Genesis 12:10–20

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰But there was a famine in Canaan, and it was so bad that Abram went farther south to Egypt, to live there for a while. ¹¹When he was about to cross the border into Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “You are a beautiful woman. ¹²When the Egyptians see you, they will assume that you are my wife, and so they will kill me and let you live. ^13*Tell them that you are my sister; then because of you they will let me live and treat me well.” ¹⁴When he crossed the border into Egypt, the Egyptians did see that his wife was beautiful. ¹⁵Some of the court officials saw her and told the king how beautiful she was; so she was taken to his palace. ¹⁶Because of her the king treated Abram well and gave him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels.

¹⁷But because the king had taken Sarai, the Lord sent terrible diseases on him and on the people of his palace. ¹⁸Then the king sent for Abram and asked him, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say that she was your sister, and let me take her as my wife? Here is your wife; take her and get out!” ²⁰The king gave orders to his men, so they took Abram and put him out of the country, together with his wife and everything he owned.