Genesis 12
1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.
Then Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave this country where you are now living. Leave your father’s clan and his family. Go to a land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
I will cause your descendants to become a large nation. I will bless you and cause you to become (famous/highly esteemed). What I do for you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
I will bless those who (bless/ask God to do good things for) you, and I will (curse/ask God to punish) those who do evil things to you. And because of what you do, groups of people all over the earth will receive blessings (OR, people will wish that God will bless others as much as he has blessed you).”
4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
So Abram left Haran [town], as Yahweh told him to do. Abram was 75 years old when he left there along with his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot.
5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan.
Abram also took along all the possessions and slaves that they had accumulated/acquired in Haran [town], and they left there and went to Canaan land.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.
In Canaan they traveled as far as Shechem [town] and camped by a huge tree called the tree of Moreh. The Canaan people-group were still living in that land.
7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Then Abram built a stone altar to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh because Yahweh had appeared to him.
8 He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name.
From Shechem, Abram and his family traveled to the hills that were east of Bethel [town]. Bethel [town] was to the west of where they set up their tent, and Ai [town] was further to the east. There he built another stone altar and offered a sacrifice and worshiped Yahweh there.
9 Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.
Then they left there and started traveling south to the Negev [Desert].
10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
There was (a famine/very little food to eat) in Canaan, so they went south to live in Egypt for a while.
11 When he had come near to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.
Just as they were about to enter Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “Listen, I know that you are a very beautiful woman.
12 It will happen that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me, but they will save you alive.
When the people in Egypt see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife!’ and they will kill me in order to get you, but they will not kill you.
13 Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.”
So I ask you to tell them that you are my sister, so that because of you telling them that, they will (spare my life/not kill me).”
14 When Abram had come into Egypt, Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
And as soon as they arrived in Egypt, the people in Egypt saw that his wife was indeed very beautiful.
15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
When the king’s officials saw her, they told the king how beautiful she was. And they took her to the king’s palace.
16 He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
The king treated Abram kindly because of Sarai, and he gave Abram many sheep and cattle and donkeys and male and female slaves and camels.
17 Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
But because the king had taken Sarai, Abram’s wife, Yahweh caused the king and the others in his household to be inflicted with terrible diseases.
18 Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?
When the king realized why that was happening, he summoned Abram and said to him, “Why did you do this 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 to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way.”
Why did you lie, saying she is your sister, with the result that I took her to be my wife? You should not have done that! So now take your wife, leave here and go!”
20 Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they escorted him away with his wife and all that he had.
Then the king told his officials/servants to take Abram and his wife and all his possessions out of Egypt.
