Genesis 12
Expanded Bible
God Calls Abram
12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s ·family [L house], and go to the land I will show you [C Canaan, the Promised Land].
2 I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you.
I will make ·you famous [L your name great],
·and [or so that] you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and I will place a curse on those who ·harm [or curse] you.
And all the ·people [families; clans] on earth
will be blessed through you [C the promises of the Abrahamic covenant].”
4 So Abram left Haran [11:31] as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. 5 He took his wife Sarai, ·his nephew [L the son of his brother] Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the ·servants [L people] they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.
6 Abram ·traveled [passed] through that land as far as the great oak [or terebinth] tree of Moreh at Shechem [C a town in northern Palestine]. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your ·descendants [L seed].” So Abram built an altar [C a place to offer sacrifices] there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel [C a town in the central hill country south of Shechem] and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai [C a town near Bethel] was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and ·worshiped him [L called on the name of the Lord]. 9 After this, he traveled on toward ·southern Canaan [L the Negev; 13:1].
Abram Goes to Egypt
10 At this time there was ·not much food [L a famine] in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to ·live [L sojourn] because ·there was so little food [L the famine was severe]. 11 Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. 13 Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you [20:1–18; 26; C Abram did not trust God to protect him].”
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. 15 The Egyptian officers saw her and ·told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was [L they praised her]. They took her to the king’s palace, and 16 the king was kind to Abram ·because he thought Abram was her brother [L on account of her]. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord sent terrible ·diseases [plagues] on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So the king sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take ·her [L your wife] and ·leave [go]!” 20 Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.
Genesis 12
World English Bible
12 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.
7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.”[a]
He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. 8 He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name. 9 Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.
10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he had come near to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at. 12 It will happen that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me, but they will save you alive. 13 Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.”
14 When Abram had come into Egypt, some Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17 Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way.”
20 Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they escorted him away with his wife and all that he had.
Footnotes
- 12:7 or, seed
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