Abram Journeys to Egypt

1 Now athe Lord said to Abram,

“1Go forth from your country,

And from your relatives

And from your father’s house,

To the land which I will show you;

2 And aI will make you a great nation,

And bI will bless you,

And make your name great;

And so 1cyou shall be a blessing;

3 And aI will bless those who bless you,

And the one who 1curses you I will 2curse.

bAnd in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and aLot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their apossessions which they had accumulated, and bthe 1persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they 2set out for the land of Canaan; cthus they came to the land of Canaan.

6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of aShechem, to the 1oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 The Lord aappeared to Abram and said, “bTo your 1descendants I will give this land.” So he built can altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with aBethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and bcalled upon the name of the Lord.

9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward athe 1Negev.

10 Now there was aa famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was bsevere in the land.

11 It came about when he 1came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a 2abeautiful woman;

12 aand when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

13 “Please say that you are amy sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that 1bI may live on account of you.”

14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians 1saw that the woman was very beautiful.

15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and athe woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

16 Therefore ahe treated Abram well for her sake; and 1bgave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

17 But the Lord astruck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “aWhat is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

19 “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, 1here is your wife, take her and go.”

20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they 1escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Chapter 13

Abram and Lot

1 So Abram went up from Egypt to athe 1Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.

2 Now Abram was avery rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.

3 He went 1on his journeys from the 2Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, abetween Bethel and Ai,

4 to the place of the aaltar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

5 Now aLot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

6 And athe land could not 1sustain them 2while dwelling together, bfor their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.

7 aAnd there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now bthe Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.

8 aSo Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.

9 “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”

10 Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the 1avalley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord bdestroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like cthe garden of the Lord, dlike the land of Egypt as you go to eZoar.

11 So Lot chose for himself all the 1valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.

12 Abram 1settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot 1settled in athe cities of the 2valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

13 Now athe men of Sodom were wicked 1exceedingly and bsinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “aNow lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, bnorthward and southward and eastward and westward;

15 afor all the land which you see, bI will give it to you and to your 1descendants forever.

16 “I will make your 1descendants aas the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your 1descendants can also be numbered.

17 “Arise, awalk about the land through its length and breadth; for bI will give it to you.”

18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the 1aoaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built ban altar to the Lord.

Chapter 14

War of the Kings

1 And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of aShinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of bElam, and Tidal king of 1Goiim,

2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of aAdmah, and Shemeber king of bZeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, cZoar).

3 All these 1came as allies to athe valley of Siddim (that is, bthe Salt Sea).

4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and 1defeated the aRephaim in bAshteroth-karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham and the Emim in 2cShaveh-kiriathaim,

6 and the aHorites in their Mount Seir, as far as bEl-paran, which is by the wilderness.

7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, aKadesh), and 1conquered all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who lived in bHazazon-tamar.

8 And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they arrayed for battle against them in athe valley of Siddim,

9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of 1Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and athe kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell 1into them. But those who survived fled to the bhill country.

11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed.

12 They also took Lot, aAbram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, bfor he was living in Sodom.

13 Then 1a fugitive came and told Abram the aHebrew. Now he was 2living by the 3boaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were 4callies with Abram.

14 When Abram heard that ahis 1relative had been taken captive, he 2led out his trained men, bborn in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as cDan.

15 aHe divided 1his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and 2defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is 3north of bDamascus.

16 He abrought back all the goods, and also brought back bhis 1relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

God’s Promise to Abram

17 Then after his return from the 1defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, athe king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, bthe King’s Valley).

18 And aMelchizedek king of Salem brought out bbread and wine; now he was a cpriest of 1God Most High.

19 He blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram of 1God Most High,

2aPossessor of heaven and earth;

20 And blessed be 1God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

aHe gave him a tenth of all.

21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the 1people to me and take the goods for yourself.”

22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have 1sworn to the Lord 2aGod Most High, 3bpossessor of heaven and earth,

23 that aI will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

24 “1I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, aAner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

Chapter 15

Abram Promised a Son

1 After these things athe word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“bDo not fear, Abram,

I am ca shield to you;

1Your dreward shall be very great.”

2 Abram said, “O Lord 1God, what will You give me, since I 2am childless, and the 3heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

3 And Abram said, “1Since You have given no 2offspring to me, 3one aborn in my house is my heir.”

4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; abut one who will come forth from your own 1body, he shall be your heir.”

5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and acount the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “bSo shall your 1descendants be.”

6 aThen he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of aUr of the Chaldeans, to bgive you this land to 1possess it.”

8 He said, “O Lord 1God, ahow may I know that I will 2possess it?”

9 So He said to him, “1Bring 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.”

10 Then he 1brought all these to Him and acut them 2in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he bdid not cut the birds.

11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, 1terror and great darkness fell upon him.

13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ayour 1descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, 2where bthey will be enslaved and oppressed cfour hundred years.

14 “But I will also judge the …