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Genesis 12:1-8
Contemporary English Version
Genesis 12:1-8
Contemporary English Version
The Lord Chooses Abram
12 (A) The Lord said to Abram:
Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3 (B) I will bless those who bless you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.[a]
4-5 Abram was 75 years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had acquired while in Haran.
When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram went as far as the sacred tree of Moreh in a place called Shechem. The Canaanites were still living in the land at that time, 7 (C) but the Lord appeared to Abram and promised, “I will give this land to your family forever.” Abram then built an altar there for the Lord.
8 Abram traveled to the hill country east of Bethel and camped between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and worshiped the Lord.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 12.3 Everyone … you: Or “Everyone on earth will ask me to bless them as I have blessed you.”
Genesis 12:1-8
New International Version
Genesis 12:1-8
New International Version
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household(A) to the land(B) I will show you.(C)
2 “I will make you into a great nation,(D)
and I will bless you;(E)
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a](F)
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;(G)
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.(H)”[b]
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot(I) went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old(J) when he set out from Harran.(K) 5 He took his wife Sarai,(L) his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated(M) and the people(N) they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,(O) and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land(P) as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh(Q) at Shechem.(R) At that time the Canaanites(S) were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram(T) and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.(U)”(V) So he built an altar there to the Lord,(W) who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel(X) and pitched his tent,(Y) with Bethel on the west and Ai(Z) on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.(AA)
Footnotes
- Genesis 12:2 Or be seen as blessed
- Genesis 12:3 Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)
- Genesis 12:7 Or seed
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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