1The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you.2‘I will make you into a great nation. And I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others.3I will bless those who bless you. I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you.’4So Abram went, just as the LORD had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Harran.5He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot. They took all the people and possessions they had acquired in Harran. They started out for the land of Canaan. And they arrived there.6Abram travelled through the land. He went as far as the large tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were living in the land.7The LORD appeared to Abram at Shechem. He said, ‘I will give this land to your family who comes after you.’ So Abram built an altar there to honour the LORD, who had appeared to him.8From there, Abram went on towards the hills east of Bethel. He set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. Abram built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD.9Then Abram left and continued south towards the Negev Desert.
Abram goes to Egypt
10At that time there was not enough food in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while.11As he was about to enter Egypt, he spoke to his wife Sarai. He said, ‘I know what a beautiful woman you are.12The people of Egypt will see you and say, “This is his wife.” Then they will kill me. But they will let you live.13Tell them you are my sister. Then I’ll be treated well and my life will be spared because of you.’14Abram arrived in Egypt. The Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.15When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they told Pharaoh how beautiful she was. So she was taken into his palace.16Pharaoh treated Abram well because of her. So Abram gained more sheep and cattle and male and female donkeys. He also gained more male and female servants and some camels.17But the LORD sent terrible diseases on Pharaoh and everyone in his palace. The LORD did it because of Abram’s wife Sarai.18So Pharaoh sent for Abram. ‘What have you done to me?’ he said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?19Why did you say she was your sister? That’s why I took her to be my wife. Now then, here’s your wife. Take her and go!’20Then Pharaoh gave orders to his men about Abram. They sent him on his way. So he left with his wife and everything he had.
Genesis 12
English Standard Version
The Call of Abram
1Now the Lord said[1] to Abram, “Go from your country[2] and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. (Ac 7:3; Heb 11:8)2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. (Ge 17:6; Ge 18:18; Ga 3:14)3I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[3] (Ge 18:18; Ge 22:18; Ge 26:4; Ge 27:29; Ge 28:14; Nu 24:9; Jer 4:2; Ac 3:25; Ga 3:8; Ga 3:16)4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Ge 11:31)5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak[4] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. (Ge 13:7; Ge 13:18; De 11:30; Jud 7:1; Heb 11:9)7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. (Ge 13:15; Ge 17:8; Ex 33:1; Nu 32:11; Ps 105:9; Ga 3:16)8From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. (Ge 28:19)9And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Abram and Sarai in Egypt
10Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Ge 26:1; Ge 43:1)11When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,12and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. (Ge 20:1; Ge 26:6)13Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”14When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.15And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.16And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.17But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. (1Ch 16:21; Ps 105:14)18So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “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,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”20And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.