up to the place of Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. 7And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. 8And he moved on from there to the hill country, east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent at Bethel on the west, and at Ai on the east. And he built an altar there to Yahweh. And he called on the name of Yahweh. 9And Abram kept moving on,#Literally “And Abram moved on, going and moving on” toward the Negev. 10And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11And it happened that as he drew near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “Look now, I know that you are a woman beautiful of appearance, 12and it shall happen that, if the Egyptians see you, then they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ then they will kill me but let you live. 13Please say you are my sister so that it will go well for me on your account. Then I will live#Literally “And my soul will live” on account of you.” 14And it happened that as Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. 15And the officials of Pharaoh saw her, and they praised her beauty to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh. 16And he dealt well with Abram on account of her, and he had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17Then#Or “And” Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues on account of the matter of Sarai the wife of Abram. 18Then Pharaoh called for Abram and said, “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,’ so that I took her to myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go.” 20And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and then sent him and his wife and all that was with him away.
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