Genesis 12
1 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.
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 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 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 curse those who curse you; and 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 departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left 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 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 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 traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the 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 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.
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 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.
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 And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.
Then they left there and started traveling south to the Negev [Desert].
10 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.
There was (a famine/very little food to eat) in Canaan, so they went south to live in Egypt for a while.
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman,
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 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
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 you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”
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 So when Abram entered Egypt, the 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 When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh.
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 treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, 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 The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
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 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me 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 as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
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 Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.
Then the king told his officials/servants to take Abram and his wife and all his possessions out of Egypt.
