From Shem to Abram

10 These are the family records(A) of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 12 Arpachshad lived 35 years[a] and fathered Shelah. 13 After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 14 Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber. 15 After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 16 Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg. 17 After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 18 Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu. 19 After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 20 Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug. 21 After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 22 Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. 23 After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 24 Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.(B) 25 After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 26 Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai,(C) and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah.(D) She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai was unable to conceive;(E) she did not have a child.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans(F) to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord said to Abram:

Go out from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.(G)
I will make you into a great nation,(H)
I will bless you,(I)
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[b](J)
I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse those who treat you with contempt,(K)
and all the peoples[c] on earth
will be blessed[d] through you.[e](L)

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.(M) He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people he had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem,(N) at the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.”(O) So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh.(P) Then Abram journeyed by stages to the Negev.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 11:12 LXX reads years and fathered Cainan. 13 After he fathered Cainan, Arphachshad lived 430 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters, and he died. Cainan lived 130 years and fathered Shelah. After he fathered Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters, and he died; Gn 10:24; Lk 3:35-36
  2. Genesis 12:2 Or great. Be a blessing!
  3. Genesis 12:3 Lit clans
  4. Genesis 12:3 Or will find blessing
  5. Genesis 12:3 Or will bless themselves by you

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