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)

“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)
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]

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) 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.

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. 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.

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)

Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.(AB)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 12:2 Or be seen as blessed
  2. Genesis 12:3 Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)
  3. Genesis 12:7 Or seed

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,(A) obeyed and went,(B) even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land(C) like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents,(D) as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.(E) 10 For he was looking forward to the city(F) with foundations,(G) whose architect and builder is God.(H) 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,(I) was enabled to bear children(J) because she[a] considered him faithful(K) who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,(L) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.(M)

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;(N) they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,(O) admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.(P) 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.(Q) 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.(R) Therefore God is not ashamed(S) to be called their God,(T) for he has prepared a city(U) for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.(V) He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[b](W) 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,(X) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.(Y)

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons,(Z) and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.(AA)

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 11:11 Or By faith Abraham, even though he was too old to have children—and Sarah herself was not able to conceive—was enabled to become a father because he
  2. Hebrews 11:18 Gen. 21:12

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