Genesis 12–22

The Call of Abram

12And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. ²And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. ³And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

Abram’s Journey

⁴And Abram went out as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old^a when he went out from Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew,^b and all their possessions that they had gathered, and all the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to the land of Canaan. ⁶And Abram traveled through the land up to the place of Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. ⁸And he moved on from there to the hill country, east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent at Bethel on the west, and at Ai on the east. And he built an altar there to Yahweh. And he called on the name of Yahweh. ⁹And Abram kept moving on,^c toward the Negev.

¹⁰And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹And it happened that as he drew near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “Look now, I know that you are a woman beautiful of appearance, ¹²and it shall happen that, if the Egyptians see you, then they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ then they will kill me but let you live. ¹³Please say you are my sister so that it will go well for me on your account. Then I will live^d on account of you.” ¹⁴And it happened that as Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵And the officials of Pharaoh saw her, and they praised her beauty to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁶And he dealt well with Abram on account of her, and he had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male slaves, female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷Then^e Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues on account of the matter of Sarai the wife of Abram. ¹⁸Then Pharaoh called for Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go.” ²⁰And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and then sent him and his wife and all that was with him away.

The Parting of Abram and Lot

13Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that was with him. And Lot went with him to the Negev. ²Now Abram was very wealthy in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³And he went according to his journey from the Negev, then to Bethel, to the place where his tent was at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place where he had made an altar at the beginning. And Abram called on the name of Yahweh there. ⁵And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶And the land could not support them^a so as to live together, because their possessions were so many that^b they were not able to live together. ⁷And there was a quarrel between the herdsmen of the livestock of Abram and the herdsmen of the livestock of Lot. Now at that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land. ⁸Then Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there not be quarreling between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we men are brothers. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you want what is on the left, then I will go right; if you want what is on the right, I will go left.” ¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well-watered land—this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt in the direction of^c Zoar. ¹¹So^d Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan. And Lot journeyed eastward,^e and so they separated from each other.^{f 12}Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the plain. And he pitched his tent toward Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were extremely wicked sinners against Yahweh.^{g 14}And Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are to the north, and to the south, and to the east and to the west, ¹⁵for all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your descendants, forever. ¹⁶I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth which, if anyone were able to count the dust of the earth, your descendants would be so counted. ¹⁷Arise, go through the length of the land and through its breadth, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸So^h Abram pitched his tent, and he came and settled at the oaks of Mamre, which were at Hebron. And there he built an altar to Yahweh.

Abram Rescues Lot

14And it happened that in the days of Amraphel, the king of Shinar, Arioch, the king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and Tidal, the king of Goiim, ²made war with Bera, the king of Sodom, and Birsha, the king of Gomorrah, Shinab, the king of Admah, and Shemeber, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³All these joined forces at the valley of Siddim (that is, the sea of the salt). ⁴Twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El-Paran, which is at the wilderness. ⁷Then^a they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). And they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar. ⁸Then^b the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they took up battle position^c in the Valley of Siddim ⁹with Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar, four kings against five. ¹⁰Now^d the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits.^e And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into them,^f but the rest fled to the mountains. ¹¹So^g they^h took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions, and they left. ¹²And theyⁱ took Lot, the son of the brother of Abram, and his possessions, and left. (Now he had been living in Sodom.) ¹³Then^j one who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. And he was living at the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. They were allies with Abram.^{k 14}When^l Abram heard that his relative^m was taken captive, he summoned his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and he went in pursuit up to Dan. ¹⁵And he divided his trained men against them at night, he and his servants. And he defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, which is north of Damascus. ¹⁶And he brought back all the possessions. And he also brought back Lot, his relative,ⁿ and his possessions, and the women and the people as well.

Abram Meets Melchizedek

¹⁷After his return from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King). ¹⁸And Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. (He was the priest of God Most High). ¹⁹And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Maker of heaven and earth.

²⁰And blessed be God Most High

who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And he^o gave to him a tenth of everything. ²¹And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but the possessions take for yourself.” ²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, ²³that neither a thread nor^p a thong of a sandal would I take from all that belongs to you, that you might not say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴Nothing besides what^q the servants have eaten and the share of the men who went out with me will I take. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

Yahweh’s Covenant with Abram

15After these things the word of Yahweh came^a to Abram in a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.” ²Then^b Abram said, “O Yahweh, my Lord, what will you give me? I continue to be^c childless, and my heir^d is Eliezer of Damascus.” ³And Abram said, “Look, you have not given me a descendant, and here, a member of my household^e is my heir.”^{f 4}And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, “This person will not be your heir,^g but your own son will be your heir.”^{h 5}And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶And he believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. ⁷And he said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give this land to you, to possess it.” ⁸And he said, “O Yahweh God, how shall I know that I will possess it?” ⁹And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite the other,ⁱ but the birds he did not cut. ¹¹And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹²And it happened, as the sun went down,^j then a deep sleep fell upon Abram…