The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s householdd to the lande I will show you.f

2 “I will make you into a great nation,g

and I will bless you;h

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.a i

3 I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;j

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.k”b

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lotl went with him. Abram was seventy-five years oldm when he set out from Harran.n 5 He took his wife Sarai,o his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulatedp and the peopleq they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,r and they arrived there.

6 Abram traveled through the lands as far as the site of the great tree of Moreht at Shechem.u At that time the Canaanitesv were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abramw and said, “To your offspringc I will give this land.x”y So he built an altar there to the Lord,z who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethela and pitched his tent,b with Bethel on the west and Aic on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.d

9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.e

Abram in Egypt

12:10–20Ref—Ge 20:1–18; 26:1–11

10 Now there was a famine in the land,f and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.g 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai,h “I know what a beautiful womani you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister,j so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.k 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.l

17 But the Lord inflictedm serious diseases on Pharaoh and his householdn because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?”o he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?p 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’q so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Abram and Lot Separate

13 So Abram went up from Egyptr to the Negev,s with his wife and everything he had, and Lott went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthyu in livestockv and in silver and gold.

3 From the Negevw he went from place to place until he came to Bethel,x to the place between Bethel and Aiy where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar.z There Abram called on the name of the Lord.a

5 Now Lot,b who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.c 7 And quarrelingd arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanitese and Perizzitesf were also living in the landg at that time.

8 So Abram said to Lot,h “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me,i or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.j 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”k

10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plainl of the Jordan toward Zoarm was well watered, like the garden of the Lord,n like the land of Egypt.o (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodomp and Gomorrah.)q 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan,r while Lots lived among the cities of the plaint and pitched his tents near Sodom.u 13 Now the people of Sodomv were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.w

14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.x 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspringa forever.y 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.z 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land,a for I am giving it to you.”b

18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamrec at Hebron,d where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.e

Abram Rescues Lot

14 At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar,a f Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomerg king of Elamh and Tidal king of Goyim, 2 these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim,i and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).j 3 All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddimk (that is, the Dead Sea Valleyl). 4 For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer,m but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomern and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaiteso in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emitesp in Shaveh Kiriathaim 6 and the Horitesq in the hill country of Seir,r as far as El Parans near the desert. 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh),t and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites,u as well as the Amoritesv who were living in Hazezon Tamar.w

8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah,x the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyimy and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar)z marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddima 9 against Kedorlaomerb king of Elam,c Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddimd was full of tare pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrahf fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.g 11 The four kings seized all the goodsh of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Loti and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

13 A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew.j Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamrek the Amorite, a brotherb of Eshkoll and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his relativem had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trainedn men born in his householdo and went in pursuit as far as Dan.p 15 During the night Abram divided his menq to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.r 16 He recovereds all the goodst and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomeru and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodomv came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).w

18 Then Melchizedekx king of Salemy brought out breadz and wine.a He was priest of God Most High,b 19 and he blessed Abram,c saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,d

Creator of heaven and earth.e

20 And praise be to God Most High,f

who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.g

21 The king of Sodomh said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goodsi for yourself.”

22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom,j “With raised handk I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High,l Creator of heaven and earth,m 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you,n not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre.o Let them have their share.”

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abramp in a vision:q

“Do not be afraid,r Abram.

I am your shield,a s

your very great reward.b t”

2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,u what can you give me since I remain childlessv and the one who will inheritc my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?w” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servantx in my householdy will be my heir.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.z” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the starsa—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspringd be.”b

6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.c

7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you outd of Ur of the Chaldeanse to give you this land to take possession of it.”f

8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,g how can I knowh that I will gain possession of it?”i

9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,j a goat and a ram, each three years old,k along with a dove and a young pigeon.l”

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;m the birds, however, he did not cut in half.n 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,o but Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,p and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred yearsq your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslavedr and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come outs with great possessions.t 15 You, however, will go to your ancestorsu in peace and be buried at a good old age.v 16 In the fourth generationw your descendants will come back here,x …