The Lord’s First Promise to Abram

12 The Lord said to Abram,

The Lord’s Second Promise to Abram

⁴ So Abram left, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram set out for Canaan. He took along his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the servants they had acquired in Haran.

⁶ They arrived in Canaan, and Abram traveled through the land to the oak tree belonging to Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I’m going to give this land to your descendants.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸ He moved on to the hills east of Bethel, and he put up his tent—with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He also built an altar to the Lord there and worshiped the Lord. ⁹ Abram kept moving toward the Negev.

⁸ Faith led Abraham to obey when God called him to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham left his own country without knowing where he was going.

⁹ Faith led Abraham to live as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God. ¹⁰ Abraham was waiting for the city that God had designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.

Jesus Gives Instructions to the Disciples

¹⁶ The eleven disciples went to the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they bowed down in worship, though some had doubts.

¹⁸ When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach them to do everything I have commanded you.

“And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.”