Genesis 12–22

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.

Abram Inherits Canaan

13Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and ^aLot with him, ^bto the ¹South. ^2cAbram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³And he went on his journey ^dfrom the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the ^eplace of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram ^fcalled on the name of the Lord.

⁵Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶Now ^gthe land was not able to ²support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. ⁷And there was ^hstrife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. ⁱThe Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.

⁸So Abram said to Lot, ^j“Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. ^9kIs not the whole land before you? Please ^lseparate from me. ^mIf you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all ⁿthe plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord ^odestroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) ^plike the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward ^qZoar. ¹¹Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. ¹²Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot ^rdwelt in the cities of the plain and ^spitched his tent even as far as Sodom. ¹³But the men of Sodom ^twere exceedingly wicked and ^usinful against the Lord.

¹⁴And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot ^vhad separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—^wnorthward, southward, eastward, and westward; ¹⁵for all the land which you see ^xI give to you and ^yyour ³descendants forever. ¹⁶And ^zI will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. ¹⁷Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

^18aThen Abram moved his tent, and went and ^bdwelt by ⁴the terebinth trees of Mamre, ^cwhich are in Hebron, and built an ^daltar there to the Lord.

Lot’s Captivity and Rescue

14And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king ^aof Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of ^bElam, and Tidal king of ¹nations, ²that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of ^cAdmah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, ^dZoar). ³All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim ^e(that is, the Salt Sea). ⁴Twelve years ^fthey served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked ^gthe Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, ^hthe Zuzim in Ham, ⁱthe Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, ^6jand the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness. ⁷Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt ^kin Hazezon Tamar.

⁸And 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 joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of ²nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of ^lasphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled ^mto the mountains. ¹¹Then they took ⁿall the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. ¹²They also took Lot, Abram’s ^obrother’s son ^pwho dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

¹³Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the ^qHebrew, for ^rhe dwelt by ³the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; ^sand they were allies with Abram. ¹⁴Now ^twhen Abram heard that ^uhis brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were ^vborn in his own house, and went in pursuit ^was far as Dan. ¹⁵He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants ^xattacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is ⁴north of Damascus. ¹⁶So he ^ybrought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.

¹⁷And the king of Sodom ^zwent out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the ^aKing’s Valley), ^bafter his return from ⁵the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.

Abram and Melchizedek

¹⁸Then ^cMelchizedek king of Salem brought out ^dbread and wine; he was ^ethe priest of ^fGod Most High. ¹⁹And he blessed him and said:

^g“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

^hPossessor of heaven and earth;

²⁰And ⁱblessed be God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And he ^jgave him ⁶a tithe of all.

²¹Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the ⁷persons, and take the goods for yourself.”

²²But Abram ^ksaid to the king of Sodom, “I ^lhave raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, ^mthe Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³that ⁿI will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’—²⁴except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”

God’s Covenant with Abram

15After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram ^ain a vision, saying, ^b“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your ^cshield, ¹your exceedingly ^dgreat reward.”

^2eBut Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, ^fseeing I ²go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed ^gone ³born in my house is my heir!”

⁴And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who ^hwill come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and ⁱcount the ^jstars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, ^k“So shall your ^ldescendants be.”

⁶And he ^mbelieved in the Lord, and He ⁿaccounted it to him for righteousness.

⁷Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who ^obrought you out of ^pUr of the Chaldeans, ^qto give you this land to inherit it.”

⁸And he said, “Lord God, ^rhow shall I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Then he brought all these to Him and ^scut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut ^tthe birds in two. ¹¹And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²Now when the sun was going down, ^ua deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly ^vthat your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and ^wthey will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴…