< Genesis 12 >
1 And Yahweh said unto Abram: Come thou on thy way, Out of thy land and out of the place of thy birth and out of the house of thy father, —Unto the land that I will show thee;
2 That I may make thee into a great nation, And bless thee and make great thy name, And become thou a blessing;
3 That I may bless them who bless thee, But him who maketh light of thee, will I curse, —So shall be, blessed in thee, all the families of the ground.
4 And Abram came on his way, according to that which Yahweh had spoken unto him, and Lot came with him, —now, Abram, was seventy-five years old, when he came forth out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, with all the goods that they had gathered and the souls that they had gained in Haran, —and they came forth to go towards the land of Canaan, and came in to the land of Canaan.
6 And Abram passed along throughout the land, as far as the place of Shechem as far as the Teacher’s Terebinth, the Canaanite being then in the land.
7 And Yahweh appeared unto Abram, and said: To thy seed, will I give this land, —And he built there an altar, unto Yahweh who appeared unto him.
8 And he moved on from thence towards the hill country, on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, —with Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east, and built there an altar to Yahweh, and called on the name of Yahweh.
9 Thus Abram brake up, again and again, towards the South.
10 And it came to pass that there was a famine, in the land, —so Abram went down towards Egypt, to sojourn there, because grievous, was the famine in the land.
11 And it came to pass when he had come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife: Behold! I beseech thee I know that a woman fair to look on, thou art:
12 so will it come to pass when the Egyptians behold thee, that they will say, His wife, this! and will slay me while thee, they preserve alive.
13 Say, I beseech thee that my sister, art thou, —to the end it may be well with me for thy sake, so shall my soul be preserved alive because of thee.
14 And so it was when Abram entered into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that fair, was she exceedingly.
15 And the princes of Pharaoh beheld her, and praised her unto Pharaoh, —so the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh;
16 and with Abram, dealt he well for her sake, —so that he came to have flocks and herds and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses and camels.
17 And Yahweh plagued Pharaoh with great plagues, also his house, —for the matter of Sarai, wife of Abram.
18 And Pharaoh called out to Abram, and said, What is this thou hast done to me? Wherefore didst thou not tell me, that she was, thy wife?
19 Wherefore saidst thou My sister, she; and so I was about to take her to me, to wife? But now, lo! thy wife take her and go thy way.
20 And Pharaoh gave command concerning him unto certain men, —and sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
