Genesis 12
12
1And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name: and thou shalt be blessed.
3I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and IN THEE shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed.
4So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Haran.
5And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all the substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they had gotten in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when they were come into it,
6Abram passed through the country into the place of Sichem, as far as the noble vale. Now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land.
7And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land. And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8And passing on from thence to a mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. He built there also an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name.
9And Abram went forward, going and proceeding on to the south.
10And there came a famine in the country. And Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there; for the famine was very grievous in the land.
11And when he was near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: I know that thou art a beautiful woman:
12And that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say: She is his wife. And they will kill me, and keep thee.
13Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister: that I may be well used for thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake.
14And when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful.
15And the princes told Pharao, and praised her before him: and the woman was taken into the house of Pharao.
16And they used Abram well for her sake. And he had sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels.
17But the Lord scourged Pharao and his house with most grievous stripes for Sarai, Abram's wife.
18And Pharao called Abram, and said to him: What is this that thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell ME that she was thy wife?
19For what cause didst thou say, she was thy sister, that I might take her to my wife? Now, therefore, there is thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
20And Pharao gave HIS men orders concerning Abram: and they led him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Genesis 12
12
Chapter 12
Abram leaves Haran
1The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you. #12:1 The Lord had said this to Abram when he lived in Ur, among the Chaldeans. See Joshua 24:2.
2I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. 3I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’ #12:3 Jesus Christ is a descendant of Abram. Through Jesus, God blesses all the nations and families of people on the earth.
4Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. 5Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, 6Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. 7The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord. #12:7 The Canaanites did not worship God. The oak tree of Moreh was a place where the Canaanites worshipped false gods. Abram built an altar to worship God. The Canaanites would see that Abram worshipped the Lord. But Abram was not afraid. He knew that this place belonged to God. He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.
8Then Abram left Shechem. He went to the hills that are on the east of Bethel. He put up his tent in that place. Bethel was towards the west, and Ai was towards the east. Abram also built an altar there to worship the Lord.
9Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev. #12:9 The Negev is a dry land. It is between Egypt and Canaan.
Abram and Sarai in Egypt
10There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad. #12:10 Egypt did not often have a famine because the River Nile went through the land.
11When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.#12:12 Abram thinks that the king of Egypt might want to take Sarai as one of his wives. If he knows that Sarai is Abram's wife, the king will have to kill Abram. 13So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’
14When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace.#12:15 A palace is a large house for a king.
16Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.
17But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai. 18So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not? 19You told me “She is my sister”. As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’
20Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.
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