< Genesis 12 >
1 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.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, unto a land that I will show you:
2 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.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing:
3 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).”
And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 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.
So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5 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.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had got in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 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.
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 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.
And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto your seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
8 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.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
9 Then they left there and started traveling south to the Negev [Desert].
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
10 There was (a famine/very little food to eat) in Canaan, so they went south to live in Egypt for a while.
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
11 Just as they were about to enter Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “Listen, I know that you are a very beautiful woman.
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that you are a fair woman to look upon:
12 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.
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see you, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save you alive.
13 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).”
Say, I pray you, you are my sister: that it may be well with me for your sake; and my soul shall live because of you.
14 And as soon as they arrived in Egypt, the people in Egypt saw that his wife was indeed very beautiful.
And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15 When the king’s officials saw her, they told the king how beautiful she was. And they took her to the king’s palace.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 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.
And he pleaded Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and male servants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
17 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.
And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
18 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?
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that you have done unto me? why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 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!”
Why said you, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold your wife, take her, and go your way.
20 Then the king told his officials/servants to take Abram and his wife and all his possessions out of Egypt.
And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.