Genesis 12

Promises to Abram

12Now the ^aLord had said to Abram:

“Get ^bout of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

^2cI will make you a great nation;

^dI will bless you

And make your name great;

^eAnd you shall be a blessing.

^3fI will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in ^gyou all the families of the earth shall be ^hblessed.”

⁴So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and ⁱthe ¹people whom they had acquired ^jin Haran, and they ^kdeparted to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶Abram ^lpassed through the land to the place of Shechem, ^mas far as ²the terebinth tree of Moreh. ⁿAnd the Canaanites were then in the land.

^7oThen the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^p“To your ³descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an ^qaltar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and ^rcalled on the name of the Lord. ⁹So Abram journeyed, ^sgoing on still toward the ⁴South.

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰Now there was ^ta famine in the land, and Abram ^uwent down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was ^vsevere in the land. ¹¹And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are ^wa woman of beautiful countenance. ¹²Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they ^xwill kill me, but they will let you live. ^13yPlease say you are my ^zsister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that ⁵I may live because of you.”

¹⁴So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶He ^atreated Abram well for her sake. He ^bhad sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷But the Lord ^cplagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸And Pharaoh called Abram and said, ^d“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’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” ^20eSo Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.