Abram Journeys to Egypt
12 Now (A)the Lord said to Abram,
“[a]Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And (B)I will make you a great nation,
And (C)I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so [b](D)you shall be a blessing;
3 And (E)I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who [c]curses you I will [d]curse.
(F)And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and (G)Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their (H)possessions which they had accumulated, and (I)the [e]persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they [f]set out for the land of Canaan; (J)thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of (K)Shechem, to the [g]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The Lord (L)appeared to Abram and said, “(M)To your [h]descendants I will give this land.” So he built (N)an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with (O)Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and (P)called upon the name of the Lord. 9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward (Q)the [i]Negev.
10 Now there was (R)a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was (S)severe in the land. 11 It came about when he [j]came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a [k](T)beautiful woman; 12 (U)and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are (V)my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that [l](W)I may live on account of you.” 14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians [m]saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and (X)the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 Therefore (Y)he treated Abram well for her sake; and [n](Z)gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.
17 But the Lord (AA)struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “(AB)What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, [o]here is your wife, take her and go.” 20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they [p]escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 12:1 Lit Go for yourself
- Genesis 12:2 Lit be a blessing
- Genesis 12:3 Or reviles
- Genesis 12:3 Or bind under a curse
- Genesis 12:5 Lit souls
- Genesis 12:5 Lit went forth to go to
- Genesis 12:6 Or terebinth
- Genesis 12:7 Lit seed
- Genesis 12:9 I.e. South country
- Genesis 12:11 Lit drew near to enter
- Genesis 12:11 Lit woman of beautiful appearance
- Genesis 12:13 Lit my soul
- Genesis 12:14 Lit saw the woman that she was
- Genesis 12:16 Lit he had
- Genesis 12:19 Or behold
- Genesis 12:20 Lit sent
Cross references
- Genesis 12:1 : Gen 15:7; Acts 7:3; Heb 11:8
- Genesis 12:2 : Gen 17:4-6; 18:18; 46:3; Deut 26:5
- Genesis 12:2 : Gen 22:17
- Genesis 12:2 : Zech 8:13
- Genesis 12:3 : Gen 24:35; 27:29; Num 24:9
- Genesis 12:3 : Gen 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Acts 3:25; Gal 3:8
- Genesis 12:4 : Gen 11:27, 31
- Genesis 12:5 : Gen 13:6
- Genesis 12:5 : Gen 14:14; Lev 22:11
- Genesis 12:5 : Gen 11:31; Heb 11:8
- Genesis 12:6 : Gen 35:4; Deut 11:30
- Genesis 12:7 : Gen 17:1; 18:1
- Genesis 12:7 : Gen 13:15; 15:18; Deut 34:4; Ps 105: 9-12; Acts 7:5; Gal 3:16
- Genesis 12:7 : Gen 13:4, 18; 22:9
- Genesis 12:8 : Josh 8:9, 12
- Genesis 12:8 : Gen 4:26; 21:33
- Genesis 12:9 : Gen 13:1, 3; 20:1; 24:62
- Genesis 12:10 : Gen 26:1
- Genesis 12:10 : Gen 43:1
- Genesis 12:11 : Gen 26:7; 29:17
- Genesis 12:12 : Gen 20:11
- Genesis 12:13 : Gen 20:2, 5, 12; 26:7
- Genesis 12:13 : Jer 38:17, 20
- Genesis 12:15 : Gen 20:2
- Genesis 12:16 : Gen 20:14
- Genesis 12:16 : Gen 13:2
- Genesis 12:17 : Gen 20:18; 1 Chr 16:21; Ps 105:14
- Genesis 12:18 : Gen 20:9, 10; 26:10