Genesis 12–13

Chapter 12

¹And Jehovah had said to Abram, Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will shew thee. ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. ³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

⁴And Abram departed as Jehovah had said to him. And Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the souls that they had obtained in Haran, and they went out to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

⁶And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. ⁷And Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him. ⁸And he removed thence towards the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel toward the west, and Ai toward the east; and there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called on the name of Jehovah. ⁹And Abram moved onward, going on still toward the south.

¹⁰And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. ¹¹And it came to pass when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a woman fair to look upon. ¹²And it will come to pass when the Egyptians see thee, that they will say, She is his wife; and they will slay me, and save thee alive. ¹³Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me on thy account, and my soul may live because of thee.

¹⁴And it came to pass when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. ¹⁵And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶And he treated Abram well on her account; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and bondmen, and bondwomen, and she-asses, and camels. ¹⁷And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife. ¹⁸And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? ¹⁹Why didst thou say, She is my sister, so that I took her as my wife. And now, behold, there is thy wife: take her, and go away. ²⁰And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

Chapter 13

¹And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, towards the south. ²And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. ³And he went on his journeys from the south as far as Bethel; as far as the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai; ⁴to the place of the altar that he had made there at the first. And there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.

⁵And Lot also who went with Abram had flocks, and herds, and tents. ⁶And the land could not support them, that they might dwell together, for their property was great; and they could not dwell together. ⁷And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. ⁸And Abram said to Lot, I pray thee let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren. ⁹Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if to the left, then I will take the right; and if to the right, then I will take the left.

¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan that it was thoroughly watered, before Jehovah had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; as the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as one goes to Zoar. ¹¹And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot went toward the east. And they separated the one from the other: ¹²Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan; and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched tents as far as Sodom. ¹³And the people of Sodom were wicked, and great sinners before Jehovah.

¹⁴And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot had separated himself from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵for all the land that thou seest will I give to thee, and to thy seed for ever. ¹⁶And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed also will be numbered. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the land according to the length of it and according to the breadth of it; for I will give it to thee. ¹⁸Then Abram moved his tents, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron. And he built there an altar to Jehovah.