Origin of the People of God^[a]

Abraham, Man of Faith^[b]

Chapter 12

“Leave Your Country [and] Your People.”^[c]1 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people, and the house of your father, and go to the land to which I will lead you.

⁴ Abram therefore departed, just as the Lord had ordered him. Lot went along with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, Lot, the son of his brother, and all the possessions that they had accumulated in Haran, and all the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and left for the land of Canaan. Thus, they arrived in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land until he arrived at Shechem near the oak of Moreh. In those days the Canaanites lived in that land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram therefore built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he traveled into the mountain region to the east of Bethel and he pitched his tent so that Bethel was to the west and Ai was to his east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram set out again, gradually traveling toward the Negeb.^[d]

¹⁰ Abram a Refugee in Egypt.^[e] There was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a time, for the famine was very serious in the land. ¹¹ But, when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, “Look, I realize that you are a very beautiful woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will think, ‘She is his wife,’ and they will kill me, leaving you alive. ¹³ Therefore, say that you are my sister, so that they will treat me well and let me live because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians saw that his wife was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The stewards of Pharaoh saw her and told Pharaoh how beautiful she was. They took the woman and brought her to the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁶ Because of her they treated Abram well. He received flocks and herds, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with terrible plagues because of Sarai, the wife of Abram. ¹⁸ Therefore, Pharaoh summoned Abram and said to him, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I ended up taking her as my wife? Here is your wife; take her and leave!” ²⁰ Then Pharaoh entrusted him to some men who accompanied him to the borders along with his wife and all his belongings.

Chapter 13

Growth in Faith. ¹ From Egypt Abram traveled to the Negeb along with his wife and all his belongings. Lot was with him. ² Abram was very rich, having many animals, silver, and gold.

³ He then gradually made his way from the Negeb to Bethel, up to the place where he had previously encamped between Bethel and Ai. ⁴ This was the place where he had built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord.

⁵ Lot, who traveled with Abram, also had many flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ The area where they were was not rich enough for them to dwell together, for they had too many possessions for them to live in the same camp. ⁷ Because of this a quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Abram and those of Lot. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in that land.)

⁸ Abram said to Lot, “Let us not have strife between you and me, between my herdsmen and yours, for we are relatives.^{[f] 9} Does not the entire land lie before you? You should separate from me. If you wish to go to the left, I will go to the right; if you wish to go to the right, I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ Lot looked around and saw that the Jordan Valley was fertile and there was water everywhere. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) It was as beautiful as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way down to Zoar. ¹¹ So Lot chose the Jordan Valley for himself, and he moved his tents to the east. Thus, they separated from each other. ¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelt in the cities of the valley and pitched his tents near Sodom. ¹³ The inhabitants of Sodom were perverse and committed many sins against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord spoke to Abram after Lot had separated from him saying, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look around to the north and south, to the east and the west. ¹⁵ Everything that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth. If one could count all of the dust of the earth, then that person would be able to count all your descendants. ¹⁷ Rise and travel throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸ Abram moved his camp and dwelt near the Oak of Mamre at Hebron. He built an altar to the Lord there.