Genesis 12–13

The Call of Abram

12The Lord said to Abram:

Go out from your land,

your relatives,

and your father’s house

to the land that I will show you. ^h

²I will make you into a great nation, ⁱ

I will bless you, ^j

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing. ^kl

³I will bless those who bless you,

I will curse those who treat you with contempt, ^m

and all the peoples ⁿon earth

will be blessed ^othrough you. ^pq

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. ^r5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people he had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, ^sat the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” ^tSo he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh. ^u9Then Abram journeyed by stages to the Negev.

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰There was a famine in the land, ^vso Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. ¹¹When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹²When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. ^w13Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” ¹⁴When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household. ¹⁶He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

¹⁷But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ^x18So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.

Abram and Lot Separate

13Then Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev ^y—he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him. ²Abram was very rich ^zin livestock, silver, and gold. ³He went by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been, ⁴to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of Yahweh there. ^a

⁵Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. ⁶But the land was unable to support them as long as they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they could not stay together, ^b7and there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. ^cAt that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land. ^d

⁸Then Abram said to Lot, “Please, let’s not have quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, since we are relatives. ^e9Isn’t the whole land before you? Separate from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

¹⁰Lot looked out and saw that the entire Jordan Valley ^fas far as ^gZoar ^hwas well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden ⁱand the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. ^j11So Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. ¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities of the valley and set up his tent near Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning greatly ^kagainst the Lord. ^l

¹⁴After Lot had separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west, ^m15for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see. ⁿ¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, ^oso that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron, ^pwhere he built an altar to the Lord.