Genesis 12:1–9

God Calls Abram

12The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you.

²I will make you a great nation,

and I will bless you.

I will make you famous,

and you will be a blessing to others.

³I will bless those who bless you,

and I will place a curse on those who harm you.

And all the people on earth

will be blessed through you.”

⁴So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. ⁵He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.

⁶Abram traveled through that land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. ⁷The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and worshiped him. ⁹After this, he traveled on toward southern Canaan.