² And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell ^(A)in the land of which I shall tell you.

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(A)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

18 And the Lord appeared to him by the ^(A)oaks^[a] of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;^[a] walk before me, and be ^(A)blameless,

The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(A)the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you ^(A)about this time next year, and ^(B)Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(C)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ^12 (D)So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ^(E)“After I am worn out, and ^(F)my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ^14 (G)Is anything too hard^[a] for the Lord? ^(H)At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it,^[b] saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, ^(I)“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^(J)blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have ^(K)chosen^[c] him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” ²⁰ Then the Lord said, “Because ^(L)the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,