Genesis 12
12
Abram and Sarai
1 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.
2-3I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”
4-6So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.
Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.
7 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.
8He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.
9Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.
10-13Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, “Look. We both know that you’re a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they’re going to say, ‘Aha! That’s his wife!’ and kill me. But they’ll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you’re my sister. Because of you, they’ll welcome me and let me live.”
14-15When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh’s princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.
16-17Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. But God hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram’s wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.
18-19Pharaoh called for Abram, “What’s this that you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she’s your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’ so that I’d take her as my wife? Here’s your wife back—take her and get out!”
20Pharaoh ordered his men to get Abram out of the country. They sent him and his wife and everything he owned on their way.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Berĕshith (Genesis) 12
12
1And יהוה said to Aḇram, “Go yourself out of your land, from your relatives and from your father’s house, to a land which I show you.
2“And I shall make you a great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing!
3“And I shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you. And in you all the clans of the earth shall be blessed.”
4So Aḇram left, as יהוה had commanded him, and Lot went with him. And Aḇram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Ḥaran.
5And Aḇram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the beings whom they had acquired in Ḥaran, and they set out for the land of Kena‛an. And they came to the land of Kena‛an.
6And Aḇram passed through the land to the place of Sheḵem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. At that time the Kena‛anites were in the land.
7And יהוה appeared to Aḇram and said, “To your seed I give this land.” And he built there a slaughter-place to יהוה, who had appeared to him.
8And from there he moved to the mountain east of Bĕyth Ěl, and he pitched his tent, with Bĕyth Ěl on the west and Ai on the east. And he built there a slaughter-place to יהוה, and called on the Name of יהוה.
9And Aḇram set out, continuing toward the South.
10And a scarcity of food came to be in the land, and Aḇram went down to Mitsrayim to dwell there, for the scarcity of food was severe in the land.
11And it came to be, when he was close to entering Mitsrayim, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.
12“And it shall be, when the Mitsrites see you, that they shall say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they shall kill me, but let you live.
13“Please say you are my sister, so that it shall be well with me for your sake, and my life be spared because of you.”
14And it came to be, when Aḇram came into Mitsrayim, that the Mitsrites saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
15And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
16And he treated Aḇram well for her sake, and he had sheep, and cattle, and male donkeys, and male and female servants, and female donkeys, and camels.
17But יהוה plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Aḇram’s wife.
18And Pharaoh called Aḇram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not inform me that she was your wife?
19“Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? And so I was going to take her for my wife. Look, here is your wife, take her and go.”
20And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.