CHAPTER 12
Then the LORD
said
to
Abram,
“Leave
your country,
your kindred,
and your father’s
household,
and go to
the land
I will show you.
I will make
you into a great
nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name
great,
so that you will be
a blessing.
I will bless
those who bless you
and curse
those who curse you;
and all
the families
of the earth
will be blessed
through you.”
So Abram
departed,
as
the LORD
had directed him,
and Lot
went
with him.
Abram
was seventy-five
years
old
when he left
Haran.
And Abram
took
his wife
Sarai,
his nephew
Lot,
and all
the possessions
and people
they had acquired
in Haran,
and set out
for the land
of Canaan.
When they came
to the land
of Canaan,
Abram
traveled
through the land
to
the site
of
the oak
of Moreh
at Shechem.
And 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.”
So Abram built
an altar
there
to the LORD,
who had appeared
to him.
From there
Abram moved on
to the hill country
east
of
Bethel
and pitched
his tent,
with Bethel
to the west
and Ai
to the east.
There
he built
an altar
to the LORD,
and he called
on the name
of the LORD.
Now there was
a famine
in the land.
So Abram
went down
to Egypt
to live there
for a while
because
the famine
was severe.
As
he was about
to enter
Egypt,
he said
to
his wife
Sarai,
“Look,
I know
that
you
are a beautiful
woman,
and
when
the Egyptians
see you,
they will say,
‘This
is his wife.’
Then they will kill
me
but
will allow you to live.
Please
say that
you are
my sister,
so that
I will be treated well
for your sake,
and on account of you
my life
will be spared.”
When Pharaoh’s
officials
saw
Sarai,
they commended
her to
him,
and she
was taken
into the palace
of Pharaoh.
He treated Abram
well
on her account,
and Abram acquired
sheep
and cattle,
male and female donkeys,
menservants
and maidservants,
and camels.
The LORD, however,
afflicted
Pharaoh
and his household
with severe
plagues
because of
Abram’s
wife
Sarai.
So Pharaoh
summoned
Abram
and asked,
“What
have you done to me?
Why
did you not
tell
me she
was your wife?
Why
did you say,
‘She is
my sister,’
so that I took
her as my wife?
Now then,
here
is your wife.
Take
her and go!”
Then Pharaoh
gave his men
orders
concerning Abram,
and they sent him away
with his wife
and all his possessions.