God Calls Abram

12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s ·family [^Lhouse], and go to the land I will show you [^CCanaan, the Promised Land].

⁴ So Abram left Haran [11:31] as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, ·his nephew [^Lthe son of his brother] Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the ·servants [^Lpeople] they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.

⁶ Abram ·traveled [passed] through that land as far as the great oak [or terebinth] tree of Moreh at Shechem [^Ca town in northern Palestine]. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your ·descendants [^Lseed].” So Abram built an altar [^Ca place to offer sacrifices] there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel [^Ca town in the central hill country south of Shechem] and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai [^Ca town near Bethel] was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and ·worshiped him [^Lcalled on the name of the Lord]. ⁹ After this, he traveled on toward ·southern Canaan [^Lthe Negev; 13:1].

Abram Goes to Egypt

¹⁰ At this time there was ·not much food [^La famine] in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to ·live [^Lsojourn] because ·there was so little food [^Lthe famine was severe]. ¹¹ Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a very beautiful woman. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. ¹³ Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you [20:1–18; 26; ^CAbram did not trust God to protect him].”

¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The Egyptian officers saw her and ·told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was [^Lthey praised her]. They took her to the king’s palace, and ¹⁶ the king was kind to Abram ·because he thought Abram was her brother [^Lon account of her]. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord sent terrible ·diseases [plagues] on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So the king sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take ·her [^Lyour wife] and ·leave [go]!” ²⁰ Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.